Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.

Person: Calgary Beck

My name is Calgary and I’m 9 years old. I’m the oldest child in a family of six. Listening to fairy tales and drawing are two of my favorite things.

Piece

The heavy darkness in the drawing is showing how the psalmist feels. The eyes in the trees are the wicked hiding and their evil deeds. The tumbled down buildings are a picture of the ugliness of sin and injustice going on in normal life and the broken sadness in Psalm 10. The tree with the snake on it shows how sin can also look tempting. The bright kingdom far off represents heaven and the psalmist trusting in God’s faithfulness even in his sadness.

PROCESS: CHALK PASTEL

I was going to bed one night and I saw a kid bible that we love to read. It was depicting a path leading to beauty and happiness. I felt like that was such a big deal, and I just kept it in mind. Later, I read Psalm 10 for the first time and that was the picture that popped in my head.

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.

Person: Whitney Grimm

Hi.

I’m a Colorado native who moved to LA in 2012 to seek out and explore the world around me. I knew there was more than what I experienced around me at the time. It was during this time that I began learning who I was, where my gifts and skills were, and what I liked in life. While in LA, I met many people in the fashion and creative industries who helped open my mind and doors to the creative world, showing me how diverse these industries are. I was immediately drawn to visual merchandising, wardrobe styling, graphic design, screen printing, typography, painting, art, etc. After working in such areas, I wanted a more stable skill set to fall back on if needed. So I moved back to Denver and was accepted to a local art school where I graduated with honors, Summa Cum Laude, something I didn’t think was possible for me. That season of life was truly valuable. I was growing in self-confidence, my ability to design well, in developing relationships with clients and others in the industry, and even in pursuing being an artist. I’ve grown so much over the last five years in myself as an artist, developing skills in different areas of art I like. My aesthetic is simple: clean storytelling through lines, shapes, and texture. I’ve incorporated that idea into the three art pieces I’ve done for Park, one of which is this piece.

Piece

The house is a representation of a safehouse, the place in which you find comfort and safety, though it doesn’t have to be a house; it could be whatever structure provides safety and security for you. The hands are God’s hands. He is our ultimate security, comforter, and protector from all enemies, both visible and invisible. And greenery represents life that exists in God and what can be grown in His presence.

PROCESS: MIXED MEDIA

I did a lot of research in commentaries and in different versions of the Bible. I sat with God in it and did a lot of contemplating. I wanted to understand what Psalm 9 was about or what David was saying in it. As I sat at my desk reading and asking God what He wanted me to make and what my spirit felt from this Psalm, I got a picture of a simple line-drawn house. Then, reading the Message Bible, in verses 9-10, the word safehouse stood out to me. I then researched the meaning of safehouse. It’s defined as “a confidential, private dwelling where individuals flee to find refuge. A secure environment.” This Psalm was challenging for me on what to create, because there’s so much meat in it. I also couldn’t get out of my head. But here we are, a finished piece.

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.

Person: James Stukenberg

James Stukenberg is a photographer drawn to people stories and creating images with a high degree of authenticity. Since relocating to Colorado from Wisconsin in 2018 he has freelanced, photographing editorial and commercial assignments. He lives with his wife, Anne, and their three young daughters Henrietta, Louisa and Juliana, in a mint green house in Westminster.

Piece

In Psalm 8, the weak are made strong and the lowly become the unexpected rulers of the world. Babies and infants are given power beyond their stature to defeat the enemies of God. And man, whose troubled and broken humanity is made evident in Psalm 7, is granted dominion over God’s glorious handiwork.

This image represents the gracious granting of power and privilege to the truly humble. Showing the back of the child avoids specificity and reflects the broad nature of this instance of image bearing, while the tone, subtle movement and layered finish work to further place the moment in the spiritual realm.

PROCESS: PHOTOGRAPHY

Photograph, wheat paste finish.

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.

Person: Denise Yennie

My husband and I moved to Denver by God’s calling on our lives 2 1/2 years ago where he placed us in the neighborhood of Park Church. We are blessed that our two adult kids are also in the area. One of my hobbies is photography: mostly capturing our travel adventures, God’s natural beauty, and food.

Piece

I selected Psalm 7 based on the first verse: “O Lord my God, in you I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me.” The center photo of the volcanic rock cradling a small piece of coral immediately came to mind as a representation of God’s protection and refuge for us. This rock was about 5 ft up on a 12 ft tall volcanic rock wall that encompassed a small village. The only way that little piece of coral got there from the ocean, to be cradled and protected, was from a ferocious storm. The same place in our lives where we seek shelter, represented by the photo of the crashing waves on the rocks.

The top left photo of clouds represents a powerful God on high who rises to anger and judges the evil (vs 6, 8, & 11). With the people below worshiping him (vs 7 & 17). The photo of St. Michael, the archangel, is drawing his sword to put an end to the evil and wicked (vs 12-16) that is also represented in the crashing waves.

PROCESS: PHOTOGRAPHY

At first I was just going to stop at verse 1, using only the center photo—God is my refuge, as He has been so in my life countless times. I had so many great nature photos of places that have brought me peace and reminders of God’s goodness and glory: lots of sunrises and sunsets on mountains and beaches that I chose to use multiple photos. This then required me to do some math, playing with layouts of various size photos to best fit the 18×18 board we were given to use (which is not a standard photo size). I could use several 4x6s, though they created visual chaos, not peace and refuge. I settled on 4 8x10s (a vertical and horizontal = 18″), connected with a smaller center one. This arrangement created a nice visual flow.

But there was so much more going on in this psalm: evil and what it takes to conquer it. I don’t have a lot photos of evil, though found one photo of fire with a dark background I wanted to use to represent God’s burning anger over evil. This would give me a couple dark backgrounds with the colorful sunrise/sunset ones. But it just didn’t work, still too much noise and not a great story flow. I prayed as I went back through the Psalm and my photos to find something that might work and found the statue of St. Michael drawing a sword. Then found the angels singing to the heavens photo. Both had blue backgrounds (one day, one night) that matched the nature photos. These added a humanistic aspect, contrast, and balance to the nature photos.