Art & Soul post #35 by guest author Tracey White
As explained in my last Art & Soul post, “His Beloved”, prophetic art portrays God’s meaning, His love, and His encouragement rather than the artist’s own. It can be created in a traditional studio or during corporate worship, and it can be created by a single person or by an entire group; however, the prophetic art process only works within a community of believers. In this post, I have chosen to showcase prophetic art that includes contributions from a group. This is a prophetic application that I do not see in many other artists’ work. I thought this little-practiced art form would be interesting for many others to learn about and possibly some will even be encouraged to try it!
The first painting I will highlight was created by a group of about twenty people during an Elijah House Inner Healing Course in Brisbane, Australia. I was a team leader and had planned this activity during our worship time. Bryce was the overall inner healing course leader, and he was engaged to be married to Jenny, one of the small group leaders. Neither Bryce nor Jenny knew that the painting, which they themselves would be participating in creating, was going to be given to them as a wedding gift at the end of the 3-day course! I had prayed prior to the worship time and asked the Lord for a scripture of encouragement to serve as the “foundation” of the artwork. The Lord gave me John 3:8 (NIV): “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” I wrote this in large writing in thick pencil on a blank canvas.
During worship, I invited all of the course participants and team leaders to take turns going to the easel to add a single colored mark to the canvas. The only rule was they were not allowed to use their favorite color. When they approached the easel, they were to ask the Lord what color He wanted them to use and what type of mark they should add. A wide selection of acrylic paints and acrylic inks was provided. Some felt led to use a color straight from the tube or bottle, while others mixed different colors until they achieved the one shown to them by the Lord. To apply the paint, they selected from a variety of sizes of fan and bristle brushes or used paint markers. Colored ink was also available in spray bottles. Once everyone had made their mark, participants could return and make a second mark with another color if they felt led to do so, but only a few chose to do this.
Once every participant had added their contribution and the underpainting was complete, I then prayed about the canvas and asked the Lord what the marks, colors, and any patterns I could see emerging meant. I also asked Him how He wanted me to put it all together as an expression of His heart towards this couple. I finished painting the piece using and expanding the colors that had been added by the others and turning some shapes into flowers, leaves, etc. As you can see from the photo, someone had painted a heart shape so obviously that it had to be part of the painting.
The group participants had been asking, “How can anything beautiful be made out of that mess?” but the Lord was showing me a picture of a “wild and free” garden like how the Holy Spirit might move. I then understood why He had given me John 3:8 as the foundational verse!
On the last day of the course, I presented the finished painting to the group and asked each person to write down their interpretation of what it represented according to what God was speaking into their hearts. Everyone’s interpretation was different, which is a great testimony for a true prophetic piece – God highlights different elements to different hearts! No one in the group had any art experience, but they loved being part of the process. The engaged couple was greatly blessed by having not just one but many encouraging scriptures and blessings coming from this single artwork. They were in tears as they received it, having observed the painting’s journey from “ugly marks” into something of beauty. And right there you have one of the best symbolic statements for a painting like this… it truly started off as something ugly, but the Lord knew how to create something beautiful from the ugly marks just as He knows how to do this in our lives.
The second painting (below) had its beginning during an hour-long worship time that was followed by a healing ministry time. During the worship time, the twelve prayer ministers in the room were invited to put marks on the canvas as they felt inspired by the worship songs or any thought or image that the Lord was laying on their hearts. As I usually do with prophetic group paintings, the participants were asked to choose their color and then put their impression on the canvas to the best of their ability, being most have had little to no art-creating experience.
Continuing to follow my group prophetic art process, I asked for the Lord’s discernment as to which direction the painting was to be viewed as I looked at it from all angles and even upside down. If there are strong patterns, symbols, or colors that dominate, then these are generally kept in the painting. Some marks are interpreted by what I “see in the spirit”. I then prayed over the painting for a scripture verse that defined its message. I was given the verses of Ezekiel 36:25-26 by Jesus and included parts of these verses in the painting. Some elements can be added to support the scripture, but the majority of the painting is worked from what others have already laid down as a foundation.
When Petra, the buyer of The Secret Garden of Our Heart, was asked for her interpretation, this is what she shared:
As I look at this beautiful painting, it is a reminder that Holy Spirit is my friend and is always there to comfort and encourage me. It speaks to me of God’s love and His promise to give me a new heart. The dove speaks to me of Holy Spirit who refreshes me each day as I come to Him and allow Him to revive and fill me anew. On a whole, it speaks to me of the Father Heart of God, whose love is steadfast and new every morning.
“I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed.”
Ezekiel 36:25-26 (MSG)
Holy Spirit highlighted some different things to Petra’s friend, Alison. These are the thoughts that came to her mind when she viewed The Secret Garden of Our Heart:
Love will prevail. Beauty will rise up from the ashes. Hardened hearts will soften, but not without tears. The light will overpower the darkness and peace will overflow in abundance. Rebirth through death, grief, and growth… it feels like it is a reflection of my life.
I hope some of you have been inspired to lead a group prophetic art worship session! Here is a summary of how I have found it best to proceed: Prayerfully ask the Lord for a scripture. If He doesn’t give you one, start the process with your group anyway; He may give you a scripture after the mark-making process is started. Once all marks are made, prayerfully consider how these marks can come alive as an interpretable painting. The final version should still have some resemblance to the initial mark-making canvas. Some of the original marks will show, but the final version should have a transformed layered appearance upon its completion. The concept of layers is something I use a lot in prophetic art, as our lives in Jesus develop in a layered process– He heals in layers, builds up our identity in layers, and establishes His relationship with us in layers over the years.
Group prophetic artwork can be challenging. You have no control over what others are going to put on the canvas, and you have to totally rely on God to guide you in interpreting and finishing the painting. It is a truly humbling process, but I am confident you will find it to be an amazing, soul-stirring experience for all who participate!
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3 thoughts on “A Group Journey from Blank Canvas to Prophetic Art”
Thank you so much for this beautiful expression of art and using the gifts God has given you to encourage others in such a meaningful way! I love everything about this group prophetic art process!❤️ I hope to participate in something like this in the future!
Please see below words from songs we sing at the Salvation Army Cwmbran Corps.
Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit in me. Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit in me. Wash me, cleanse me, purify me, make my heart as white as snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit in me.
Purify my heart. Let me be as gold and precious silver. Purify my heart. Let me be as gold, pure gold. Refiner’s fire, my one heart’s desire is to be holy. Set apart for You, Lord. I choose to be holy, set apart for You, my master, ready to do your will.
Purify my heart, Cleanse me from my sin and make me holy. Purify my heart, cleanse me from my sin deep within. Refiner’s fire, my one heart’s desire is to be holy. Set apart for You, Lord. I choose to be holy, set apart for You, my master, ready to do your will.
I want to say yes to the Lord of my life. Say yes without fear, without fail. I want to say yes every day of my life whatever that yes may entail. I want to say yes to the Lord of my life. Say yes to His spirit in me.
Yes, to your will, Lord and your will alone. Yes, to your plans and no, to my own. Take all I have, Lord. I can not give less. Here is my answer , it’s yes.
Words from a song we sing at the Salvation Army Cwmbran Corps.
Beauty for brokenness, hope for despair etc… This is our prayer. Bread for the children, justice, joy, peace. Your kingdom increase. God of the poor, friend of the weak, give us compassion we pray. Melt our cold hearts, let tears fall like rain. Come change our love from a spark to a flame.
Please excuse me for any errors and/or omissions I have made when typing words from songs as I remember them. I do have Asperger’s syndrome, an autistic spectrum disorder (asd) which causes me to struggle socially. I struggle with social communication, social interaction, and social imagination. Only God Himself can heal me. Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief.