grape vine "tree" updated

I recently got an email asking about the "vine tree" and I wanted to clarify some things about that, as well as share a "vine tree" image of my own. What I'm referring to isn't actually a tree, but a grape vine, as a botanical possibility of the tree of life.

There's alot more on the whole matter in the context of Jewish culture at Nehi's Tree of Life.



This is a new image of mine, not specifically intended to reflect an aspect of heaven, but does anyway, as my work usually does. Some time ago, I realized that all of my work illustrates my longing to be in perfect communion with God, like Adam and Eve had in the garden.

Sometimes when I'm working, especially shooting out in some quiet place all alone, I can almost be in that state, but it can be a hard thing for us to do now when we're on this currently imperfect earth. That's when I long for heaven to be brought down and the earth remade into something the same but more wonderful - and that's what always seems to come through in my work - at least when I've done it right...

Grape Vine Tree

I had to search back to see what I have on file that hasn't been posted yet and I found the sixth in the bead embroidery Tree of Life series by Sheila Stockton. This particular tree happens to be a grape vine, in line with when Christ said "I am the vine, you are the branches..." in John 15. With Christ as our ultimate source of life in Heaven, this would completly appropriate as a tree of life interpretation.

However, Sheila gives another scripture reference, from a new earth passage in Isaiah 62:8-9, “The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: ‘Never again will I give your grain as food for your enemies, and never again will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled; but those who harvest it will eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather the grapes will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.’”

Either way, we don't usually think of the tree of life as a grape vine, but I think it totally works and it might have also been one of the traditional Jewish depictions, though I could be entirely confused on that one.

heaven is filled with trees

As the gallery show draws near, much is coming together, and there seems to be trees sprouting up everywhere. I have a couple of my own to share later, but today it's another tree of life from bead artist Sheila Stockton (hi Mom!) This is her "Tree of Life #5" which is depicted this time as a cherry tree. Once again, her inspiration for the series is Revelation 22:2, this time in the Contemporary English Version, "On each side of the river are trees that grow a different kind of fruit each month of the year. The fruit gives life, and the leaves are used as medicine to heal the nations."

tree of life #4

Today we're bringing you the next piece in Sheila Stockton's beaded embroidery series, "Tree of Life #4." Her scriptural inspiration comes from Revelation 22:2, "Through the middle of the broadway of the city; also, on either side of the river was the tree of life with its twelve varieties of fruit, yielding each month its fresh crop; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing and the restoration of the nations." (Amplified) You can see that this time she chose to depict an apple tree, which has so often been how the tree of life in the garden of Eden has been depicted in western tradition.

If you would like to see the rest of her series, you can click on "Sheila Stockton" at the bottom of this post. You'll get a new page with all the posts that have that label on them, which will be all of her series for this project. Also remember that to see most images in this blog larger, just click on the image itself.

more trees

Today we go back to trees - another tree of life in bead embroidery by Sheila Stockton - and watching how a beaded tree grows from the seeds of inspiration to the full growth of a finished product. The first part of inspiration comes from scripture, in this case, Sheila says, "since olive trees are such long living trees:"

They’ll build houses
and move in.
They’ll plant fields
and eat what they grow.
No more building a house
that some outsider takes over,
No more planting fields
that some enemy confiscates,
For my people will be as long-lived as trees,
my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work.
Isaiah 65:16-17* (The Message)

Here you can see the seed growing into a colored pencil sketch in Sheila's journal and below it in the body of text is another scriptural reference to the tree of life in Revelation 22:2, "On each side of the river grew the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit with a fresh crop each month." Some translations specify that each fruit is a different kind of fruit, and this reference to twelve kinds of fruit is part of what has inspired Sheila to render the tree of life as different fruit bearing trees. We'll wait to see if she gets to twelve...







At this stage, you can see the pencil sketch on the cloth (including some color reference) and the embroidery in progress. We happened to catch it at a point where she had just finished a length of thread and had tied it off in the back, otherwise, you might see the very fine needle that she works with.

And finally the finished piece - I think this whole process took her about week, not counting the conceptual process and the many hours of searching for just the right beads for the work.


*On a scriptural note, the verse she chose to accompany this piece, is from a section of Isaiah specifically referring to the New Earth, when Jesus will be back on earth with his people, bringing Heaven down and restoring God's relationship to humankind.

trees of life

Many of you are aware of my own personal facination with trees, and the tree of life has to be one of the most facinating concepts for me personally, but it has also been the subject of many artists and iconographers quite literally over the millenia.

In our western society, the tree of life is an apple tree; I've never researched why that happens to be (maybe I should) but I have researched some of the Hebrew tradtitions and found that some hold the tree of life as a date palm, an olive tree, a fig tree, or even a grape vine. For an artist deciding to depict this most heavenly of trees, the options are wide open.

One artist embarking on this journey is Sheila Stockton (many of you also know her as my mother) who is using bead embroidery as her media of choice for this journey.

This is her second finished work, titled "Tree of Life #2: Date Palm." Her scriptural reference for this piece is "Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life." (Revelation 22:14 NLT) You can see the river of life in this image, and the date palm tree of life growing along both sides of the river.

The detail work in these tiny artistic jewels is pretty impressive. (You can click on the image itself to get a closer view of those details.) We'll share a little more of the process that goes into those details in another post very soon...

And just so you know how these things work, if you'd like to see more artwork that relates to the work in this posting, just click on one of the labels at the bottom of the post and see what happens!

up close & personal

So now that I've teased you with the big picture, so to speak, I'll fill in a couple details. Here are a couple smaller images that you can see framed on the wall in the first photo on the previous post, but that you can't really SEE. I happened to have good scans from a couple of the works that are up but haven't been shared on the blog yet, so I guess it's time to share. Remember that you should be able to see a larger image by clicking on the ones below.

From left to right on the big wall, the pair of works stacked on top of each other are from Karen Fields, works in watercolor & mixed media. This first piece is "Postcard #1, Heaven's Lamb" and it illustrates Revelations 5:11, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and strength and honor and glory and praise."







Her next piece is titled,
"Postcard #2, Understanding" and juxtaposes the cross and a sense of mourning with 1 Corinthians 2:9, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." This piece reflects the bittersweet reality that Christ suffered and died to give us the chance to share an eternity of amazing joy with him.

And way over on the far right hand end of the wall is a tiny gem by Sheila Stockton. This is the first of her "Trees of Life" series in bead embroidery titled, "The Tree of Life #1." She refers to Revelation 22:2, which says, “The Tree of Life was planted on each side of the River, producing twelve kinds of fruit, a ripe fruit each month.” Here you can see all the detail work, including some of the beads we shared with you in an earlier post.

a vision from Ross Conklin

At long last, I am sharing more work from painter Ross Conklin, who has been continuously producing work for this show, stretching himself in ways I don't think he has done before. I'm so impressed with this body of work, and I'm pleased to present his next acrylic piece, titled "Beyond the Pearly Gates."







This piece was inspired in part when a family friend sort of jokingly suggested to Ross, “What about the pearly gates?” This actually got him thinking about what the view through the gates might look like. Ross says, "The Bible refers to the pearly gates as being made of one pearl, but I could not understand how to paint one large pearl so I broke it down into segmented stones."

Looking through the pearly gates, Ross shows what is described in Revelation 22: 1-5: "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever."

In the painting, we can see the River of Life, which is flowing from the throne of God. The throne of God is depicted by the penetrating bright sun showing through the branches of the tree, and is referred to in verses one and later in verse five. In verse two, the Tree of Life stands on each side of the River of Life, which Ross illustrates by spreading its roots on both sides, then shows it giving fruit, as it will in each month. Ross's stylized approach to this piece gives the image impact and helps us to see what another glimpse into heaven.

tree of life

New images from our resident bead artist (among other things,) Sheila Stockton:



These images are based on Revelation 22:2, "The Tree of Life with its twelve kinds of fruit yeilding its fruit each month." Sheila envisions these sketches as small beaded pieces, possibly as a pair or in a series.



She's collected many beads that will work for the project already (and even more than we're sharing here.)



Pretty green leaf beads in various shades and several kinds of fruit - maybe even twelve?