The Meaning

“Angels And Demons” is an illustration of where I believed I was in my faith with God at the time. I remember seeing the 2009 “Angels and Demons” film with Tom Hanks around this same time and that was where I got the idea for the title of the piece.

Fear and Skepticism

Looking up to God in fear and skepticism of where I was being led because of my many past issues that often disturbed me were still coming up daily and there seemed to be no end in sight.

Daily Battles

The demons of my past were still taunting and haunting me, but I still saw the light of the Son shining through the clouds as I looked up.

The Light of the Son

When I finally came to a place of surrender (kneeling), I envisioned His angels coming to assist me in the many daily battles I experienced and finally clear the path from the demons of my past blocking my path to continue.

I remember an “art and music” pastor asking me to hang my artwork in a church meeting room, but this piece was not well received because of the demonic expression. I had to deal with the disapproval of the pastors and the congregants (both artistically and personally). I soon realized that I do not fit in with their beliefs and that, to receive His real redemption, I needed to trust God in this rejection. Eventually, I had to leave, like I did with so many other ministries.

The sequel to this painting, called “From the Wilderness,” was done right after this piece. It describes God’s work of redemption in me while I was in a counselling ministry which was being held in that same church. I learned that His redemption is an on-going process that never stops, no matter where He leads me.

The Process

I first sketched myself and the path with the trees and rock at the end of the road along with the cloud formation at the top left. After painting myself, the road, the trees, and clouds, I filled in the rest of the painting around with blended black and blue oil paint.

After this had dried, I started to paint my animated angels in white and demons in red “freestyle” without a previous sketch design. At the end, I added yellow and white light shining through the cloud formation.

I can remember being influenced by Thomas Hart Benton quite a bit early on when studying the different masters using an oil medium and I believe the cloud formation really shows that.