I wrote a book about “Tales from the Crib” and what it means. It is now for sale on Amazon in eBook and paperback formats. If you want to know more about the story, please check out the short story that I published on Amazon.

The Meaning

“Tales from the Crib” illustrates haunting identity issues which people inherit early on in childhood inside parent or guardian relationships.

Trapped inside Fear

Inside of the crib, there are children, parents and grandparents inside a dark smoky fog that indicates fear entering inside their vulnerable souls. This occurs gradually over many days, weeks, and months when the many dark and twisted relational experiences trap helpless children inside a world they cannot understand or escape from without rescue.

Troubled Childhood

There is a sinister jack-in-the-box scaring a child to death inside the crib that seems more like a prison cell to the child underneath who’s wearing a black and white stripped outfit. This shows the remnant of a child’s troubled relationship experiences which developed in his/her formative years.

Under the Curse

To the left of that is a snake on top of a brother and sister who cannot escape from underneath him, implying an inherited family curse they cannot escape from.

Family Relationships gone Bad

In the opposite corner of the crib, there is a green goblin in a clown suit scaring the children around him and there is a baby mobile with haunting masks of death which symbolize the past family relationships which have gone bad.

It’s a Jungle out There

Below the crib, there is a jungle (metaphorically representing the world) with a wicked, clouded panther roaring with a desire to attack his vulnerable prey. The jungle was inspired by the lyrics of the song “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns ‘n’ Roses.

Chronic Identity of Fear

There is an adult face inside the trunk of a tree (center) underneath the crib, looking on in fear as he sees the ferocious beast’s intentions to hunt his prey. The child has grown into an adult who has been through similar horrifying relational experiences as the children inside the darkness of the crib. Years later the adult has formed a chronic identity of fear, shame, and hopelessness and has no idea how to face the deeply ingrained issues or how to let them go.

Awakening, Tales from the Crib

Crawling out of the smoky sinister environment of the crib, are children who see a mother angel awakening them to another reality of peace, kindness, and hope.

Escaping the Abuse

One of the children on the upper left side of the eerie smoky haze looks back at a mother with a serpent tongue who is lashing out at her son and reflects on all the wounds he received when he was abused by his own mother.

Drawn to the Light

The rest of the children gather round the mother angel and look to her for help and she looks up in the distance and sees someone who can help them all. The mother angel convinces some of the children to continue into the light of where she comes from, the Ancient One.

To the left of the angel, we see a childhood portrait of Stuart, who is in the book, “The Secret that Kills/Spirit that Saves.”

This painting reminds me of “Sacred Heart/Beast in the Way” because of the preditory nature of the jungle cat, expressed as the enemy of the human soul.

The Process

The first and most difficult part of the process of creating this piece was the crib. I wanted the crib to appear as if it was coming out of an eternal place in the distance and it was difficult to sketch out.

Face of Christ

After sketching the crib, I sketched out the face at the end of the crib to be visible enough to see and developed the shape of his head and hair that would span out to engulf the width of the crib.

The Brook

Next, I began to look at many different pictures of jungle forests and began to sketch out many different trees, vines, and plants around some rock beds with a brook coming out of it.

Black Smoke

I painted the crib first with a black outline, filled it in with silver, and left the bed of the crib blank until I filled it with black smoke using the wiping technique with mineral spirits and small flat brushes.

Jungle Cat

I also used the wiping technique on the jungle forest, rock bed, and the brook. I used three distinct hues of green in the jungle to create depth perception. I attempted to camouflage the jungle cat in with the rock bed and highlighted him with red light.

Hairline

Last but not least, I blended in the hairline of Christ with black, brown, red, and yellow and then ended it with white for greater contrasting effect.