I had a lot of time to paint over the Christmas break and finally finished a painting that I had started several years ago and got stumped on. I set it aside and have just had it hanging around the studio. I made some big changes to it and think it finally hangs together. Some paintings are easier than others that's for sure. The painting is based on the parable of the wicked tenants found in Matthew 21. I'd appreciate any comments or criticism. Thanks! Jim



If you'd like more detail here is link to a bigger image: The Wicked Tenants

Is that a dog pooping?

I actually find this a bit disturbing, in a good way. It shows the vineyard being full of good things, even though it's inhabited by wickedness. That's profound. The crosses might be a bit heavy-handed. The pile reminds me of Jesus condemnation of the stoning and killing of the prophets. (Could that be John the Baptist on the pile ahead of the Owner, with his head detached?)

Interesting. I like the symettry you created in the piece. I'd suggest adding the scripture passage on the frame or on a display card so viewers can fully appreciate your thought process.

I guess in our age of biblical illiteracy, putting the text on a card would be a helpful thing.

In museums, if a painting really catches my eye I always read the card posted with it. Even with paintings on topics I'm familiar with, a good card can add to my understanding. Medieval and Renaissance religious art, for example, is loaded with symbolism that you might miss unless you're an art historian, and cards can clue you in to such things.

On the other hand, there's always something to be said for sitting and looking at the paintings, to quote Mr. Bean, and seeing what you can discover on your own before you read anything. On top of Lykavittos Hill in Athens, there's a small Orthodox church. I went up there with a fellow traveler named Gilbert, and we went inside the church and started looking at the icons. There were no cards, and I'm no expert on iconography. But I'd learned the Greek alphabet by this point in my Athens sojourn, and both Gilbert and I knew our Bibles. The more carefully we looked, the more we began to understand.

Card or no, though, I find it more rewarding to try and Figure Out what a painting means before consenting to Be Told what it means.

Most of Jesus' parables used non-religious imagery. The stories were open to interpretation and as he explained, those who had ears could hear. If I display my paintings without scripture references and just a suggestive title I feel I am doing , in a sense the same thing Jesus did. Non Christian folks are probably more apt to look at a painting without a scripture reference than one with. That way I can enter into a relationship with the viewer and dialogue about the painting if it intrigues them. That being said, biblical illiteracy is a problem.

I just preached on this parable a few weeks ago - and I love your painting!

What I'm missing in it is any sense of the imminent judgment that awaits the wicked tenants for their wickedness, which seems to me to be the main point of Jesus' telling of it. You tell the narrative quite well - I like the successive images of the pickup truck, for instance, and the father waving goodbye to his son. I like the eternal present of the image, as well as the sense of rhythm and movement. The colors are rich and evocative - as noted above, the lushness of the vineyard is a striking contrast to the wicked behavior of those inside it, as evidenced not just by the pile of bones outside, but the prevalent crosses inside. But without that sense of warning, that Jesus kept as the punchline of the story, the painting seems distant and removed. I have a hard time connecting with it emotionally. Those tenants seem like THEM, like OTHER PEOPLE, not like me. I wonder how you could increase the sense of audience identification?