The Sacred Through the Transcendentals: A Reflection on Truth, Goodness, and Beauty

What is beautiful?  We know it somehow when we see it.  But in art and in life, there is something mysterious that happens when something beautiful is also good and simultaneously points us to truth.  Living in an area of the world with a lot of design and aesthetic beauty, I have come to know the difference.  I can walk into perfectly created space with architectural walls and luminous lighting and clean lines. But without a spark of a human element of the transcendentals these spaces can become hollow and cold.

On one such day I opted to go instead in search of rose gardens in the desert in December.  Fortunately, this is something that due to our mild winters is possible.  I ended up at Encanto Park rose garden, and in the middle of an art series about roses I picked up my phone camera and started capturing the array of colors and varieties.  

Something unique happens then in the studio when we seek goodness and beauty.  The truth of the human person comes out through the brush work.  The truth that we have value, that we are created in the image of the Creator.  That He dwells living in us and that we can create and glorify Him.  The result is non longer is there a simple rose on display- but rather an exploration of color and movement.  Something that uplifts our homes and spaces because you exist.  Because I exist.  This is the purpose of art, and this is what sets art apart from AI images, or mere snapshots.  

I believe that the more humanity advances with technology, the more it will come to realize the human soul exists and has value.  We will come to the end of our rope at some point, and those who are open to truth- who seek it- will see goodness and beauty revealed.  This is why I paint, to reveal a glimmer of the one who embodies all truth, goodness, and beauty.