Our Whole Reward is Seeing

“Our whole reward is seeing” was the conclusion of Augustin, a fourth century monk. To him, sight and faith were irrevocably connected. We often pit the one against the other, but to him, faith was a lens by which true sight was possible. Without faith, what we see makes no sense. With faith, we see things both as they really are and as they will one day be. This painting to me captures the real power of contemplation: the vivid nature of light and dark, the immense beauty of the human person, the mystery of existence itself. It was painting in the classical style, with a monochrome underpainting followed by glazes of more and more saturated color.