Entry O
16″ x 20″, oil on canvas
I chose to paint this koi pond as a part of my senior year art project that includes one painting from each day of creation. The koi pond represents day 5, when God created the fish of the sea. Along with this, for my senior thesis I am researching our call to cultivate the earth, found in the Creation Mandate. This research has caused me to really dwell on the importance of creativity in our own lives and has inspired me even further in my artistic pursuits. Capturing the days of creation through oil paintings is something that was important to me to do as the capstone of my high school career. I do not have one artist who inspired me wholly, but my favorites are Claude Monet, Jean-Francois Millet, and Camille Pissarro, though I did not try to replicate these styles in this painting. I would say this painting was most inspired by God’s creation, who is in Himself the best artist of all.