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Rock of Ages II: A Painting Comes to Life

Jul 30, 2019

I love love love combining music and visual art. It adds a new dimension to the message, and helps me see the meaning of the song in new ways. It’s a good-news-bad-news sort of thing though…

The bad news: I’m a dreadful artist. (Except for the avocado I drew in 10th grade. That was awesome, if not very useful.) So I can’t do the art myself.

The good news: I know some remarkably talented people. And I’m adept at shamelessly bothering them.

This lyric video features the creation of Natasha Nashadka’s painting titled “Tempestuous Serenity.” It also features James Loynes, singing “Rock of Ages.”

(Video best viewed in fullscreen.)

Here’s what Natasha has to say about this project:

The last thing I want to be is a literal painter. I prefer images that use imagination, metaphor, and symbolism. 
 

I was immediately caught up in the hymn’s two motifs: the mourning and sorrow from being broken on life’s waves and then the deep humility and thankfulness for the unwavering rock as guide and destination. 
 

References to water flow throughout the lyrics, and the ocean represents the vastness, distance, turbulence, and beauty that we all experience during this journey. The waves are our mortality – they represent the changes that we go through, from our humble beginnings to our even more humble endings.

To see more of the fascinating process, visit her blog post.

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