Madi Schultz- Faith Encourager

Madi Schultz-

Sophomore at 
James Madison University-
 Harrisonburg, Virginia,
shares a bit about her art project 
of faith encouragement 
that she made for her mom.

"I made these canvases
 for my mom for her birthday- 
she was looking for art to display in the house, 
and I liked the idea of a four seasons display. 
However, I wanted to make it unique; 
more than just four trees. 
I’d recently been reading Psalm 147
 and verse 16 stood out to me-- 
 “He spreads the snow like wool 
and the frost like ashes.” 
I took four canvases, 
decided on a color palette
 to loosely stick to,
 then got to work.
 Inspired by the imagery of Psalm 147.

I painted winter first; 

a huge, full evergreen 

with snow-glistened boughs.

 I wanted to incorporate pages 

from scripture in order

 to tie together the separate pieces. 

I covered these pages with white paint

 and created snow drifts from them.

Next I moved on to fall. 

I’ve always loved the way birch trees look;

 and the white bark lent itself to another use 

of painted scripture pages.

 I was really proud of the way
 the autumn leaves 

turned out. The texture and color

 reminded me of blustery, sunny days.

 I chose Isaiah 40:8, 

“The grass withers and the flowers fall,

 but the word of God endures forever”

for my autumn verse for a few reasons. 

First, because it reminds me of my mom.

 The first page in her journaling Bible features

 this verse surrounded by whimsical 

hand-drawn flowers. 

Secondly, I chose this particular verse

 because autumn 

is a season of beautiful death and rebirth.

 It is a good reminder that through all 

the ‘seasons’ of our lives, 

God is constant, and He is good.

Next came spring. 

I knew that I had to incorporate 

cherry blossoms because they remind me

 so much of home. 

Growing up in the suburbs of D.C., 

anticipating and visiting the cherry blossoms

 on the mall is the epitome of spring-time.

 I chose a verse that captured 

some of the excitement of this beautiful season

 of beginnings and blossoms; 

Song of Solomon 2:12 – 

“Flowers appear on the earth, 

the time for singing has come.”

 In this piece, I used the scripture pages

 as the flowers, 

which was neat because 

it gave the piece more texture and depth. 

Finally, I painted a summer canvas.

 I decided to paint a willow tree 

with a little stream running behind it. 

This scene was largely inspired

 by our backyard. 

There’s a little trickle 

(you probably couldn’t even call it a stream), 

that runs up to a beautiful willow

 in our neighbor's yard. 

When we were younger and it used to rain, 

we used to run rampant

 in that little patch of the neighborhood. 

I chose Psalm 1:3 for this canvas: 

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water 

that yields its fruit in its season,

 and its leaf does not wither.” 

Summer is a verdant time,

 and our God is a God of abundance; 

with Him we’ll never want.

 It’s awesome how the character of God

 is present in all seasons."

Thanks to Madi for sharing her 
creative process in this very special gift.
It is easy to see why we call her
 a "visual faith encourager."