Caitlin Connolly: BUILDING VERY SMALL ARCS

THE STORY: This is an image of a mother folding small paper boats with her child.

ANALYSIS: The artist has done a lovely job evoking calm in the middle of chaos. The light emanating from the small boy and the attention of his mother as he works on his paper boat draw the eye. All around them are scattered papers and boats, but the bond between the mother and son is clear. The scattered diagonals of the lines of paper give a sense of mess as it happens.

PERSONAL IMPACT: Okay, yet again, it's slim pickings from me as far as compositional and artistic analysis. But. I really love this painting. My youngest loves to 'fold,' and my floor has often looked like this one--except that I'm not usually gazing adoringly at my son!

The other reason I love this painting is because it reminds me of one of my favorite chapters, Hebrew 11. It says, "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house." I think of that line often--"prepared an ark to the saving of his house." I think a lot about what things I ought to do for the saving of my house. And for a mother, humble activities like folding tiny arks with a son can help build a strong relationship.

Later in that chapter we read about Sarah's miracle and that it happened "because she judged him faithful who had promised." Gorgeous. GORGEOUS.


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