Detail from The Last Supper with Twelve Tribes, Oil on Canvas, 4.5 ft x 20 ft. See full description and info about prints here.
It’s the time of year to commemorate that which can just as well be commemorated every day. Above is a detail of what has become my most famous painting The Last Supper with Twelve Tribes, sometimes now called The Next Supper. I did it for a missions conference in Vancouver some years back and immediately people wanted prints. It’s now available in many sizes and editions, from giant, full size reproductions, to limited editions on canvas or paper, to framed editions, to posters and bookmarks. Besides that, it’s become a meaningful presentation for churches as I share the platform with the full 20-foot original and tell of the motivation, the process of painting it, and its meaning.
And now there’s even an abbreviated version of my talking about it on YouTube. It was produced some time back by my friend Joe Class with recent aid by Emma Clark. Check it out.
Click on the picture for a larger view.
That’s a ten-minute version. I’ve given the full-length version twice in the last two months, and will twice more in the next two weeks. It’s a message that keeps going out, with no reason to stop, while I have voice.
Between Worlds, Mixed Media, 61.5 x 64.5, Courtesy of owners, Simon and Leah Young, Christchurch, England.
Here’s another take on Easter. I didn’t see this one coming. I was down on the floor working on this large abstract with virtually my whole body when I discovered what seemed a cross on the top of a hill. From there is was just a matter of following the story, though not too literally (this sky is white, but hell is still red). For a time I called it Golgotha, but in the end preferred Between Worlds, where it all took place.
Easter Afternoon, Oil on Canvas, 18 x 36. Courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. H. Swartz, Los Angeles.
Here’s another I didn’t see coming. It was a different painting to begin with, one I had on my website and even would have sold, but through some strange irony, by the time the collector called I had to confess I’d painted over it. Aspects of the old are still apparent but it became a completely new painting, and with that, a new title suggested itself. Again, don’t try to interpret it too literally. Remember, it’s art.
Pentecost, Oil over Acrylic on Canvas, 24 x 48. Courtesy of Glenn and Cheryl Chalkley, East Corinth, Maine.
Sometimes I’m asked to make something for the church, but when I was approached to make a painting to represent the Biblical book of Acts, I had too many ideas. My sketch book began filling up with studies of characters, all interesting, but no one of them representing all. So I took the abstract approach of the coming of that which the believers had been waiting for…even if they had no idea what exactly they were waiting for. A mighty wind. Fire in the air. Amazing how these things take us by surprise, and change everything.
Palm Sunday, Oil on Canvas, 42 x 42. Original available.
I hadn’t known I was going to include so much abstract material in this e-gallery, but here we are back to something representational. I did it some years ago, and as with all, this one has a story. I’d got the image from a slide labeled “Nepal.” So I called the painting Nepal Church. But then a friend who serves there told me if it was Nepal it wouldn’t be a church, as the church there is underground. So my daughter came up with the new title, Palm Sunday. It works.
Do enjoy yours. And honor the season.
Below are the upcoming speaking venues for the Last Supper “Big Picture” presentation. Each is also accompanied by a show of other pieces of my art. And don’t forget to take a look at the YouTube video. Feel free to forward it on. If you know some group who would like the full story, contact me. It’s not something to hide under a bushel.
Speaking Events
Granite Creek Community Church
April 5, 2009 (Palm Sunday), 9:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m.
1580 N Claremont Blvd.
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 625-4455
Vineyard Community Church
April 10, 2009 (Good Friday), Meal, 7:00 p.m., Speaking, 8:00 p.m
27632 El Lazo
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
(714) 425-3738
10:29 am
Anointed!!! You are a man of God that is used to show the light and colors of Gods Love…
Thank you,
Michelle
10:38 am
Thank you for adding your perspective to the Easter season. How meaningful! How beautiful! May yours be deeply blessed. Marilyn
11:25 am
I really enjoyed your video and the detail that you posted on the painting which shows all your colors and brush strokes. Very nice.
Your enthusiasm and your passion for your art and painting is very inspiring Hyatt. Thanks for sharing your beautiful work.
11:27 am
Hyatt,
This was my favorite e-gallery so far. I loved your YouTube video about The Last Supper. It was very inspiring!
Thanks for being faithful with the gifts that God has given you!!! Your gifts encourage me too.
Becky Crawford
11:37 am
I absolutely love “Pentecost.” Love it.
1:50 pm
Your explorations into abstract art seem to be bearing fruit. These three had an emotional tug, provoking reactions appropriate to their titles. They disturb.
Keep this creativity going.
Your representational work depends on character faces and specificity, but Palm Sunday has neither. We connect to a universal truth by recognizing it in your superb “ethnic” portraits. “Nepal Church” looks like a group of Maoist peasants waiting for food coupons. Or except for the grey jackets, a literacy class in Guatemala. One thumb down.
3:42 pm
Love your work, of course. Palm Sunday is a good name for this work. Nepal has lots of snow and mountains over 20,000 feet.
I have a Vineyard story for you someday.
Have a wonderful Resurrection Sunday !
5:34 pm
“Easter Afternoon” makes me feel as if God the Father is looking down from heaven on that fatal afternoon. As He sees the horrific sight of His Son hanging on the cross — a thief on either side — tears of anguish blur His vision. We see in the painting what He sees. And in looking through His eyes, we feel some of His great distress in having to forsake His precious Son. So great a price to save unworthy humanity. Sacrificial love in action. We are humbled to be the objects of that love. Amazing grace!
7:50 pm
Hyatt, your work is astounding. In, “Between Worlds” and “Pentecost” their is a mood set in each that so reflects sobering truth, and yet, hope.
10:50 am
thanks Hyatt,now I have the whole story to tell people about your last supper painting.
get work,enjoyed it very much.
12:23 pm
Thank you so much for including your video with the e-gallery. We have international students over almost every Friday night that view this painting. We can now use it as a topic of discussion for them with the help of the video. What a testimony of God’s love for them.
7:23 pm
Hi Hyatt,
Wow, what a wonderful explanation of the Last Supper with the 12 ‘tribes.’ All I kept picturing, as you were talking, was the days at WBT and chapel. Keep up the good work. In His grip, gw
8:57 am
Dad,
Great work as always. I liked the Palm Sunday painting. I’ll need to finish the YouTube video later, but the intro was very nice.
love,
-hyatt iv
7:05 pm
Thank you, Hyatt, for sharing the youtube video and the paintings. I enjoyed hearing the story behind the painting. The Palm Sunday was always a favorite of mine; but the “Between Worlds” was very powerful. Have a blessed Resurrection Sunday.
1:35 pm
Not only your art but also your explanation on video was an inspiration. I’m still behind you trying to catch up. Don’t think I’m going to make it. I’ll just pray for your success in touching souls.
Tony Joyce
2:59 pm
Love the 12 Tribes! Thank you! Amen!