Paintings
All the illustrations in No Greater Love – An Angelic View of History are original paintings by Veronica Lake. Each one was divinely inspired. Veronica describes the process for each painting below.
Title Page
This was a challenging painting to compose knowing it would be on the front cover of “No Greater Love”, and I had to convey a clear message. On the cross where Jesus died, all our sins are erased, and we are made new. With great pains, I tried to capture the extent of his suffering and found the painting hard to look at. I suppose I conveyed the message I was hoping for. The light in Jesus’ palm is the light of truth that has and continues to transform so many lives. The light overtakes the darkness and cannot be stopped. Our angel Sotiris cannot help but praise God for this great sacrifice and nor can I.
Three In One
This was one of the hardest paintings to create knowing that I was to depict the triune God in all His splendor. Almighty God is an ever-ending circle of light and power that gives life and hope to all. When I considered His perfection, I immediately recalled DaVinci’s Vitruvian man and recreated that construct with the symmetry of a circle. God the Father is in the center and the other circles of light are the Son and Holy Spirit standing together in solidarity. They are three lights in one the triune God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is ALL powerful and energy and light emit from HIS being. The Bible tells us we cannot see HIS face and live, so all the faces are light. The name of our great God is Elohim, and the lake of fire proclaims that name above all names. In the foreground, our angel Sotiris writes to tell the story of “No Greater Love.” God is terrible, beautiful too great to depict which is why this was such a challenge!
Creation
With power and strength, God simply rubs His hands together and the universe is created and the Three in One sing the universe into existence. I splattered paint and metallics onto this piece to give the feeling that this was a happy creative time for God AND for me! I photographed my husband’s hands to get just the right look.
The Fall of Satan
The devil has persuaded a large host of angels to defy God and follow him. Instead of instant death and destruction, God, in His mercy, allows these angels to fall to earth. Their wings blacken and they become demons. Unlike other depictions of the great fall, I saw God as deeply grieved and hanging on to the very last angel that leaves heaven, hoping they will not leave. The wing of each angel turns black as each heart turns darker and further removed from their beloved creator. They are now demons and no longer God’s holy angels.
The Dance
Like the angels, we also have the choice to follow God and have a relationship with Him forever or go our own way. Sotiris watches our interaction with God and ponders what we will do from afar. If we say “yes” to God, we live with boundless joy in the dance we experience with God. Happiness comes when we delight in God, which was what we were made for. I chose to splatter metallics and embossing powders on this piece to further illustrate the joy of the dance that is possible.
The Choice
Like the demons, Adam and Eve chose to listen to Satan and follow his suggestion to eat the forbidden fruit and defy God. Adam and Eve have already questioned if God is fair and true in their hearts when Satan easily convinces them to question God’s goodness. As Eve hands Adam the apple, Satan looks smugly on believing that he has won the battle for the souls of men. I wanted the serpent and fruit to look alluring and beautiful and so I heat-set embossing powders to each element.
God Protects
If you have ever felt despair, take comfort. Each believer has a guardian angel watching over them. I wanted this angel to fill the sky ready to fight off any enemies that would want to cause this young man to feel defeated. Our guardian angels are fitted and ready with armor and weapons in hand to help us fight our battles. I sprinkled salt and poured on the color to give the angel a sense of energy. Despair and pain can vanish under the care of our guardian angels!
He Has Come
The light of truth and hope break out over the darkened sky one Christmas morning long ago, and humbled shepherds are astonished. The angel fills the sky with bright light and heralds the most amazing news: “Jesus is born today!” I wanted to depict the fear, joy, and astonishment the shepherds and even the animals must have felt at that proclamation. I poured on the light in the sky by keeping the white of the paper and adding glitter to enhance the energy making everything glow in the dark night. The final addition to this piece were the use of embossing powders to help make the scene feel like a celebration of light. What a night it must have been!
Young Jesus Confounds the Elders
My hope was to capture the look on the faces of the wise men in the temple outwitted by a young Jesus. I found images of the very temple in Jerusalem that Jesus visited and recreated the clay tiles, columns, and large gold-painted doors. Finetec, a new metallic paint made with mica, was only recently made available at my local art store, and I was delighted to discover them. The gold color was perfect on the dark doors. I wanted the angels to be watching and enjoying this dialogue while the Holy Spirit power shines out and strengthened Jesus. I used Mr. Clean Magic erasers to make that shining quality of the angels. I can almost hear them laughing at the dialogue they heard that day.
A Leper is Healed
I looked up images of leprosy being unacquainted with this very contagious skin disease and used those photos to create this painting. Unafraid, Jesus grabs the infected area, and a miracle happens: the young man is miraculously healed. I created light streaks with the Magic Eraser and added metallics to capture the energy of what had happened. Even the leper points one mangled finger out toward Jesus to draw strength. Salt was also a great tool to use in the background and further emphasized the miracle of healing that took place. It must have been something to watch!
Some Catch
It had surely been a long night of fishing with no fish for the Galilean men. At the suggestion from Jesus to drop the nets once again, the nets are so full they can barely hold them. I wanted to capture that happy moment and the look on Jesus’ face while he was watching them. I used frisket to keep the white of the paper for the nets and used waxed paper to get the rough look of the rocks. The light of a new day further emphasized the idea of new beginnings. These men were now going to be fishers of men.
Rise Lazarus
What fun it was to recreate this scene of when Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the grave. Fortunately, my local church had an excellent selection of costumes I was able to use and dress my models in for this scene. I used dry-brush techniques and salt again to bring out the texture of the rough garments and landscape. I also looked up the possible site for Lazarus’ tomb and duplicated the area. Thanks to our oldest son, Andrew Lake, and church member, David Thomas
The Garden
The night Jesus was betrayed, he went to the garden of Gethsemane with his disciples to pray. Overcome with grief, an angel comforted him from above. I found images on Google of the real garden filled with olive trees and recreated it. All the light from the soldiers coming for Jesus holding torches gave this painting the effect I was after, and frisket helped me keep the whites of the paper here.
The Ultimate Sacrifice
The day Jesus was crucified, the light fled from the sky and there was a great earthquake. It must have been terrifying to watch. I was able to create wind and atmosphere by scrubbing back paint with the Magic Eraser and the frisket allowed me to leave streaks for the lightning. Sotiris looks from above with great despair while the last bit of light from the Roman soldier’s torch is extinguished. I tearfully painted this reminding myself of what Jesus did for me.
Easter Morning
Jesus is no longer in pain and is transformed into a perfect being. The only way I could portray this was by sprinkling embossing powders and heat setting the glitter. The heat reminded me of the pain Jesus would have endured. In this painting, the dawning of a new day and the light of His glory shines everywhere, so I wiped paint away with the Magic Eraser once again. The folded-up head cloth lays on the tomb stone along with his bloodied crown. Jesus removes the last part of his grave clothing and Easter morning is here at last! The three crosses are a distant memory now. He is alive!
The Ascension
It is the dawn of a new day, and the disciples and angels watch on as Jesus rises to heaven. Just the day before I painted this, I saw wispy clouds in the sky that looked like angels and so I made sure to incorporate those in my piece using frisket and the Magic Eraser. Thankfully, the costumes I used, and models helped me paint this victorious scene. I had my son climb a ladder by a tree and after his terrified looks of fear dissipated, he gained confidence, stretched out his arms, and helped me get the right perspective of Jesus ascending into the clouds. Way to go, Andrew Lake!
A New Heaven and Earth
What a glorious day it will be when God rolls up the old scroll and it is replaced by images of the perfect world God is creating. I found images on Google of a real Jewish scroll that was damaged and confiscated by the Nazis during the invasion of WWII and painted it thinking it was the perfect scroll to use. In the images of the parchment paper from the old scroll, the devil and his demons are gathered up for the last time and put into the burning lake of fire while the world burns up. When God rolls up the old scroll and puts it away forever, I believe we will no longer see or even remember the old world. Only a perfect new world will be experienced by everyone when this happens, and even the lion and the lamb will lie together. Those metallic paints were the perfect addition to apply over the painted castle of God’s new kingdom.
Earnestly Interceding
Our story ends with Sotiris praying for our world. I applied silver and gold paints liberally onto the wings and clothing of our angel. Roy Reichen, my model. When I was searching for an angel, I happened to visit Roy and his lovely wife, Molly, on their farm during a benefit meal for Reclaiming Hope Ranch, a non-profit that ministers to foster kids. The light was falling just perfectly across Roy’s head, and I could almost hear God tell me, “This is your angel.” Roy is a beacon of hope for these kids and has provided a place for them to be refreshed and find hope on his farm. Photographs of him praying and praising God were natural and spontaneous making it easy to see why he was the right model for the job.