I was asked to paint for a friend by a church who were celebrating her Ordination and Induction to a church in Worcester. 

Here’s the finished result. 

My friend Amy has an amazing ability of ‘unlocking’ new places and hearts for the Kingdom of God. I saw her being given a key, like St Peter, who was asked to build Jesus’ church.    
Like usual in my paintings I enjoyed quickly layering the paint and creating a texture in the detail of the hand as well as the circles of light and movement around the hand and key. 

 The key is painted with gold leaf and acrylic paint with a bit of marker pen too. It’s shape is purposefully in the shape of a heart and the cross reminds me of that profound statement that I’ve grown to love so much: 

‘The Cross of Christ is the key to heaven.’   

Here’s the final signed peice (it’s nearly a metre by a metre.) I also used polish to capture the light falling upon the key which also helped blend some of the lighter shades together. Spray paint was also used to create the effect on the key and top right hand corner. 

 Oh, by the way, did you spot the face of ‘Jesus’ in the painting?