A Letter from Stan Dotson, on Lázaro Ceballos’ Painting of the Psalms
Greetings friends,
I recently completed my project of translating Nan Merrill's "Praying the Psalms" into Spanish, sharing a Psalm each day with my Cuban friends. One of the most gratifying responses came from our artist friend Lázaro Ceballos. He felt inspired to begin his own long-term project: creating a painting to accompany each of the Psalms. Above you will see his first painting, inspired by Psalm 1.
Here is Lazaro's statement about the project, and this painting in particular:
The psalm stays with me until the image I want to capture is born. I'd say it is like a prayer; it is continuous, continuous. I recite the psalm to myself, I read it, I go back and re-read it, in the silence, with the psalm, until unexpectedly the complete image emerges, the image that I want to paint.
Here in Psalm 1, the tree on the left came to mind. It is the tree you see at the entrance to the Convenado prison [where I serve as a chaplain]. It is a ficus, a tree with this peculiarity: it has roots that grow from the branches down into the ground. The river of fresh water always passes, and the roots of that tree are always deep.
Then you have a man who is in a prayer pose. He is stepping on another tree, a marabou; there are a lot of maribou there, in the prison grounds. It is a small tree [an invasive] that has many thorns. Then, as the Psalm says, you have some dandelions, which represent the person without strong roots. He is like the dandelion, going wherever the wind blows.
Then there is something else: all the leaves on the ficus; they are my fingerprints. Even though the psalm does not reference it, I wanted the painting to represent the prison where I go to visit. So I presented a man, sitting on a stone, in a position to pray. Only in a prayer pose, in silence, can you be at peace in a place like that.
The Psalm gives us that desire, to be a person who is like that tree with deep roots. And, through the roots of this deep-rooted tree, the lives of the people inside and out are connected.
For those of you who are working on your Spanish skills, here's my translation of Nan Merrill's version of Psalm 1:
Salmo 1
Dichosos son los que caminan
de la mano con bondad,
que están junto a la virtud,
quienes se sientan en el asiento de la verdad;
porque su deleite está en el Espíritu de Amor,
y en el corazón de Amor moran
día y noche.
Son como árboles plantados
junto a los arroyos de agua,
que dan su fruto a su tiempo,
y sus hojas florecen.
En todo lo que hacen, dan vida.
Los que no aman no son así;
son como los dientes de león
que el viento se lleva.
Apartándose del Corazón del Amor
conocerán el sufrimiento y dolor;
serán aislados de la sabiduría.
Porque el Amor conoce el camino de la verdad,
mientras el camino de la ignorancia perecerá.
blessings,
Stan Dotson
Anyone interested in owning this painting or any of Lazaro’s other paintings, contact Stan Dotson standotson407@gmail.com. The group traveling from Pullen to Matanzas in October can bring the artwork back to you.
Ensancha el espacio de tu carpa, y despliega las cortinas de tu morada. ¡No te limites! Alarga tus cuerdas y refuerza tus estacas. Porque a derecha y a izquierda te extenderás. —Isaías 54:2-3a (NVI)
