In the Beginning

Jessie Nilo

Dried Paint Pour scrap, printmaking glove, and cotton on canvas

We create differently from how God created the world, since we cannot create from non-existing materials. Some might view this kind of creating as unimportant, since we only juxtapose what we already have—but I heartily disagree! It’s exhilarating to discover a way to use a leftover blob of dried paint while pulling an ink-stained glove out of a trash bin, combining them to make something new.

I imagined God twirling a cloud around his finger in the Beginning, just for fun.

While putting this together, I discovered an inky heart-shape on the palm of the glove, foreshadowing the loving Creator’s sacrifice on the world’s behalf.