Painting Christ is a challenge.

I want to be able to see His love, His mercy, but also His power and strength.

If this painting turns out the way I want it to, it'll be my entry in the Church competition this year. It's fulfilling to have a career as an artist. But it's many times more fulfilling to have a family. They bring me back to earth when I'm lost in my creative space. It takes me many, many months to finish a painting that I'm happy with, because it is a struggle. And for me, I like to relate that to our spiritual struggle of working out our salvation, repenting, fixing mistakes, and trying to make things right.

I know that our Heavenly Father lives and loves us and what a great, great opportunity we have to share that love through images, both with the world and with each other. Painting Christ is a challenge because there are many, many images out there. And I've noticed that different people respond to different images. If Christ is one and His Church is one and His people are one, why would there be such a broad range of images and such a broad response to those images? The conclusion that I've reached is that those images that we respond to make us feel a certain way, regardless of whether He's clean shaven, whether He has short hair, whether He is draped in robes or some other kind of garment. And that feeling is the Spirit of the Lord. This piece is called "Every Knee Shall Bow." That phrase is mentioned several times in the scriptures, that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Christ. That's such a powerful, powerful promise, with all the trouble and turmoil in the world, all of the competing ideas to know that, ultimately, the Lord is our Savior and will be recognized as such at the last day. I have a testimony of gospel truths that as we serve that we become more like Jesus Christ. And I think that's true for businessmen and for lawyers and for artists alike. And I think there's room for all within the gospel.