"Gethsemane"
by Scott Zambelli
I was inspired to complete this picture after having a series of discussions and services about "True Worship" and what it means. As I contemplated this, I kept feeling this strong pull in my heart about "True Worship" and how Jesus always did his worship and prayers in a private place...usually alone or in small groups. His time in "church" would be used to instruct, lecture, perform a miracle, or some other way to demonstrate God's glory. Prayer and worship, however, seemed to be done in solitude or amongst friends.
In my reflection upon this, I was continuously drawn to Mark 14:32-42, where I received the detailed inspiration of my final art.
If you would like to read Mark 14:32-42, you can do so by clicking here.
My first step in creating this was to draw a rough sketch of what I was feeling, which you can see on the right.
I wanted to try and capture the peaceful surrender Jesus had within Him towards the Father instead of the outward anguish and sweating of blood He had on the outside.
Another key component I wanted to make sure to include the three apostles who accompanied Jesus to the area and fell asleep when they should have been in prayer.
If you look carefully on the left side of the sketch, you can see a figure in the shadows. I was going to try and incorporate Satan in the shadows, with a look of anger as he tried to get away from the light of God that was shining upon Jesus. I later decided to remove this element of the picture because I felt it distracted from the main purpose of the picture which was Jesus - in true worship and prayer of the Father.
After I completed the sketch, I then went on to create a final pencil drawing. I would use this drawing to create my colored version at the end.
I was very happy with the end result of my pencil drawing and was especially happy with how the face came out. I felt God's inspiration really helped me to combine a blend of emotions into the face with no one emotion overcoming the rest.
In this close-up of the face of Jesus, you can see more of the details I was able to capture.
I wanted a look of acceptance on his face. A look that says that he knows the hard road he will soon travel and accepts it with all of his heart. It is a look that somehow has a mix of sorrow at what he will endure and an upright confidence that he will succeed. It is a look of King who knows what he must do for his people.
It is this combination I was trying to achieve, and it was God who helped me by guiding my hand.
Another element of this piture was the three sleeping apostles. I wanted to capture Peter, James, and John in poses that would convey a peaceful and deep sleep. A sleep that they could only fall into with a total lack of understanding of the events that are about to unfold.
With the apostles done, the final thing to do was to combine these different elements into a final composition. I created the background and decided to leave the shadowed figure of Satan out of it. Instead, I decided to represent the enemy through the darkness that surrounds Jesus, but is held back by the glow that encompasses him.
If you would like to purchase products featuring this artwork, please click here.