A dear friend of mine in Brazil has started adding drawings to a beautiful book she acquired recently. The theme is mostly Mediaeval and she is illuminating the paintings and text with gold leaf. Most of the entries are based on prayer, or celebrating heroes of the faith from the past, whose words of wisdom still hold true today – in fact many of them could have been written specifically for the times in which we live! I think this is a splendid enterprise, and I was very pleased when she asked me if I would do a drawing for her to put into the book. She said that a drawing that included a cross would be good.
So this afternoon I settled down to do another Neurographic Art piece on this theme. It is entitled “Chi-Rho Tree of Life.”
I composed a sheet of notes to accompany the drawing to explain its meaning, as follows:
The Chi Rho, at the centre of the drawing, is one of the earliest forms of christogram, formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters—chi and rho (ΧΡ)—of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos) in such a way that the vertical stroke of the rho intersects the centre of the chi. It is on a purple ground – the colour of royalty for Jesus, the King of kings.
The drawing also depicts a tree in the shape of a cross. This is the Tree of Life. The means of death of the Lord Jesus our Saviour becomes the means of eternal life for sinful mankind when we repent of our sin, and believe in His saving death and resurrection, paying in full the penalty for our sin and defeating death on our behalf.
The Fruits of the Spirit are also depicted in abundance:
Gal. 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
The Tree of Life will be present in the New Jerusalem:
Rev. 22:2: In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Some symbolism in Neurographic Art
Neurographica is a method of drawing invented by Russian psychologist Pavel Piskarev in 2014 with the aim of creating more connections between the neurons of the brain. The randomly flowing lines form connections as they cross, and the sharp corners are then rounded to create a network of interconnecting lines, with the addition of geometric shapes.
Circles represent completeness, wholeness, a sense of being at rest and at peace with no agitation. The circle is a perfect, beautiful shape with amazing mathematical properties. Triangles, with their sharp corners, represent conflict and danger.
In this drawing, the fruits are in the shape of a circle. Some are at the base of the tree to show us what can be ours when we give our lives to Jesus. I have added a few red triangles at the base of the tree. When we come to Christ, our lives are in conflict, and full of unresolved and unforgiven sin. As we put our trust in Him and confess our sins, He forgives us, and through His saving death on the Cross, we are accounted as righteous in the sight of God and are born again as a new creation, to live lives of perfect freedom in His service here on earth, and as we grow in Him, we will exhibit the fruit of the Spirit for the benefit of the Church and the world. Then, at our death, through His grace alone and through no merit of our own, we have the right to enter Heaven as God’s children, as co-heirs with Christ of His Kingdom.
At the foot of the tree in the drawing is the rising sun, giving light to all.
Mal. 4:2: But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings.
Materials used
Permanent black markers, coloured pencils, Tombow Dual Brush markers on smooth white card.
If my friend doesn’t like it or thinks it isn’t suitable for her book, I shall be very happy to draw her something else! It has been no hardship to make this drawing – in fact I spent a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and evening doing it.
