Arms High & Heart Abandoned (2026)

Arms High & Heart Abandoned reimagines the story of Jonah at the moment surrender begins to replace resistance. Inspired by the stained glass light of Sainte-Chapelle, I transformed the interior of the whale into a cathedral-like sanctuary where illumination filters softly through rib-like forms and sacred windows. I wanted the space within the belly of a beast to feel contemplative and expansive, suspended between wandering and return.

The title comes from the lyric “so I’ll stand with arms high and heart abandoned,” a posture of spiritual release and worship. I painted this piece during the moonlit hours of the final weeks of my engineering career, finishing it in the first week of stepping fully into my vocation as an artist. In moments of searching, I often return to stained glass imagery as a way of reconnecting with a memory that has remained with me since first standing inside Sainte-Chapelle years ago as a lost college student, overwhelmed by the realization that beauty itself could carry me back toward divine presence.

The reflective water was shaped in part by the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, particularly the line “bind my wandering heart to thee.” Within the recesses of the painting, I imagine even the quietest prayer echoing through this unexpected sanctuary.