Category Archive: Hillary Asbury

Inked in the Faith

By Hillary Asbury –

At the end of next month, I will be exhibiting at my church’s district convention in Irvine, CA.

This means that for the next few weeks I will be gearing up: getting my booth materials ready and organized, counting inventory, sending files out for print, and matting prints. I don’t enjoy this part particularly, but traveling with my work is always a little nerve-racking, and I insist on everything being done the right way before I go. As much as I get anxious about everything being just so, I love going to these conferences.

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Pointing to Jesus with Michelangelo

By Hillary Asbury –

Michelangelo Buonnarotti’s “Holy Family” is also referred to as the “Doni Tondo” in reference to its round shape (“tondo”) and the family that commissioned it (the Doni family).

It is perhaps one of my very favorite oil paintings in history. It resides at the Uffizzi in Florence, Italy, and the first time I saw it in person, I was enchanted, though I couldn’t say why at the time. I remember being pulled in by the rich colors and smooth brush strokes first, and then being carried away by the sweeping composition.

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Empty Walls, Empty Halls

By Hillary Asbury –

The visual arts are an important part of the life of the Church, even if it is sometimes difficult to see it.

 In some churches, the use of art is bold and seamlessly intertwined with worship and liturgy. Paintings, mosaics, carved marble, and stained-glass windows adorn ancient and modern sanctuaries alike. In some of these churches the artwork takes over the entire building, manifesting in an overwhelming display of God’s word, reminding us that there is something bigger than us, something outside of ourselves that bursts into our lives and claims us. Many times, the imagery sprawled across the architecture of these churches endeavors to tell the entire epoch of law and gospel, of sin and salvation, from the fall of Adam to the resurrection of Christ.

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Illustration of the Month: Valley of Dry Bones

By Hillary Asbury –

Every month I will be featuring an “Illustration of the Month,” a digital image that can be downloaded at www.hillaryasbury.com, for free, for use in church or home. My hope is that this simple offering will aid in the edification of our families and communities.

This month’s image (available for the month of May only) is an illustration inspired by Ezekiel 37: 1-14, The Valley of Dry Bones:

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Loving Work

By Hillary Asbury –

Whoever said “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life” was full of baloney.

I love what I do, and I still do all kinds of things that feel like work! I love painting, and I love serving people and churches with my art. But I work all the time. I maintain websites, professional profiles, and subscriptions. I’m self-employed, so I maintain the business side of everything I do. I draw up and negotiate contracts. I make drives out miles away for conferences and meetings about commissions. I edit my work digitally and send files out for print. I network, exchange business cards, and shake hands.

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Art Underground

By Hillary Asbury –

The catacombs of Rome are a vast, labyrinthine network of passageways. They are cavernous: dark, cold, bleak, and eerie. Death lingers there. In the stillness and quiet of the depths, you can feel it. Long after the tombs fell into disuse, forgotten for centuries, they still whisper of finality… as though you can hear the last breaths of those ancient bones echo in the distance.

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