Heather Bellamy spoke with Christian artist Oliver Pengilley

Oliver Pengilley

Heather: When did you first begin to paint? Please could you give us a bit of your background?

Oliver: I was encouraged from an early age to draw, my father and mother both being artistic. I would spend hours copying images from wildlife books, I loved to draw nature and animals. I went through many different phases growing up though and taught myself how to draw many things including comic book characters, movie stars, trees and tigers.

I continued to draw till I was about 11yrs old and then started to paint, in Acrylic. The pictures changed in subject matter as I left school, focusing more on things I could create myself instead of just copying. College was a great opportunity to spend more time developing my own style, although animals were still a strong focus point for me.

Heather: What does art mean to you personally? What are you trying to achieve?

Holding On To The Light

Oliver: Art is a way of speaking to people, relating to emotions we all have...but not just leaving it there, I like to show the answer, Gods love for us all, the hope and freedom there is in knowing him personally, as a father.

There are people out there with real answers for those in need, but often get shut down quickly in conversation, words take time to sink in and make sense to a generation that is fed on images. A picture speaks to the heart, it by-passes the logical side of the brain and can touch people in an instant. I want my pictures to show Gods love, and to help those that already know him, to hear him and connect with him more easily.

Painting is also a great way to express the prophetic, people often get images from Jesus that speak to people in a very personal way.

Heather: What sort of things do you paint? What's your favourite painting you've done?

Oliver: I always like to include wildlife and nature in my paintings, along with an atmosphere that creates the desired mood. I want all my paintings to glorify God and this can be done in many ways, through what he has created, to aspects of my walk with him spiritually. I want to include the natural and spiritual.

Favourite painting, well, there are paintings that I feel have taken my work into a new area, these paintings are about 6 months to a year apart and I cherish each one. They hold a certain memory for me and my walk with Jesus.

Heather: Describe the process you go through when doing a painting? How do you get the ideas?

Breaking Chains

Oliver: Like I mentioned earlier, I started with copying photos of things that inspired me. I always take my camera with me on walks, and am always taking my own photos of things and people that I know I could use in a painting. I have a huge library of photos now. But over the last four or five years I have been spending more time with Jesus and he shows me pictures in my heart and then, in some cases, I look for the photos that will help me express the visual image I have been given. This picture can be for just one person the Lord wants to speak to or a group of people.

In other cases I just start to paint during worship times in church services and let the Holy spirit guide me and tell me as I paint what to paint!

When I start to paint, I always start with the light, keeping the light is the most important thing. I want to draw people into the painting, so I often have darker edges to the painting.