PSALMS OF LIGHT
CATALOGUE

All paintings come framed/matted as pictured unless otherwise specified.

Unsold paintings can be purchased through my shop. 

Photographs styled by Caitlin Morgan.

PSALM 103
"ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME, JOY"

Psalm 103: 1-5

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

​
Acrylic, acrylic ink, gold foil, silver foil, copper foil
Painting 11x15", framed dimensions 16x20"

SOLD

PSALM 103
"HE REMEMBERS WE ARE DUST"

 Acrylic ink, golf leaf, and charcoal on watercolor paper
12x12", framed dimensions 16x20"

SOLD
Ash Wednesday is one of my favorite days of the year. I find such hope in acknowledging my temporality and the deep longing I find when I look inward, coupled with the reality of a God who knows me and sees my brokenness and is piecing my frame back together to prepare me for everlasting joy:

​Psalm 103: 10-17

He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. ​

A PRAYER: ASH WEDNESDAY // PSALM 51
"WHAT A COST IT IS TO CLEANSE"

Acrylic ink and gold leaf
12x12", framed dimensions 16x20"

SOLD
v. 10-12

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 
The Book of Common Prayer

PSALM 91
"​THE GREAT PROTECTOR"

Acrylic ink, acrylic, and gold leaf on watercolor paper
Three 6x6" panels, framed as a triptych : finished dimensions TBA

SOLD
If I'm honest, most days I want to protect myself. I want to make the right list, use the right planner, read the right books, and be a total #girlboss. But in truth? I can't protect myself. There are storms we can't divert. Sometimes, you check off all of the boxes and things don't go your way. And often, I fail. The psalmist in Psalm 91 is clearly facing a physical battle, but in the face of such warfare, he is confident completely in God.  I don't think the psalmist is unprepared for this battle. I don't doubt he has skill and has worked hard, but he sees the truth: his protection isn't his skill or his hard work.  His security comes from God alone.

v. 1-2
'He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.” 

v.4
'He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.' 

And finally, God's promise: notice how he doesn't ask for our good behavior, our perfection, our righteousness...
He only asks for our love, that we seek him, that we ask for his help:

v.14-16
'Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.'

​PSALM 33
"HE PUTS THE DEEPS IN STOREHOUSES"

Acrylic ink, acrylic, copper leaf, and gold leaf on watercolor paper
11x15", framed dimensions 16x20"

SOLD
What must he be like, that he is capable of storing away the deeps, and he gave everything to know me and love us perfectly? 
v. 6-9
 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
For he spoke, and it came to be;
​he commanded, and it stood firm.

PSALM 33
"SHOUT FOR JOY"

Acrylic ink, acrylic, copper leaf, and gold leaf on watercolor paper
11x15", framed dimensions 16x20"

SOLD
Oh, what a joy it is to praise! 

One of my favorite quotes from Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs: "How foolish the man who does not raise his voice with joyful words as he alone can, [to] heaven's high King, to whom the light birds with no soul but air all day, everywhere, Laudation sing!"

v. 1-3
​Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.|
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to him la new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

PSALM 130
"YOU ARE THE DAWN FOR WHICH I WAIT"

Acrylic, acrylic ink, and copper leaf on canvas
24x24"

SOLD
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.

PSALM 95
"BREAK OUR HEARTS LIKE THE ROCK AT MERIBAH"

Acrylic ink and silver leaf on watercolor paper
18x24"

SOLD
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest."

PSALM 126
"FILLED WITH LAUGHTER"

Acrylic ink, acrylic, and gold leaf on two canvas panels
32x20" 

SOLD
When the Lord srestored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us;
we are glad.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like streams in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.

PSALM 68
"RESTORED"

Acrylic ink, acrylic, and gold leaf on watercolor paper
13x13" 

SOLD
God shall arise, his enemies shall be fscattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
 As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!

Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the Lord;
exult before him!
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
God settles the solitary in a home;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in ta parched land.

 PSALM 121
​"WE MUST LOOK OUTSIDE OURSELVES FOR HOPE"

Acrylic ink, acrylic, copper leaf, and gold leaf on watercolor paper
18x24

SOLD
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

PSALM 27
​"THE LONG WAIT"

Acrylic ink, acrylic, copper leaf, and gold leaf on gallery wrapped canvas
12x24x1.5"

SOLD
v. 1-4
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.

v. 13-14
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

PSALM 23
"IN THE COOL OF THE DAY"

Acrylic ink, charcoal, gold leaf, and copper leaf12x12", framed dimensions 16x20"

SOLD
In the first stanza of Psalm 23, we get a glimpse of how it was supposed to be for us:

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake."

In that stanza, we see a glimpse of Eden. A glimpse of what it must have been like to commune with God in rhythm, walking in the garden in the cool of the day. To be comforted, to be lead, to be restored, to be filled to the brim: all of it by him, all of it for him.

We see that kind of joy in glimpses throughout the Psalms. David, a man who lived with little peace in his life both by his own choices and by his circumstances, still felt that kind of rest. He still lived in that joy, even though he found himself east of Eden.

Lent offers us a window into the total reliance upon God through fasting and prayer. Why would we give up a type of food, social media, or another practice? Is it to show our absolute willpower? Is it to think we can bear some of the suffering that Christ bore on the cross? No. It is to open the door to deeper communion with God. It is to pursue fulfillment in God instead of those things that come into our hearts when our lips say 'God is enough for me,' and our hearts whisper, 'as long as I get to keep this one thing.' And the act of fasting is not to make ourselves great or have someone marvel at our discipline, but instead to point to him: look at this God, this God who can fulfill me more than any earthly comfort.

PSALM 22 
"THE BROKEN WILL BE MADE NEW"

Acrylic ink, silver leaf, copper leaf, and gold leaf on watercolor paper
11x15", framed dimensions 16x20"

SOLD
Psalm 22 is often called 'The Psalm of the Cross'. I feel like I could do 100 paintings of this one Psalm and never fully capture it's facets. 
​
A potsherd is a broken piece of pottery, often discarded in a heap and waiting to be burned up in the kiln. It is utterly useless - useless even more than a broken piece of pottery, which can be repaired. If we, even our strength, is compared to a potsherd, then we are utterly useless. It must even mean that God isn't even able to fix us! The answer, though, is even more amazing. Of course God could fix us, but he wants to take things a step further: he wants to make us completely new. After all, he did it with Jesus. David's words below point so vividly to Jesus that it is no wonder this is called "The Psalm of the Cross."

This quote, almost identical, appeared in two books I'm currently reading:"God gives life to the dead. He calls things that are not, as though they are." That quote comes from Romans, and it blows my mind every time.

When we are bone-weary, in despair, and empty, we can look to these words and know that Jesus willingly entered into our suffering, a suffering that became his, all so that we might be made new.  God kept his promises to us through Jesus. Jesus was the answer to the problem of our separation from God, sin. Jesus was God's fulfillment of his promise to us: to buy us back and make us new.

What must He be like?
​
v. 14-23
"I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet--
I can count all my bones--
they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.

But you, O Lord, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him."

PSALM 116
"YOU HAVE DELIVERED MY EYES FROM TEARS"

Acrylic ink and copper leaf on watercolor paper
11x14"

SOLD
​v. 5-9
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

PSALM 131
​"QUIET SOUL"

Acrylic ink and silver leaf on canvas panel
16x20"

SOLD
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me. 
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.

PSALM 114
"DEEP WATERS"

Acrylic ink, silver leaf, and gold leaf
​18x24"

SOLD
v.14-18
​
Deliver me from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.

Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Hide not your face from your servant;
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!

PSALM 71
​"WHO IS LIKE YOU"

Acrylic ink and silver leaf on watercolor paper
11x14, framed dimensions 16x20"

SOLD
v.19-24

O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.

I will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.
And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been put to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.

PSALM 118
'THE GATES HAVE BEEN OPENED'

Acrylic ink, acrylic, and silver leaf16x20

SOLD
v.17-24

The Lord is my strength and my song;  he has become my salvation.
Glad songs of salvation  are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,
the right hand of the Lord exalts,  the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!” I shall not die, but I shall live,  and recount the deeds of theLord.
The Lord has disciplined me severely,  but he has not given me over to death.

Open to me the gates of righteousness,  that I may enter through them  and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;  the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me  and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected  has become the cornerstone.

This is the Lord's doing;  it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;  let us rejoice and be glad in it!
All artwork, photographs, and text on this site are copyright © Kelly Kruse, 2014-2024. No content may be used without express permission from the artist. All rights reserved.