A Peaceable Habitation

Isaiah 32:18Living room

$24.00

The search took longer than you expected, and then one day the keys were yours. Now there is a wall facing the door, and on it a valley with the hills standing around one low house, still water at the bottom, nobody hurrying anywhere. It is the thing you look at from the sofa when the day has been loud. People compliment it before they notice the small line of scripture under the picture, and then they ask, and you get to say what it means to you. The room reads as a settled, quiet one.

1. Select your Finish: Print only

170 gsm archival matte paper, ships rolled

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Perfect for self-framing

Framed+ $35.00

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12x16 in / 30x40 cm18x24 in / 45x60 cmMost popular+ $10.0024x32 in / 60x80 cm+ $20.00

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Isaiah 32:18

The first quiet evening after a long search

By eight the house has gone quiet. You are on the sofa with one lamp on and the door closed, and across the room the valley is still there, the way it was at breakfast.

The hills come down around a single low house, and the roof is small enough that you have to look for it. Below it the water has stopped moving. Nothing in the picture is on its way anywhere, and that is what it gives you at the end of a loud day: somewhere to put your eyes that asks nothing back.

Your sister calls it a house that the hills stand around. A friend who came for dinner said she saw the first quiet evening after a long search, and then went quiet herself for a moment. You mostly see still water at the bottom of a valley with nobody hurrying. Nobody agrees on it, nobody needs to, and the room reads as settled either way.

Framed watercolour of a sheltered valley with one low house, hung in a living room above a sofa

From the artist

The water has stopped moving

Maren Hale

Arrivals and still places

The light comes down the far slope before it reaches the house. That is what I keep returning to: the hills hold the hollow the way cupped hands hold water, and the one roof sits low inside it, small, already lit. Below, the surface has gone flat. Nothing in the valley is on its way anywhere tonight.

There is a gap between the house and the water, wide enough to walk in a few minutes. Nobody is walking it. I hope whoever hangs this looks up from the sofa one evening and finds the room has gone quiet around her, and that she lets the quiet stay longer than she thinks she is allowed to.

Bible verse wall hangings

For your own wall, or for hers

Close view of the valley print in a slim black frame on a living room wall

One woman buys it for herself, in the first months in a house she waited a long time for. The boxes are mostly gone, the walls are still bare, and she keeps thinking that a home should make her happy and be a reflection of her. This is the first thing she hangs, and it is the one she hangs facing the door.

The other buys it for a friend who, lots of heart breaks later, finally found one. She does not want to say much in the card. She writes that this is a new season of safety, and that her friend deserves a safe place, and lets the picture carry the rest.

It belongs on the chimney breast or the wall you see as you come in, with the 60 x 80 cm framed size holding the middle of the wall beside a map or a shelf.

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Moving in

What you are actually hanging

170 gsm uncoated paper Print only arrives as a sheet of 170 gsm matte uncoated paper, printed to its edges. No shine under a lamp.
12 mm black wood frame Flat square profile, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, matte finish, plexiglass front, no mat, on 170 gsm coated silk paper.
Three sizes 30x40 cm (12x16 in), 45x60 cm (18x24 in) and 60x80 cm (24x32 in). The largest one holds a chimney breast on its own.
Giclee print The soft edges of the hills and the pale water stay soft, the way they look in the original.

Peaceable habitation

What people ask about this one

1.What does Isaiah 32 18 mean by a peaceable habitation?

The line sits in Isaiah 32, in a passage about what settles once righteousness comes: my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. The picture does not spell that out. It gives you a valley with the hills standing around one low house and still water at the bottom, and leaves the reading to whoever lives with it.

2.What is a good bible verse for a new home?

Isaiah 32:18 is one of the most quoted ones for a first house, because it speaks about dwelling rather than about achieving. It suits a friend who has just found a place after a long search, and it suits a season when a difficult year has finally let go. Many people write one line in the card, something like a new season of safety, and let the picture say the rest.

3.What scripture art works in a modern living room?

A quiet landscape with no lettering across it sits more easily in a plain room than a lettered sign does. This one is watercolour in soft greens and greys, with a slim black frame and no mat, so it reads as a picture first. Hung on the chimney breast or the wall facing the door, it works beside a map, a mirror or an open shelf.

4.Will guests who are not religious still see it as art?

Most of the time they compliment it before they notice the small verse line, which is exactly what it is made to do. There are no faces and no slogan, so one person sees a sheltered valley, another sees a house somebody finally came home to. When they ask, you get to answer in your own words.

Scripture wall hangings