Peace, Be Still

Mark 4:39Bedroom

$24.00
Some years the family says it out loud: this is a storm. A job goes, or a test comes back, and then the house is quiet at ten and you are the one still awake. Your anxiety is worst at night. On the wall you face from the bed there is a boat with people in it, leaning in over someone who has not sat up yet, and the last thing you look at before the lamp goes off is that, not your phone. Friends see a painting first. They ask about it, and you tell them in your own words.

1. Select your Finish: Print only

170 gsm archival matte paper, ships rolled

Perfect for self-framing

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Living room scripture print gift Mark 4

A boat full of worry, and one figure completely at rest

From the doorway it is water first: a dark swell under the hull, the boat tipped just enough that you feel it in your shoulders. Then the people. Four of them leaning in over one figure at the back, who is lying down, still, lit as though the light in the whole scene begins there.

Nothing has happened yet. Nobody has sat up, nobody has spoken. Living with it, the end of the day settles a little sooner; the worry is still yours, but it has somewhere else to rest its eyes.

One person sees people leaning in toward someone who has not sat up yet. Another sees a boat full of worry and one figure completely at rest. A sister stood in front of it and said it is the moment before anything is said, when the asking is already done. Nobody in the house has to agree, and a guest sees a painting before she sees scripture.

From the artist

The light gathers around the one who is lying down

Maren Hale
Maren Hale
Arrivals and still places

I keep coming back to the water at the rim of the boat, how it lifts and does not quite come in. The light does not fall from the sky here. It gathers low, around the figure at the back, and everyone else is lit by what is already in the boat with them. Hands reach toward him and have not arrived.

That gap is the part I cannot leave alone. Nothing has been said yet, the asking is finished, the answer is one breath away, and the whole scene holds still inside that pause. What I hope is that the room where this hangs grows quieter at night, and that the last thing she looks at is a boat carrying people who are not in it alone.

Scripture print gift

Two women buy this one, and neither of them says much

A sister buys it for a couple who have had a year of bad news, and she wraps it with nothing written on the card. She knows they do not want more things in the house; they have said as much, that they have everything they need and no space for more. This is less a thing than a place for their eyes to go, and it says what she cannot get out of her mouth without crying.

The other is the wife ordering it for herself after the season that changed everything. Nobody promised her an easy crossing, only the other side. She wants that on the wall she already looks at, not tucked in a drawer with the cards.

It hangs in the bedroom, on the wall faced from the bed, often as the right half of a pair above the dresser beside the broom tree piece, at 45 x 60 cm framed.

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A gift for a hard year

What arrives in the tube, and what arrives in the box

  • 170 gsm paper Matte uncoated in the print only version, printed to its edges. Coated silk behind the plexiglass when framed.
  • 12 mm black wood frame Flat square profile, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, matte finish, plexiglass front, no mat, the picture running to the inner edge.
  • Three sizes 30x40 cm, 45x60 cm and 60x80 cm. The middle one is the size that pairs, above a dresser.
Bible verse wall art

What people ask before they hang it

1.What large art goes above a couch without being busy?
One piece, large, with a lot of empty space inside it. This map is mostly water, so the eye has somewhere to rest instead of somewhere to work. Above a standard couch or a bed, the 60x80 cm size holds the wall on its own, with nothing hung beside it.
2.Which bible story is peace be still?
It comes from Mark 4, on the Sea of Galilee. The boats are crossing at night, a squall comes up, and the words in verse 39 are Peace, be still. The picture stays with the water rather than the storm, and it does not tell you how the story felt.
3.What christian art doesn't look preachy to guests?
A scene rather than a sentence. There is no lettering here, only a lake, a fleet heading in and one boat that stayed out. A guest sees a quiet map and asks about it, and you answer in your own words.
4.What is a good gift for someone going through a hard season?
Something she can live with rather than something she has to reply to. This one is often bought by a husband who has heard her say be still more than once, or by a friend who knows about the broken nights. If you write a card, one line is enough.
Living room bible verse wall art

The wall is already chosen. Only the size is left.

Framed at 45 x 60 cm is the one that sits above a dresser, if a pair is what you have in mind.

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