Walking On The Clouds Of Heaven

Oil On Board | 36" x 24" | from the series "God's Playground"
 
I grew up in Anniston, AL during the infamous reign of Governor George Wallace. My family’s history was and still is based in sharecropping in Georgia. My grandfather and grandmother left Georgia looking for something better and eventually jumped out of the frying pan landing in Anniston. My mother burden with a third grade education began her career in her preteens as a domestic worker. She moved   my sisters and me from Anniston to Dayton, OH where I started the ninth grade at Roosevelt High School. Art at Roosevelt was a passionate discovery that set me on my present path.
 
Living in Alabama introduced me to the joy and pain of religion and all of its components. I learn the power of the word and the spiritual relief of a good Sunday sermon. I was strongly instructed in the heavenly rewards for the righteous and the deadly destructive heat and suffering of Hell’s fire for those who do not abide by the word of God.
 
A Few years ago, a thought fought its way into my consciousness and refused to leave until we had a discussion. Throughout human history, we have all believed that if we lived right and obeyed His teachings, we were assured a place in Heaven. I asked myself, “If so many people are going to Heaven, would it not be over populated. What would they do all day when everything was provide by the Father?
Anything that they wished to do, I said.” If God is what we all believe him to be, his children would be free to roam the clouds of heaven as they wished without fear or restriction. All of Heaven would be theirs to explore and enjoy. God’s Playground evolved from this concept.