It is the desire of every artist to create imagery that harnesses art’s power to attract, inspire and move people profoundly. With his painting Kissing the Face of God, Morgan Weistling has been given precisely that opportunity.
“I started to contemplate the awesome privilege that Mary was given of being able to hold God in her arms,” said Weistling. “And yet, she cuddled and kissed Him, just as all mothers do with their babies. This cute little child whom she bore was also God in the flesh, but also He was still her baby. This thought propelled me right into this painting. I wanted it to be a very human representation of divinity.”
The painting glorifies the bond we as parents experience as well as all of us as children of God. “I was inspired by a song I heard one day,” explained Weistling. “The phrase ‘kissing the face of God’ immediately struck me with this powerful image of Mary and the Baby Jesus. The power of a simple kiss, it feels so real: the simple human emotion of a mother’s love for her child. Everybody relates to that primary expression of love.”
Asked if he thought the inspiration for the painting came from above, Weistling said, “God got my attention by showing me that the ability to paint that I thought was due to my hard work was actually a gift from Him. I woke up. I am thankful for the eyes I was given to see the world as the miracle that it is.”
As a contemporary masterpiece of faith and beauty, only Harry Anderson’s The Second Coming has garnered a more widespread following than Kissing the Face of God. Weistling described his hopes or the painting's legacy as a “prayer . . . that the viewer will be struck, as I am, with the amazing way that God chose to send His Son into this world — in pure humility.”
Through March 15, 2012, two very special deluxe framed Giclee canvas editions of Kissing the Face of God are being offered by The Greenwich Workshop Gallery with a 40 percent savings on the framing. These are no ordinary reproductions, but rather Greenwich Workshop Fine Art Canvases, guaranteed to be as stunning as the original work itself. Created in hand with the artist, each canvas is signed by Morgan Weistling and presented in a hand-applied, gold leaf finish wood frame worthy of the original painting. Kissing the Face of God will be the centerpiece of any room in which it hangs.