I believe you can tell a lot about a person from his or her likes in Art and Music. So I am going to start my personality profile, as it were, by sharing the kind of art I like. Art gives you an insight into both a person's inner fantasy world which, if given half the chance, he would like to turn into reality, and also the kinds of values he aspires to. To help convey to you what sort of person I am inside, I am going to share some of my favourite pictures. Both the artistic style as well as the subject material will tell you much about the way I am.
Though I could not describe a single artist that corresponds to my 'wavelength', as it were, the one who comes closest is probably the American portrait painter William Whitaker. You'll not find him in the Encyclopedia Britannica and possibly not in other popular reference books which is in a way appropriate because I think some of the greatest geniuses ever never came to public prominence.
It is hard for me to pick out just a few of Whitaker's masterpieces because I like almost everything he ever produced. The portrait below, titled Woods, ranks as one of my favourites because it conveys something of the grace, naturalness, elegance and beauty of the fair sex.
A man's wives should be viewed by him as Christian/Messianic princesses and queens, and treated as such. This lady simply, by her poise, reveals that she has a queen-like disposition. Isn't it inspiring?
My second sample reflects something of the image of paradise I carry around in me. I love flowers, porticos (as you will see in the architecture portion), animals, and well kept gardens in general. From what I have seen of heaven in visions, the clothing there is simple and yet extraordinarily beautiful, and not at all unlike the dress this woman is wearing.
Whilst the winter climate here almost forces women to wear trousers I have to say that long elegantly flowing dresses are my favourite, especially white ones, though I am fond of many styles of clothing. I do not like the jeans-and-tea-shirt culture which bespeaks shoddiness and carelessness. At the same time I do not believe women should spend hours on end preening themselves in order to make themselves beautiful. Though there is much a woman can do to present herself nicely, it is not necessary to so completely alter her appearance as to become virtually unrecognisable. I will share my tastes in dress standards on a separate page. Anyway, looking at this picture makes me want to be right there!
There are so many other beautiful Whitacker portraits that I think it best you visit his site yourself at: www.williamwhitaker.com.
As you have probably already discerned, I do not like modernist painting. I am best described as a romantic in my tastes.
Another artist I admire is the Victorian Dutchman Alma-Tadema. He is, of course, well known in artistic circles and there are many websites displaying his pictures which you can locate using any search engine. Here is one called Female Poet:
I like this painting not just because of its content and atmosphere but because of the shere richness and detail. It's almost as good as a high quality colour photograph! Alma-Tadema always painted like that. Some of his other images appear on my main webpage, for example, at
Romance in Polygamy.
There are many wonderful modern artists who paint in the classical fashion for whom fame will never come simply because the coarse and vulgar modern world isn't interested in them. From time to time I come across some really wonderful ones whilst surfing on the net and I have saved them for personal enjoyment. I do not know who the artists are, I'm afraid, or even if some of these pictures are copyrighted. I would be more than willing to add links to the artists' pages if anyone knows who they are, and will remove them if the artists wish it. In the meantime, here are an assortment of portraits which I think are quite excellent. The following are of babies and of children, something that as a father with many of my own, is despecially dear to me.
The most beautiful child portrait that I have ever seen, which conveys such innocence and purity, is the Victorian one by an unknown artist (below):
To find children these days with such a spirit in them is getting rarer and rarer - liitle wonder that so many contemporary adults are insensitive and brutish. Cultivating this spirit in my own children is one of my aims. It is so important that patriarchal Christians/Messianics strive hard to restore true femininity in their daughters by showing them that which is of most valuable to the Christian/Messianic man: virtue, humility and purity (amongst others).
Though perhaps I should reserve this painting for my Music Page I felt it just had to be put in here. This is, I think, another of Whitaker's portraits. Unfortunately, I was negligent enough to forget to record the artist's name.
The point of this picture is to show how important I think it is to cultivate sensitivity in our boys and young men to counteract both the macho male brutishness of the Rock and Rap culture and the effeminate male sissy and pervert of the homosexual milieu which we find ourselves surrounded by. Both masculinity and femininity have been grostesquely distorted by modern culture and I see as one of my missions to raise sons who have neither of these pathological traits. Strength and sensitivity may be said to be my watchwords.
This leads me naturally on to the ideal male, and in particular, how I look upon Patriarchy, a term seem almost universally in negative terms. Many women have this absurd idea that all Christian/Messianic polygamous husbands belong to the male macho breed. Perhaps some do but I do not. The drawing below more than any other I have come across so far reflects something of the patriarchal spirit that I stand for, combining the elements of firmness with gentleness, and strictness with overflowing love. The man in this picture displays both strength and tenderness of the kind which reminds me of my Saviour, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ).
I have purposefully omitted religious art from this collection and have chosen instead to focus on people. However, I intend to make two exceptions by including a fine painting of the family of Abraham as imagined by a National Geographic artist many years ago, and also of the same pedigree a portrait of Sarah and Hagar in the marketplace. I especially like the sense of 'extended family' that this picture conveys - of community and shared life such as we in our own community are striving after.
This picture of Sarah and Hagar is likewise fascinating though who can tell if it has any bearing on how they actually looked. Our own Books of Abraham as well as the pseudepgraphical Book of Jasher lead me to believe that much of the atmosphere and dress habits here are correct.
I enjoy most artistic media - oil, water-colour, crayon, charcoal. I hope you have enjoyed this very tiny sample I have picked out for you.
Finally, we move on to photography which, if I could afford it, I would do a lot more of. Fine art photography - both black-and-white and colour - also interests me a lot. I am a very keen amateur photographer myself.
My passion for art makes it difficult for me to close this section. I have not included scenes from nature because these are potentially infinite - Elohim (God) has truly made things well! So I end here both for want of time and for fear of cluttering up HEM's server with large graphics images.
This has been an ode to the beauty of the human form and Yahweh's greatest creative work. Such things cause me to praise the Most High Elohim (God) for His genius and sense of beauty. How I love what He has made!
Author: SBSK
