"Gethsemane - A Maundy Thursday Grace
by William Doughty
(Watercolor, 2000, 26" x 60", triptych)
St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church - Wilmette, IL
whnndoughty@aol.com
 

 
Our parish art committee had been seeking an appropriate work for the wall at the south end of our parish hall. We had found fine works for the other walls, but nothing we saw had seemed to be right for that last space. Then on Maundy Thursday came a moment of what I believe was true grace. “Why not create a large watercolor painting of the Garden of Gethsemane? What could be more appropriate there?” The idea burst into my mind while kneeling in the soft, quiet beauty of the chapel.
 
My painting of the Garden does not portray what we actually saw in Jerusalem back in 1999 (we had found an unexpectedly small, formal-looking area, perfectly gridded by neat gravel paths). Instead, my inspiration came from what I think it may well have looked like in Jesus’ time, and what it means for me. Gethsemane shows the breadth of God’s wondrous love for us, He who is with us in mystery, brooding and sadness. Yet that place was also a garden, an oasis of natural beauty above the rugged Kidron Valley. My painting embodies this vision, and my hope is that others will see that as well.

The painting is a gift in memory of the many beloved persons who have graced our community of St. Augustine’s.