Ruth

My husband says there does not seem to be much in this painting. That spaciousness is intentional.

I placed the three women in the foreground and left a wide stretch of empty land between them and Bethlehem. The distance suggests Naomi’s journey into a foreign country, while the emptiness also reflects the famine in her homeland. The women themselves are empty-handed, carrying little except loss, uncertainty, and the hope of what may lie ahead.
Naomi wears the blue I assigned to the tribe of Judah when I created the tribal banners in Numbers. Her daughters-in-law are dressed in greenish colors unlike any of the tribal banners, indicating that they are Moabites rather than members of one of Israel’s tribes. Yes, I know this may seem like a great deal of detail, but these are my long winter projects, and I am in no hurry with them.
At the top of the painting, centered between the hills, is the town of Bethlehem. Women dressed in Judah blue are gleaning in the green fields of Boaz, where Naomi and Ruth will find provision. Nearby, one of Boaz’s servants tends the flock and watches over Ruth.
The threshing building recalls the place where Ruth appealed to Boaz as her family redeemer. His faithful obedience to the responsibilities of kinship and inheritance opened the way for Ruth’s marriage to Boaz and for the birth of their son, who became part of the family line of David.
When I finished the painting, my husband told me that Boaz should have been placed more prominently. Without his obedience to the marriage and inheritance laws, he argued, no redemption would have taken place. I agreed that Boaz played an important role. Even so, the book is not named Boaz. It is named Ruth.