Forgiven Note Card (with envelope)

The “Forgiven” painting by Richard L George

The backstory to “The Forgiven” artwork:

There was a man I knew who used to rail against religion and mock prayer. He later on turned to God but was afraid to tell anybody. He was greatly influenced by Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity.

One day he called me and told me that he wasn’t afraid to say that he believed anymore. In fact he was evangelizing every chance he got. He had a project that he wanted my help with. He was creating a booklet explaining the “Our Father” prayer and he enlisted my help to obtain permissions to use certain artwork that he had picked out for illustrations in the booklet.

One of the pieces of art was about Mary Magdalene and forgiveness. They were taking longer than my Uncle wanted to wait and when they finally did respond I couldn’t obtain permission for that piece of art without having to pay ongoing royalties. The man wanted a one-time fee so he decided to just keep looking for a different image.

I told him that I would do a sketch for him while he looked for something else to replace it, and if he liked it he could use it.

In turn, I pondered the thought of the sincerely repentant heart that disposes itself to receive the greatness of God’s mercy and love. My thoughts while creating it, “What would that moment look like, what have I witnessed in life and what has it been like for me?” It is the witness of the miracle of radical conversion that only happens by the grace and gift of God. And so, the fruit of “The Forgiven” was crafted.