After her diving accident in 1967, Joni Eareckson Tada had to learn how to live life as a quadriplegic. Breaking her neck changed the way she handled everything, including brushes.
It was Joni’s occupational therapist who taught her to write, type, and draw holding pencils between her teeth. And when she got out of the hospital, she kept at it. Joni learned to hold paintbrushes in her mouth, opening the doors for her to create again! Since then Joni has applied the artistic talent that God has given her to glorify him through her artwork.
How astonishing it must have been to look up and see hundreds of angels bursting through the veil of night to announce peace and good tidings of great joy. Imagine the thrill of that dazzling moment!
If I were an angel announcing the incarnation of Jesus Christ, come to save the world of their sins, I would be exhilarated with joy!
I wanted to paint that moment…
I was completely at a loss when, in 1980, I was asked to create a completely unique and original work of art for a Billy Graham Christmas television special. Mr. Graham wanted me to create an exclusive rendering of Mary and Baby Jesus that had never been done before. I was honored, but wondered what I could do differently than the many artists who had gone before me…
Depending on the type of painting, I don’t always keep scraps from my planning process, things like original color tests, rough sketches, and experiments of different styles of compositions. Most of those items make it no further than the wastebasket. But when it comes to painting horses, I like to keep most everything, even rumpled papers from my initial ideas and inspirations…
When I first sketched this perky pony, I thought no further than rendering it in pastel pencil…
Whether they be the soft, misty hills of the Smoky Mountains or the towering peaks of the Rockies, a mountain has always lifted my spirits. Even now, I can sit at the base of a glacier-scarred peak, and I can feel dizzy with amazement at what it does to my soul.
I wonder if that’s how David felt when he wrote Psalm 61, “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Or when he was in the foothills of Mount Hermon, I wonder if he sang Psalm 121, “I look to the hills; from where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”
With my brush soaked in wet, brown paint, I lightly pressed it against the paper to create tree trunks. Then, I gently lifted my brush off the surface and watched the paint trickle down the paper to create branches. After the color set, we flipped the composition upright and I painted the buck and his doe…
To me, that describes the Christian life. Our trials appear to be mountainous obstacles looming ahead of us. We imagine frightening heights from which we could fall, scary ledges from which we could tumble, and pinnacles that make our heads spin. We question what awaits us at the crest of our trial…
Many years ago, Ken and I had the opportunity to travel to Israel. We saw and did so much during our brief visit, but the highlight of our trip inspired me to paint one of the largest canvases I ever attempted.
One sunny afternoon, toward the end of our visit to the Holy Land, we drove high up on a hill overlooking the ruins of Capernaum. We got out and…
If I had a “signature art piece,” it might just be New Life. I finished this butterfly study the year I turned 28, and many fell in love with it because of the final scenes in the movie Joni. In this mixed media artwork, you can capture a glimpse of some of the questions for which I sought answers at the time.
Not long before I began work on this piece, my sisters and I took our family’s camper up into the Rocky Mountains. It was impossible for me to join them on their hikes, and one day…
My daddy was a master craftsman and a huge force for good in my life. As a child I would often watch him at work, in awe of his skill at just about everything he put his mind to.
In the evenings, after dinner, Daddy would retire to his desk, pull out his big wooden paint box from underneath, dampen his brushes with gel, and paint the most stunning portraits and landscapes. Often when my dad…
Drawing with My Mouth: My First Effort
It was my first week in occupational therapy, shortly after the diving accident in which I broke my neck. I was so demoralized at the prospects of being a quadriplegic for the rest of my life. Whatever in the world would I do with myself?
My OT asked me to grip a wooden dowel between my teeth so I could practice ‘writing’ or ‘drawing’ on a damp piece of clay shaped in an oval.
I did not like the idea, but since there wasn’t much else I could do…
I gave it a try.
I drew my favorite subject: a horse. You can imagine my surprise when, after a few minutes, I finished my cowboy on his bucking bronco. “I can actually do something,” I thought, “The talent isn’t in my hands; it’s in my head!” It was the beginning of my love affair with drawing and painting!
The Run
Horses have always inspired Joni. Growing up on a Maryland farm where she became a skilled equestrian, she grew to understand the anatomy of a horse. Although her quadriplegia prevents her from horseback riding, Joni still gets engaged with horses through her drawings and paintings.
This pastel pencil rendering was originally intended as a preliminary sketch for a watercolor. “I cropped the outline of a horse as close as I could, while preserving the grace and dynamism of his run,” says Joni. “If you take your thumb and cover the eye of the horse, he lacks life – he looks like one of those Greek statues with no arms or legs. But when you take your thumb away, it’s clear how much life and vitality is communicated through the eye. Whether in horses or humans, the eyes are truly a window into the soul!”
The Run never became a watercolor. Joni decided it should remain a pastel-pencil drawing. “Besides, after chewing through almost 70 pencils,” she says, “I felt I had invested way too much in this drawing to simply have it stay in a drawer in my art files.”
Joni presented The Run to her husband, Ken Tada, as a wedding gift shortly after they married in 1982. The framed original hangs in their home in Calabasas, California. On display here is a limited edition of The Run – this limited edition, and others, are available through our store.
Heaven…Your Real Home
In 1994 when I wrote my book on heaven, the publisher asked if I would like to create a design for the cover of the book. I jumped right in!
When I think of my ‘mansion in glory,’ I picture wheat fields, mountains, and a little ranch house under a big sycamore tree. And so, I drew this rendering using nothing but pastel pencils on an illustration board, 21” high and a little over 16” wide. Blue and gold are the predominant colors in this pastel pencil sketch – colors of the King.
The peaceful horizontal lines contrast with the exalted, vertical lines of the sunlight – communicating two wonderful aspects of heaven: serenity and exaltation. In heaven, we will both be at complete peace, while being active in service for our wonderful Lord.
A limited edition of this original was created and at the bottom was printed:
2 Peter 3:13 – “but in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”
Forget that I chewed through 72 pastel pencils to render this drawing. To me, I just want the viewer to enjoy thinking about heaven when they admire this work of art. What will our mansions in heaven really be like? Who knows?! I’m just grateful that our eternal home will be in the city of the great King!
