The paintings hanging in Kimball Espresso Gallery express two important aspects of Jody Coulston’s life — art and religion.
Coulston teaches a Bible class at her home on Fridays and works as an art teacher at Gig Harbor’s Lighthouse Christian School, instructing students from fourth through eighth grades. Her teaching venue covers general art, digital photography, drawing and painting, ceramics and fused glass.
“It’s fun,” she said. “Each semester we get to do something new.”
Painting on canvas with acrylics is something new, too. Only six months ago, the artist started to combine her faith with art by painting quotes from scriptures onto canvases splashed with color.
Some paintings feature warm autumn hues of rust, gold and brown, while others boast bright Mediterranean colors of aqua, green and blue.
“The colors are very organic,” Coulston said. “I use a lot of rich, earthy tones. I used to do interior design, and these are the colors in people’s homes. There are sides of the spectrum in each painting; they can pick up the colors of the walls around them.”
The writing on the paintings are word-for-word translations from the Bible.
“You go to church and you hear sermons, but when you study the word of God yourself, it takes you out of the times we’re living in,” she said. “These are very unsettling times.”
Coulston believes the combination of color and words can be comforting to those who read them.
“It’s not just art on the wall, there’s a meaning behind it,” she said. “There’s a depth, as we’re all searching for peace in these unstable times.”
Coulston creates personalized writings, including a painting for her teenage daughter with bold, modern lettering. A gift for her husband had soft, romantic calligraphy and swirling ribbons imprinted with tiny words of love.
The art often features bold, creative lettering and smaller print that sometimes runs behind or blends with other words, inviting the observer to step closer and become engrossed in the painting.
“Sometimes there’s verses upon verses,” she said. “It’s the same idea as when you study the Bible — it’s a verse over verse thing.
“I use everything from contemporary to more traditional typefaces. I make my own wooden calligraphy pens, or I freehand with a brush.”
Coulston has been successful with selling her work online. She creates custom orders and can design paintings with specific colors or verses.
She plans to spend her time off this summer expanding her work. Coulston participated in Winterfest at Peninsula High School last winter and has donated pieces for auctions at Lighthouse Christian School and different art schools in Tacoma.
She currently has work that hangs at the Mars Hill Church in West Seattle.
Coulston’s art show at Kimball will continue until the end of the month.
Faith artist and teacher Jody Coulston’s work can be found at www.paintingsforthesoul.com. The artist can create personalized pieces to individuals’ specifications.
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