Checkmated by Matthew Rouse
Medium: Watercolor on Paper
Size: 9 x 12 inches
Artist Statement & Poem:
Checkmated
I put up a furious fight;
Kept your angels in flight.
Wouldn’t give up my ground,
My victory to be found.
But you would not relent,
Your son for me was sent.
My redemption fated;
By His blood, my sin checkmated.
My name is Matthew Rouse and I’m from Nebraska. The painting I’ve submitted is called “checkmated” and it has a companion poem with the same title.
My relationship with Christ is the most important thing to me and about me. It wasn’t always that way though and that’s what this painting represents: Christ pursuit and victory over my sinful life, represented by the black chest pieces. Both the king and queen are checkmated; the king being my soul and the queen as my worldly lust. I painted his hand bleeding to signify the means by which my life has been redeemed.
Everything in the background is blurred and chaotic because that was how I lived my life prior to salvation. Christ reached through the chaos. My fist clenched to show the fight I put up trying to hold onto my sinful life. My acceptance of Christ, as the Lord of my life wasn’t without struggle.
Lastly, I painted his pieces with a blue hue to represent the clouds and sky, to which he has ended after his resurrection, which is the basis of my hope.
Image description: A watercolor painting from a bird’s eye view of a hand that appears to be bleeding and reaching for a chess piece on a mustard yellow chess board. The opponent’s hand is balled up into a fist.