“I Shall Be Whole”
{ The Woman with an Issue of Blood }
Painted by Al Young
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And, behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
The story behind I Shall Be Whole
We tend to see ourselves--even to define ourselves--in terms of our problems. We live with our problems day in and day out, night in and night out. We puzzle over them, pray about them, strive to solve them, wonder why we have them, and wonder if they will ever go away.
Our tendency to be preoccupied with our problems is so great that if we don't actually have a problem, we turn to our fears and occupy ourselves with worry and dread about problems we might have--defining ourselves in terms of our fears instead of our problems.
In reaching toward the hem of the Savior's garment, this woman is looking beyond her problem and reaching past it. This is a picture of what to do about a problem, any problem. This is a picture of all of us.
The woman in the painting appears at the massive base of a portal which, it can be rightly supposed, rises far above her; far above anything she has any hope of being able to reach. Furthermore, there is nothing in her immediate surroundings that is inviting, yielding, comforting, or reassuring. Even the stones are scarred with age and stories of abuse too dreadful to contemplate.
Nothing in the figure's built environment consists with her nature as a beloved child of our Heavenly Father. She is, in fact, in a traffic area where, if she remains, there is every reason to suppose she will be trodden down. Such is the universal and individual plight of mankind.
Knowing all of these things beforehand, our Heavenly Father sent Heaven down to us in the person of His Only Begotten Son. In the person of the Messiah, as well as in the person of his authorized servants, Heaven is here on earth, going about doing good.
In this painting, light is a poem about goodness, for light is not content to stay at home, so to speak, but must roam the world searching for people to help and heal. Light--just like genuine goodness--is always looking into the dark places of the world, searching for all the jewels of Heaven that may have fallen there and gotten lost.
Instead of trying to show how far we have fallen, in this fallen world, from the presence of that God who made us, and with whom we dwelt before we were born, the painting focuses on the fact that Heaven has come down to us, and but the faith to touch the hem of His garment is sufficient to heal.
When we see ourselves for what we really are, we realize that we are nothing. Our wisdom is folly. Our knowledge is ignorance. Our strength is weakness. Yet even in the depth of our pathetic extremity, if we turn to Him while He is near, and strive with all of our pathetic might to reach for Him; if all we can manage is the momentary touch of the hem of His garment, it will be enough.
Curatorial Details
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© By Al Young, All Rights Reserved. You may not print, copy, or reproduce this artwork or make derivative works from it without the prior written consent of the copyright holder. For permissions, please review our FAQ page.From the Newsroom
By Al R. Young
only high-end custom frames
We have framed our own artworks for more than 30 years, and during that time we have provided a variety of framing services to patrons upon request. For many reasons—including constant changes in the availability of moulding styles—we cannot offer off-the-shelf framing options or response times typically associated with such a service. Of necessity, all of our framing projects are aproached, priced, and billed as constuling projects... Read more »
Tags: Into The West, Spring Rain, North Country, The Grey Havens, Journey's End, Looking Back, Enchanted Stillness, Bedtime Story, In The High Valley, The Daydream, Before The Ball, Old Shannon, Pavane, Sweet Brier, Legend, Mountain Home, And I...
By Al R. Young
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2021 October 13... Read more »
By Al R. Young This book, published by Covenant Communications, features personal narratives from scholars, authors, speakers, and artists, accompanied by original artworks from more than 200 contemporary artists. Paintings from Al Young Studios include the following, along with personal narratives written by the artists.
Bearing A Child In Her ArmsI Shall Be Whole... Read more »
Tags: I Shall Be Whole, Bearing A Child In Her Arms, 3rd-party Publications, 2020, News
By Al R. Young
the story in this painting
the creation of this paintingOriginal artworks produced by the Artists of Al Young Studios are part of themed collections because the Studios is organized after the pattern of the Renaissance workshops of the old masters. The Artists take the long view of their work as being a lifetime journey toward mastery of artistic expression through selected techniques, reaching as far back as the 16th century. Artists work as peers in an intensely creative community in which each artist pursues his or her own work as part of the group's philosophy... Read more »
Tags: I Shall Be Whole, 2020, Exhibits
By Al R. Young Women of the New Testament by Camille Fronk Olson is the companion volume to Women of the Old Testament, published by Deseret Book in 2009.
The New Testament volume features fifty six illustrations from the Artists of Al Young Studios, listed here under the Studios' fine art collections and portfolios to which they belong.
From the Women of the Bible Fine Art CollectionFull-color details (cropped images) from the following 29 paintings appeared in the book (in the order in which they appear here)... Read more »
Tags: I Shall Be Whole, I Say Unto Thee, Arise, The Windows Of Heaven, The Miracle Of Forgiveness, What Is Truth, Under Whose Wings Thou Art Come To Trust, Unto The City Of David, A Damsel Came To Hearken, By The Wayside, Living Water, Waiting...
By Al R. Young The Miracles of Jesus, published by Deseret Book, featured I Shall Be Whole, by Al R. Young. The painting is part of Al Young Studios' Women of the Bible Fine Art Collection.... Read more »
Tags: I Shall Be Whole, 3rd-party Publications, 2014, News
By Al R. Young This blank-book journal sells for $32 (plus shipping) direct from Al Young Studios. Printed in full color on heavy paper, the book is bound with black plastic spiral to rest flat when open.
At Home: A Personal Journal features 128 original artworks consisting of 51 original oil paintings from the Artists of Al Young Studios, 44 images from the Studios' Limited Editions Collection, nine pen and ink drawings and block prints by Ashton, seven of Al's exquisitely crafted pencil drawings, and one lithograph from his private portfolios... Read more »
Tags: North Shore, Nasturtium, Wald Kirche, Scabiosa, Foxglove, Narcissus on beige paper, July, Columbine, Maine, Final Draft, Unfurling, Back Shore, Summer's End, Gifts of Morn, Black-eyed Susan, Land's End, Solitude, The Limberlost, Perdita,
By Al R. Young This blank-book journal sells for $32 (plus shipping) direct from Al Young Studios. Printed in full color on heavy paper, the book is bound with black plastic spiral to rest flat when open.
Inspirations features 163 artworks along with 53 commentaries—written by the Artists of Al Young Studios especially for this journal—on such topics as their creative process, the creative environment of the Studios, technical approaches to their artwork, and inspiration from the works of other artists... Read more »
Tags: Untitled, In the Clearing, Anne Girl, Spring Rain, Journey's End, Enchanted Stillness, Bedtime Story, In The High Valley, Mountain Home, And I Will Not Deny The Christ, Sara Crewe, And My Soul Hungered, 3.00.0246.010, The Road To Melek, We...
By Al R. Young
Several years ago, a good friend visited the studio and gallery. At one point during our visit, we stood a while in the loft above the studio. Four large tonal landscape paintings, after the style of the Hudson River School, filled three of the walls like picture windows.
My guest looked from painting to painting, and, whether moved by the sheer size of the artworks or influenced by something in the treatment of the subject matter, exclaimed with evident anxiety: "I wish I knew what I was looking at!"
Like so many artists, I thought, but did not say: "I wish you did, too!"
For the first 40 years or so of my journey as an artist, I worked primarily in pencil and spent a few years on lithographs... Read more »
Tags: In the Clearing, In The High Valley, I Shall Be Whole, 2012, Costume and props, Inspiration and creativity, Tips and techniques
By Al R. Young Christ's Gifts to Women, published by Covenant Communications, featured I Shall Be Whole, by Al R. Young. The painting is part of Al Young Studios' Women of the Bible Fine Art Collection.... Read more »
Tags: I Shall Be Whole, 3rd-party Publications, 2011, News
By Al R. Young The inside back cover of this month's Ensign Magazine features I Shall Be Whole, an original oil painting by Al R. Young, representing the woman healed by the Savior, as recorded in Luke 8: 43-48 and Matthew 9:20-22.
Here is a little bit about the painting's message, written by the artist:
Even though this painting portrays the woman who had an issue of blood, the scarlet color of her clothing and the light reflecting in the woman's countenance says something to all of us about our own problems... Read more »
Tags: I Shall Be Whole, 3rd-party Publications, 2011, News