The Psalms: An Artist's Impression

In every generation, the book of Psalms has inspired artists and musicians, and comforted and thrilled ordinary readers. These ancient poems seem to be timeless--with amazing insight and accuracy they express the wide range of human emotions often experienced in secret, of hurts and baffling doubts, of deep joys and soaring hope.This book combines the talents of two artists, from different continents and cultural contexts, who express their personal encounters with the words of the Psalms. Using vibrant acrylics on Plexiglas, the Dutch artist Anneke Kaai applies paintbrush and collage techniques to give "body" to her experience of the Psalms; the verses that inspired her paintings appear alongside, taken from The Message by Eugene Peterson. Peterson's paraphrase, widely embraced by readers in his home country (United States) and around the world, is a moving manifestation of the cutting reality, emotional intensity and colloquial vibrancy of the ancient Hebrew poetry.