Orem artist has devoted six years to painting Jesus, and she's not done yet

Orem artist Liz Lemon Swindle never consciously decided to become a painter. She just never considered doing anything else.

"It's kind of funny," Swindle said. "As a child I thought everyone had their assignments and mine was to paint. It didn't occur to me that I had a choice."

She loves to paint, of course, but she never sat down to decide what she would be when she grew up. She always assumed her calling in life was painting, and said that's what she'd be doing even if she never made any money at it.

Fortunately for her, Swindle's work has had some success. Her latest work is the third volume in the "Son of Man" series, "Son of Man: King of Kings," (Greenwich Press, $16.95) with Provo author and Brigham Young University professor Susan Easton Black. Both are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The series tells the story of Jesus Christ's life through Black's narrative and Swindle's paintings and sketches. Volume III, which was released two weeks ago in various bookstores, covers the last week of Christ's life.

Swindle and Black have teamed up on other projects, including "Joseph Smith: Impressions of a Prophet" and "Every Superman needs a Dad," but both said this book has been more emotionally trying than the rest.

"It was a hard book because it deals with the last week of the Savior's life, so there was a lot of trauma in it," Swindle said. "I think it took its toll on both of us."

Aside from painting such emotional scenes as Christ's crucifixion, Black said one of the hardest parts was choosing which scenes from Christ's life to focus on.

"A third of the material in the four gospels deals with the last week of his life," Black said, referring to the New Testament. "And when you've got so much material, the selection was the hardest. So we thought about what would make the best visuals."

Once they decided which scenes to use, the two spent weeks doing research and setting up a photo shoot for each scene. Swindle said she paints from photos rather than live models because she works odd hours.

"I'm not that talented of an artist that I can remember things just from looking at them," Swindle said. "I need resource material to look at. And it would be impossible for the people I use to sit for weeks at a time."

So Swindle hires a wardrobe consultant, sets up elaborate stages and has sometimes gone to Israel to take pictures on site. Black uses her knowledge of religious and historical texts to help create accurate, realistic scenes.

"There's so much involved," Swindle said. "We try to be authentic about it. I'm not sure we're always successful, but we try."

Black said this book fits the religious pattern of the 110 other largely LDS-focused books she's written. But instead of being a scholarly volume or about LDS Church history, this book is written for people of all faiths.

"In this case it's written for a wide audience, being distributed throughout the world," Black said. "It gives a chance for the man on the street to read the story of the last week of the Savior's life."

Swindle and Black are working on a fourth volume, which will include art from the first three plus new paintings of Christ. The new work will span Christ's mission from his calling in heaven to his birth, life, death and resurrection. Some of the new paintings will focus on his visit to the Americas, as told in the Book of Mormon, a volume of Latter-day Saint scripture. Black said the publisher has never objected and she never felt hampered in any way from putting LDS doctrine in the books, but response from other channels has varied.

"Well, you name the different Christian organization and we're making a dent there," Black said, citing wide distribution as an enabling factor. "One time we were actually featured in Ebony magazine. But one time there was an owner at a Christian bookstore in Alabama, and when he read the inside of the jacket saying we were both LDS, he literally boxed up the books and sent them right back."

The "Son of Man" project started after Swindle and Black completed their work on the Joseph Smith book. Both wanted to take on another religious project, and they settled on the life of Christ. Swindle was already selling prints through The Greenwich Workshop, a Connecticut publisher of fine art editions, and company president Scott Usher agreed to work with them to publish the book.

Greenwich Workshop is not a religious publisher (Swindle is their only Christian-themed artist), but Usher said he loved the idea of painting Christ's life.

"The unique aspect of their book was that it was much more from a humane point of view," Usher said, then suggested "humane" might not be the right word. "It's the idea that this person lived 24 hours a day, seven days a week, amongst people, and while you get a great deal of information on the highlights of Christ's life, there's as much significance in everything he did that was in the passing interactions with people."

He said the scenes depicted in the book show some of those interactions, such as when Christ washes the feet of his disciples or talks with them over the Last Supper. Usher first contracted to sell Swindle's prints when he noticed her passion for her work and her overall skill as a painter. He said passion for painting is necessary for the art to be successful.

"We get phone calls from people saying 'I'll paint anything you want,' " Usher said. "My reaction is, 'You're probably not who we want.' When somebody calls up and says, 'I paint old steam engines from 1820 to 1856 and if you ask me to paint anything else I'll kill you,' you know, that's the passion for the subject matter you need. And when people are viewing the artwork, that passion just comes through in spades."

Usher said the Wasatch Front has always been a good area for his business, and he's looking forward to the upcoming "Son of Man" volume.

"I'd like to say two years, but it could be three," Usher said.

By now, Swindle has dedicated six years of her life to painting Christ, and she's planning on at least two more to finish the fourth volume. That's a long time on one large project, she said, but she couldn't be happier.

"I feel like it's a gift," Swindle said. "When I walk into my studio, there are images that portray him, and I have music that inspires me to think of him, and I just sort of bask in the spirit of it. I'm so thankful that I get to do this. I know it's not something that everybody gets to do, so I'm really grateful that I can do it right now."