RAINA KIM LI

Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

61 x 92 cm

24” x 36”

2021

Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

61 x 92 cm

78 x 98 cm (with frame)

24” x 36”

2021

Based on the poem, “Go to the Limits of Your Longing” by Rainer Maria Rilke, in Book of Hours. This painting is about how the internal landscape of the mind’s eye is influenced by an instinct of trust in what you were created for, and created to do. It is a call to venture into the darkness of ourselves with bravery, knowing that the deep overhaul that personal growth requires is not a lonely task. Each person contains multitudes inside of them, each with their unique interior geography of beauty and terror.

“God speaks to each of us as he makes us,

then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,

go to the limits of your longing.

Embody me.

Flare up like a flame

and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.

Just keep going. No feeling is final.

Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.

You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.”

-Book of Hours, I 59

Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

92 x 122 cm

36” x 48”

2021

Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

102 x 102 cm

40” x 40”

2021

Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

122 x 153 cm

48" x 60"

2020

Series: Book of Wisdom III - Song of Solomon

“I slept, but my heart was awake.” 5:2-5

Elemental and raw, the wilderness of the human heart in love is not often contemplated as a reflection of divinity pursuing us into reconciliation. The Song of Songs based on the Song of Solomon is at surface, semi-erotic Hebrew love poetry, but dig deeper and one finds two genders in harmony with each other, Adam and Eve before the fall, a dance of perfect duality not at odds. It is a beautiful picture of how God created male and female to flourish together.

In the current #metoo social landscape of new-wave feminism and the constant struggle to redefine gender roles based on power, there is a desire to retreat to the original blueprint, where male and female roles both reflect different aspects of a singular divinity. The materiality of this painting embodies the theme of this meditation, a passionate play on dark and light. This piece uses the characteristics of oils and water- based acrylics repelling each other to work in sync and give new discovery. The picture, a marriage of broken gender divisions healing and in play with the other.

Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

92 x 122 cm

36" x 48"

2019

Series: Book of Wisdom II - Proverbs

Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

36" x 48"

2019

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The books of wisdom in the Bible start with Proverbs. This painting which was made mediating on Proverbs is the first in a series of 3 which contemplate the nature of divine wisdom and how it manifests in humanity. Unlike the stereotypical picture of wisdom, as a serene old man, wisdom here is portrayed with the energy of creation, a bountiful tree, a wholesome woman who actively seeks out all who would listen and turn from folly. This painting was done as a scene from the mind’s eye of a spiritual blooming, calling for a realignment of perspective as to what defines good and bad to bear fruit, to grow new life. It is made with oils, acrylics, pastels and pigment.

" The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;" Proverbs 1:7

Series: Book of Wisdom I - Ecclesiastes

Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

36" x 48"

2019

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Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

60" x 48"

2019

Based on the verse in the Bible

“In distress you called, and I delivered you;

I answered you in the secret place of thunder;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah”

Psalm 81:7 ESV

Made in a series of layers over time, during the change of my husband’s change in citizenship, this was done contemplating the miracle of water provided for a nation wandering in a desert for 40 years. At Meribah, God miraculously provided water for a complaining and unbelieving Israel. (Exodus 17:1-7) This God not only delivered Israel, but He also trained them, and the testing at Meribah was an example of this. Our lives are filled with challenges that make us feel daunted and uneasy, yet inner growth only happens through hardship, not allowing the situation to harden our hearts and be blind to gratitude.

Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

122 x 92 cm

48" x 36"

2018

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Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

48" x 36"

2018

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Mixed Media Diptych on Stretched Canvas

183 x 122 cm /

72" x 48" ( dimension for both panels )

2018

*

In part based on reflecting upon Psalm 1:3, and in part inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke's poem, 'Moving Forward", this piece is done in the vein of the pastoral abstract, and portrays a quiet organic strength. A strength and resilience fuelled by a deeper, greater source in whom you put your trust in.

"He is like a tree planted by streams of waters that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." Psalm 1:3

"The deep parts of my life pour onward,
as if the river shores were opening out.
It seems that things are more like me now,
That I can see farther into paintings.
I feel closer to what language can't reach.
With my senses, as with birds, I climb
into the windy heaven, out of the oak,
in the ponds broken off from the sky
my falling sinks, as if standing on fishes. "

-Rainer Maria Rilke, Moving Forward

Mixed Media Triptych on Canvas

60" x 48" (dimensions of three panels together)

2018

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*titled "Bonfire Birds of Eve" when inverted.

In line with the vision of the abstract pastoral, evening falls upon the blossoming land. Bountiful and joyous song breaks from the birds in paradise, calling out over what is a floral bonfire set in the glorious light of the setting sun. The new earth, the unpoiled Eden, an unabashed gift to the Beloved. 

Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

61 x 61 cm

24” x 24”

2021

Commissioned piece.

Acrylic on canvas  24" x 24" 

2015

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Life brimming over, each one a recipient of a great mercy.

Mixed Media on Stretched Canvas

152.4 x 122 cm

60" x 48"

2019

Mixed Media on Canvas

60" x 48"

2018

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From a series of seven paintings based on meditations on the book of Genesis in the Bible. This work is part of a series that contemplates the creation of the universe. Wait for The Dove reflects upon the patience required in a tabula rasa world where Noah gazes upon a world of only flood waters. Imagine a world where even mountains are buried by water, from where does one’s hope come from? Stillness of heart needs to be overcome anxiety and hopelessness. This is only to be achieved by seeing through the eyes of faith in a Creator who loves and cares for you. Trusting it will be alright, is the essence of patient waiting.

Mixed Media on Canvas

92 x 122 cm

36" x 48"

2018

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Mixed Media on Canvas

40" x 30"

2018

Based on meditations on the book of Genesis, this is part of a series of paintings contemplating the creation of the universe.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." Genesis 1:1-5

Mixed Media on Canvas

30" x 40"

2018

Based on meditations on the book of Genesis, this is part of a series of paintings contemplating the creation of the universe.

"And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day." Genesis 1:11-13

Mixed Media on Canvas

40" x 30"

2018

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Mixed Media On Canvas

92 x 104cm

36" x 48"

2018

Mixed Media on Canvas

24" x 30" (unframed)

27.5" x 33.25" (framed)

2018

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Mixed Media on Canvas

152 x 122 cm

60" x 48"

August 2017

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Acrylic on Canvas

24" x 30" (unframed)

27.5" x 33.25" (framed)

August 2017

Acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"

2017

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Acrylic on Canvas

48" x 36"

2017

Acrylic on Canvas

76 x 102cm

30" x 40"

2017

Collection of paintings, with softly buried layers, marking the passage of time.

Acrylic on Canvas 

24" x 24"

2017

Jocund Company & Blithe Lights. Two paintings done as a complementary pair were inspired by the poem "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud" by Wordsworth, in which the antidote to loneliness was the poet's solitude in a walk upon which he stumbled upon a 'crowd' of daffodils. This speaks of the richness of nature that is created by our Lord God who made it as a balm to the human soul. The bounty and beauty of nature sings of the glory of its Creator, reminding the person who drinks of it to look forward to completeness in a restored relationship with our loving Maker.

Acrylic on Canvas 

24" x 24"

2017

Jocund Company & Blithe Lights. Two paintings done as a complementary pair were inspired by the poem "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud" by Wordsworth, in which the antidote to loneliness was the poet's solitude in a walk upon which he stumbled upon a 'crowd' of daffodils. This speaks of the richness of nature that is created by our Lord God who made it as a balm to the human soul. The bounty and beauty of nature sings of the glory of its Creator, reminding the person who drinks of it to look forward to completeness in a restored relationship with our loving Maker.

Mixed Media on Canvas

101.6 x 101.6 cm

40” x 40”

2017

Acrylic on Canas

36" x 36"

March 2017

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Acrylic on Canvas

40" x 30"

2017

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30" x 30"

Acrylic On Canvas

June 2017

Mixed Media on Canvas

48" x 36"

31.12.2016

Acrylic on Canvas

24" x 24"

2016

Acrylic on Canvas 

24" x 24"

2016

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Acrylic on Canvas

30" x 30"

2016

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Acrylic on Canvas

24" x 24"

2016

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Acrylic on Canvas

30" x  30"

2016

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Acrylic on Canvas , 48" x 48"

2015

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Acrylic on canvas. 40" x 30"

2014

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Acrylic on canvas. 40" x 40"

2014

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24" x 24".

Acrylic on canvas. 

2014

Oil on canvas. 48" x 36"

2013

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Oil on canvas

91.4 x 122 cm

36" x 48"

2010

Oil on Canvas. 36" x 48"

2008

Oil on canvas. 60" x 48"

2011

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Oil on canvas. 36" x 48"

2010

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Oil on canvas. 60" x 48"

2010

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Mixed media on canvas. 60" x 48"

2008

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