Trifinity Tetragram. A true story. Beyond real pictures

I still clearly remember the critiques from my junior school art teacher, as a child.  Sometimes I was choosing the wrong colours when painting and needed to 'try again'.  The sky should really be blue and the field should be green; etc. Painting the way I enjoyed painting was embarrassing.  So I abandoned the notion of painting pictures my way.

I went on to learn to play musical instruments, write poetry and also learned photography, and over the years, become a musician (guitar and keyboard), poet and headshot, and wedding photographer.  All good outlets for my creativity.

Skip forward 40+ years to 2016!  I'm 52 years old and noticing that over the past few months it seemed as if I was buying a LOT of art material and books for friends or their kids as gifts, and encouraging them to be fearless in their creativity.  I also started noticing that I was leafing through the art books for longer before passing them on...I then began spending hours watching YouTube vids about painting.  I was hooked.

Then for the first time in my life, I bought MYSELF a load of books and DVD's on abstract art, soaked up so much of their knowledge and inspiration. I was beginning to want to paint pictures again.  Never real pictures of real things, but painting beyond real pictures.  I wanted to paint the way I used to paint as a child but with all my newly acquired understanding of colour theory and visual composition, and abstract art techniques. 

After weeks of intensive study, I bought myself loads of paints, inks, brushes, and paper, shut myself away in our basement TV room in October 2016, surrounded by pots of acrylic paint, staring at a blank sheet of A2 paper.  I unexpectedly felt terrified and excited at the same time.  I assumed I'd enjoy painting... wrong!  It was more like battling with the colour wheel.  It was exciting and satisfying but not tranquil or calming. 

After dozens of attempts over several days, I finally formed an uneasy alliance with the colour wheel, paints, and paper, which over the following months became much more collaborative.

Then on the 26th of October 2016, I took the plunge and sent a WhatsApp of my drawings to a bunch of friends and work colleagues.  To my surprise and delight, three people immediately wanted to buy MY pictures! 

I kept on drawing throughout 2016 to 2018 but never felt like selling any of my pictures, though I gave a few away to family.  Then a house move meant I had no time for my art. All the paintings in my nameless abstract art collection were stored away, but not forgotten.

Then in December 2021 during a church bible study session, I came across the John 20:11 triangular number 153, a mathematical/geometric representation of the Trinity.  This led me to discover more about 'Triangular and Square numbers', which I then connected to the Hebrew tetragram יהוה‎ transliterated as YHWH, the four-letter name for God. The word Tetra(four)gram(letter) means four-letter word.   

I recalled how the majority of my abstract painting done years ago had four distinctive radial shards contained in the composition of each picture.  Then the phrase 'Trifinity (Trinity, Infinite) Tetragram' popped into my mind.

And now this collection is being made available to anyone who wants to join me on a journey beyond real pictures.

Lenox Valentine Green OBE.