Latest / The Lila Rose Show / E314: How An 8-Year-Old Painted The Most Famous Image of Jesus w/Akiane Kramarik | Lila Rose Show

Transcript

E314: How An 8-Year-Old Painted The Most Famous Image of Jesus w/Akiane Kramarik | Lila Rose Show · The Lila Rose Show

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  At 8 years old you had visions and you painted probably the
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  most famous painting in the world of Jesus Christ.
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  When I first received some of these visions, I didn't know
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  what Jesus was. I didn't know what God was.
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  I was so exhausted from searching.
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  I'm putting my hands up in the air.
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  I'm like, if you really want me to paint this face, just send
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  him through the front door. And I heard a knock on the door.
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  Showcasing this painting was very difficult.
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  A lot of people despised it. He called a blasphemous devil's
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  child will need to burn and all my paintings.
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  Kiana, who are these people? Professors, teachers, neighbors
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  and friends. There's another event, though,
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  that happens where the painting gets lost for years, decades for
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  decades. I am crying at this point does
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  this. Painting match up with the
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  Shroud of Turin. It is one of the most accurate
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  representations of the Shroud of Turin.
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  Akiana, at 8 years old you had visions of the face of Jesus and
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  you painted what is probably the most famous painting in the
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  world of Jesus Christ. Why do you think God gave you
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  those visions and that inspiration to paint Prince of
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  Peace? I think he gave that to me
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  because he knew that I was ready and he knew that I would not
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  quit until his message would be shared.
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  And from the very beginning, at 3 1/2, four years old, when I
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  got that vision, it was a very it was so bright.
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  It was such a very clear message.
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  And it was this unwavering faith, this unconditional love
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  and eternal life. And that was that message that I
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  wanted to share to everyone. There's so much I want to ask
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  you about how you received that vision.
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  Your childhood, your artwork is absolutely stunning.
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  I first saw Prince of Peace 15 years ago walking into a
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  friend's house in Virginia and she had her family had this huge
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  print out of Prince of Peace. And I remember looking at him,
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  his eyes, and just feeling seen. By Jesus, that's the power.
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  Of what God inspired you to do. And I know that's touched
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  millions and millions of people. So you said 3 1/2 years old, you
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  had the first vision. Tell me what happened.
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  What? What was that like?
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  When I first received some of these visions and dreams, I knew
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  that it was important, but I didn't understand or comprehend
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  entirely why. So until I received a very clear
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  portrait of this, of this being even my 4 year old self is.
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  I'm still trying to develop some of my little my, my sketchy, my
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  doodles. But I knew in that very moment
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  that oh, I need to draw this out somehow.
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  I need to put it on paper because I can't.
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  I want to show this, but I can't show what's inside my head.
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  So when I had that initial experience, I was so determined
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  to draw it. Whatever and how, how long, how,
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  how long it will take, it didn't matter to me.
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  I'm like, I needed to draw it quickly before it would fade
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  away. So that was my mission.
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  That was my mission. So I'm going to go through some
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  of that. You call it doodles.
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  It's really phenomenal for a four year old.
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  What you drew. We're going to look at it in a
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  minute, But first, to set the stage, tell me about your
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  childhood. My childhood was very different,
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  very unique in its own right. My mother was an immigrant from
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  Lithuania and she was very determined to bring her children
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  to this world. Very different than how she was
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  brought up. And her and my father, who you
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  know, my father was an American from Chicago.
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  He was also a non. He was a non practicing
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  Catholic. My mom was an atheist and but
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  they both mutually shared a vision of bringing their kids
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  into the world with just lots of care and love and freedom to
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  explore the environments. Even though we had no money, We,
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  we are extremely poor. You would just say we were in
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  poverty. We had no television, no books,
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  no, no barely any food on the table.
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  We had no furniture. We would have we would all sleep
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  on the floor. And they were like, our place
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  was constantly flooded and with, with with rainwater and my dad
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  got severe sick, lots of pesticide poisoning and the
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  field that was next door. And I got sick as well.
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  And so it was around this whole entire time of unpredictability
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  of lots of a lots of non accessibility of foods and, and
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  environments. My family made it feel like we
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  were made it. It felt like we were the richest
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  people in the world because they gave us this love.
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  They gave us an environment. We felt it was an adventure.
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  And I think that mindset is powerful for a child that
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  doesn't really have anything tangible, anything like that.
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  So that was the starting point of my whole entire life where I
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  had that strong foundation and I utilized everything that I we
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  had on hand. I would go to the fields and
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  braid the flowers and I'm like, look at the flowers and I would
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  try to, you know, try to redraw them on my on, on the floors or
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  on my hands. I would, I would just the whole
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  world was my canvas. And I think that was that was so
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  powerful for me and and really needed for me as a child.
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  That's incredible. I, I, I'm so curious about your
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  mother for a moment. What did that look like and how
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  your mother interacted with you guys and, and was she a stay at
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  home mother? Was she?
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  She was full time with us and she wanted it that way.
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  And of course, she had her other startup business in her own home
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  country in Lithuania. But the moment that she had her
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  children, she was like, I want to spend every moment of my day
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  with them. Of course, my father worked
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  three to four jobs and I barely saw him.
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  You know, I, it was, he was working extremely hard to make
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  ends meet. But my mother being there, she,
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  you, we would wake up truly with this aspect of this day is going
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  to be a new adventure. Let's go explore, let's go.
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  And and we always had this anchor in the house.
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  We always had wherever we would go, run around the house and go
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  explore it outside, she would always be there.
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  Anything, any idea, any dream, she would always be there.
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  She would always listen. She would always and if we had
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  some, you know, ideas, she would OK, let's write it down.
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  So we she would write down our ideas and I think it was like
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  that full trust that she is that anchor.
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  She'll always be there. So we that was truly very, very
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  important for us kids I grew up with at the time, I had two
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  older brothers, but because of the lack of, you know, food and
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  like finances, my mom had this incredible and she was an
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  incredible genius in her own right.
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  She was a businesswoman as well. So she had this idea to start up
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  a business during when, when we were young and, and through the
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  both both support of my mom and my dad, they both came together
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  and we were able to come out of that environment, that poverty
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  environment. We were able to get it finally,
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  a place to have a bed and play in a home.
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  How old were you when you first started to paint?
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  I first started to paint so painting with actual paints came
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  a little bit later around like 7 years old.
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  But I started drawing at 3 and I knew I had to almost like in my
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  mind I knew I had to perfect black and white before I went
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  into color. I know this is sounds really
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  strange but like I had this determination and I challenged
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  myself like I need to 1st perfect black and white and
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  color will always come easier. But black and white is, is a lot
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  harder if you because it's the shadings, you have to almost
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  translate colors into Grays and to all these different white to
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  black spectrums. And that's hard to do.
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  So I was trying to challenge myself to do that.
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  And so I made a determination before I got into colors.
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  I'm going to go black and white. If I did not have black and
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  white, I think charcoals or pencils, I would, I would use
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  food in the house. Yes, I would use food.
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  I would, you know, have, there's like a fireplace that we used to
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  have and I would take some of the burnt wood and I would use
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  that and I would draw it on the fireplace Mantel and yeah,
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  whatever I had on hand, I would, I would use but but.
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  You had in your mind I want to perfect black and white before I
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  go to color like even and you were like 3 or 4 I was.
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  Yeah, 3 1/2 four. I I know it's straight.
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  Where do you think that idea came from?
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  I wish I could tell you, but I, I feel like it was just
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  ingrained in me. I think it was, I think it was
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  just a step that I knew that I needed to to to over overcome.
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  I don't know it's, it was installed in me.
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  I in my DNAI just felt it. I guess it's probably the best
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  way to say it. Did you have a model as a young
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  girl of an artist? A painter, someone that you
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  looked up to that was accomplishing these beautiful
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  works of art so that you even knew that that was something
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  that you could strive for. The short answer is no.
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  I did not have any role models or anybody that I could truly
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  look up to or this, this idol of this painter, this artist.
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  I just knew that I just, I just had my own world.
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  I had no TV, no books. So I, I had no representation of
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  what it would look like. I just had this yearning though
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  this, this such, this indescribable desire and this
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  curiosity for that world. But I didn't have any book or TV
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  or any kind of magazine reference of the what this
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  person, this this, this idea would look like.
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  When do you remember first meeting or experiencing God for?
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  Sure that there was a pivotal moment of my life.
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  I think I was 5 1/2 years old when something did happen where
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  both my parents to this day, they still felt that this was a
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  a miraculous event. And coming from my experience,
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  it was an event that took place on a very, very simple day.
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  I was it was a very sunny outside and I just remember
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  being inside and this, this feeling felt like my, my, I was
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  standing or I don't remember. I just felt like my soul just
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  being like like drifted upwards and cut to about 7 hours later,
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  there are 20 to 30 police cars around the whole house, my
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  parents frankly looking for me, and Long story short, I was
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  gone. I was missing and a lot lot of
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  the the police dogs were called. The police was called the
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  neighbors, there was a search for a potential kidnapping.
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  There was my parents was my brothers.
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  They were all searching for me and I was nowhere to be found.
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  And my dad is a, I would say is a very, very good at finding
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  things. He could find a little, a little
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  mouse in the in the middle of a field.
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  He's extremely gifted in that. And he could not find his only
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  daughter that that totally brought their world upside down.
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  That's that day was one of the pivotal moments because I
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  remember after this whole 7 hour ordeal, I remember just coming
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  back into reality, I guess and just walking, walking towards my
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  mom and I see her talking with a, a police officer and she
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  looked at me and then she couldn't believe and she looked
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  at me twice and then she just bolted towards me and she shook
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  me and she was like, where have you been?
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  Where were you? And I was very exhausted.
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  I was, I was 5 1/2 at this point and I was super exhausted.
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  I just remember just telling her, I have so much to do.
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  I'm tired, but I have a mission. I have so much to do to this day
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  that that experience was we don't know exactly what
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  happened, how it happened. My parents and everyone involved
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  said I was not there. I was nowhere to be found.
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  I remember telling her though, right after the incident that I
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  was shown many things. I was shown many doors to
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  different lives and I was shown very various events.
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  I guess the best way to describe it, I still don't know the
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  answers of what truly happened, but that experience was a huge
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  catapult to a domino effect to what my life would transform to.
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  And since that day, my mom and my dad, they truly got down on
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  their knees and after hugging me and they didn't stop hugging me
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  for like an hour. They truly felt that this was in
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  a way like a message from God that, you know, I'm there with
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  them again. And, and they decided to
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  whatever mission I was meant to do, they would support it 100%.
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  And that was a very pivotal moment for my parents to stand
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  by me. Cortana, where did you go?
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  You just shared how you felt like this power, this warmth,
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  lifting you almost from your body. 7 hours later you were
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  missing. They couldn't find you anywhere,
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  they looked everywhere, You were nowhere.
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  And then you were very tired and you walked into your mother's
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  arms. Where?
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  Where were you in during the seven hours I.
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  Wish I could tell you the answer, but I just remember.
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  I remember there was just, it felt that I was gone for like
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  hundreds of years. I know it's a very hard to wrap
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  your head around, but there was no specific place.
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  I couldn't tell you what this place was.
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  It was a it was a timeless place that had all the answers right
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  in front of me, had a lot of doors that had a lot of events
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  from the past, present, and the future, and I could not wrap my
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  vocabulary enough to describe what I was experiencing to my
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  parents. All I said was like, I felt that
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  I, I had so much to do. I seen so much and I I needed to
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  do a lot of things was. Jesus there.
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  God was there and Jesus was all around like, but I didn't know
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  what Jesus was. I didn't know.
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  I didn't know. What God was I?
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  I didn't know what this this word was, but it was
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  all-encompassing. Later or down the road, that's
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  when I put the two and two and pieces together.
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  Oh, this was God. Oh, this was Jesus.
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  And when you say I, I just have to drill down a little bit more
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  because it's truly remarkable. I mean, it's miraculous.
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  Was there like a wooded area by your home where you could have
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  theoretically like walked off in this sort of like vision like
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  state and then like fallen asleep under a Bush?
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  I mean, do you have any sort of like?
• 17:47
  Oh, I've definitely done my like research.
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  I was, I was absolutely trying to figure that out myself.
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  I went down a memory lane Rd. I went down, I revisited the
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  house, I revisited the place. I was trying to go back in time
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  and try to figure things out with my whole family.
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  You must. Not have been in the house
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  because they probably looked in every closet, under every bed
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  and. That's the most interesting part
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  about it. The last thing that I remembered
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  was being in my bedroom. Wow.
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  And they had. Checked your bedroom when they
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  were searching for you. The whole, the whole house was
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  upside down, like the beds and everything, all the closet,
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  everything was open. Like there were dozens of police
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  officers there. And I remember at the end when I
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  was I think my mom, I think my mom was holding me on her hip.
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  I remember I'm looking directly into the officer and he says I
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  have no answer. I don't know what happened.
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  He takes Smokey the bear stuffed animal and gave it to me.
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  He says, I hope this is like a reminder that you truly are like
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  safe. And I remember holding, I still
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  have the Smokey Bear to this day.
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  And he and all other officers have no idea what happened.
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  So I'm I'm still trying to figure it out.
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  But all I know that that was very important.
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  It was very pivotal. And I took that as a sign of,
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  OK, what is now my purpose? What is my job now?
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  What is my mission now? Like, I want to take everything
• 19:24
  that I've experienced and try to translate into a very creative
• 19:29
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  What was the first time that you told your parents about the
• 21:18
  visions you were having the. First time there was on and off.
• 21:24
  I would say something similar around those ages between three
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  and four years old, but my vocabulary was very, very small
• 21:32
  at the time. Like I'm still, I was trying to
• 21:34
  figure out the words, the correct words.
• 21:36
  Sometimes if my mom was not there, I would tell to my older
• 21:40
  brothers because we all shared the same bedroom.
• 21:44
  And I would sometimes wake my older brother Jean Lou or
• 21:47
  Delfini. I'm like, hey, I saw this.
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  Don't mean to tell you what this was.
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  And and they would just open their eyes and just, yeah, go
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  ahead. And then they would drift off
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  back to sleep. So I'm telling a story.
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  But my mom was the one that was my confidant.
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  And she would write everything down in her journal.
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  And so, yeah, around 3 1/2, four years old and.
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  Then after the incident at 5 1/2, were you miraculously
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  effectively disappear and have these incredible visions and
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  experiences? After that, after you told your
• 22:21
  parents that, how did your life change?
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  I would say definitely very drastically because now it
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  became very important, very serious to everyone now and
• 22:36
  especially my parents. And I think from that point on,
• 22:39
  my mom decided to quit her job completely.
• 22:42
  And that's when that's what helped us get to, you know, home
• 22:47
  to have a home and, and be very comfortable.
• 22:50
  But she decided, you know, this is what I think this is what God
• 22:54
  wants. So she decided to quit her job
• 22:55
  and be full time with me and her kids.
• 22:59
  She says that I think this was an answer that she was looking
• 23:03
  for. And I think from that point on
• 23:06
  is when I started to really hone in on my techniques.
• 23:11
  And I, I love the idea of right after I, I would do something in
• 23:17
  the morning, I would just run up and I would just share it to my
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  brothers or my, my mom is this, this is what I did today.
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  And I'm like, gosh, it's not good enough.
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  So I RIP it out and I do another one.
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  I do another sketch. This is what I did today.
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  It's not good enough. So I would, I would be so such a
• 23:33
  perfectionist that now anything that I would see in my head and
• 23:38
  if it did not correlate it correctly on this on the the
• 23:41
  paper, I would just RIP it up and long and behold, thank
• 23:46
  goodness for my mom. She would take those sketches
• 23:51
  out of the trash. She would and then put them in a
• 23:55
  a folder and she saved. And that's why I still have some
• 24:00
  of my sketches here today. We're going to look at those in
• 24:03
  a minute. They're absolutely amazing.
• 24:05
  It's all amazing. What was the process as you were
• 24:08
  having these visions, especially after these events at 5 1/2?
• 24:11
  What was your process for painting?
• 24:13
  Because you were not classically trained, you didn't have some,
• 24:17
  you know, famous painter who was sitting down with you as a child
• 24:22
  and teaching you technique. I would say that by 6 1/2 years
• 24:27
  old, I knew that I was getting close to being in quotes ready
• 24:32
  for callers. So I asked my mom and dad to
• 24:36
  bring me to some of the art supply stores and I would just
• 24:40
  only pick very few colors, like four or five colors.
• 24:47
  And I would actually once again challenge myself, what can I do
• 24:52
  with these four colors, five colors?
• 24:53
  And I would take them home. And first it was oil pastels,
• 24:58
  Then I, I experimented with acrylics.
• 25:01
  And then I went back and started doing with oils.
• 25:04
  And I felt that I needed to at least be ready and prepared to
• 25:13
  when this portrait of love comes back to me in a vision that I'll
• 25:18
  be ready to paint it again. And at at by this time, I felt
• 25:24
  that I'm having these techniques and I'm having these, this
• 25:30
  journey of becoming an artist, but I was still waiting for this
• 25:33
  vision to come back to me. And I finally did this.
• 25:37
  Is the vision of the. Portrait of like love that I
• 25:40
  would I would describe to my parents.
• 25:42
  Yeah, exactly, exactly. So by 7 I'm like, OK, I got
• 25:47
  this, this full clear image, full clear image.
• 25:53
  Like it was hyper detailed, hyper realistic.
• 25:57
  And I'm looking at it and I'm oh wow, I'm looking at my hands.
• 26:01
  I'm like, I need to start. I need to start now.
• 26:06
  I asked my mom and my dad, I'm like, please, can you just drive
• 26:09
  me to some of these, you know, restaurants or these bus stops,
• 26:15
  schools or or some place that I can try to look for models now,
• 26:19
  like I have this face, but I still need AI still need a model
• 26:24
  to represents, you know, some of the shades and the lights of
• 26:28
  this this image that I see and months goes by and I'm like, Oh
• 26:34
  no, this is this is not good. I have it in my head.
• 26:36
  I just would you. Go.
• 26:37
  Would she take you? Drive you around town?
• 26:39
  Oh yeah. She would take me everywhere.
• 26:40
  Just to look at Ben, literally. I would be at the park and I
• 26:44
  would just like, look. And I was just like, Nope,
• 26:46
  that's not it. That's not it.
• 26:47
  I would go to grocery stores. Just I just I was trying to
• 26:51
  immerse myself in a position where there were a lot more
• 26:55
  people. I would people watch was the.
• 26:57
  Idea that if you kind of scoured town and you found a man who
• 27:02
  looked like this vision that you would go up to him and say can
• 27:06
  you be my model That was not the idea that.
• 27:09
  Was the idea I had I was seven years and your.
• 27:12
  Mother was like, yeah, we're doing this at Kiana.
• 27:14
  Oh yeah. She was so on board.
• 27:15
  Amazing she was so on board. For the 5 1/2 year incident,
• 27:18
  she's like I'm I'm up for anything.
• 27:20
  So on board and she's like, I would absolutely assist in in
• 27:24
  trying to talk for, for you for them.
• 27:26
  And I'm like, thank you, thank you.
• 27:28
  But after a few months, I, I just could not.
• 27:31
  I had no luck on finding that right model.
• 27:35
  And there was at one point I'm in my home and I literally, I
• 27:41
  literally like was so exhausted from searching and I'm like
• 27:45
  putting my hands up in the air. I'm like, if you really want me
• 27:49
  to paint this face, just send him through the front door.
• 27:53
  I'm so exhausted. Just if, if that's really what
• 27:56
  you want me to paint. And I said that almost out of
• 28:00
  like it was out of exhaustion. And I was like, if this is meant
• 28:05
  to be, it's meant to be long. And behold, I didn't realize my
• 28:10
  my message came out really clear and I heard a knock on the door.
• 28:16
  And your front. Door on my front door and I
• 28:18
  opened it and I looked up and it was almost a 6 1/2 foot 7 foot
• 28:25
  tall man standing in front of the doorway and he looked and he
• 28:30
  says, oh, I heard someone is looking for a model.
• 28:34
  I'm here and I was looking I'm like, Oh my goodness, this is
• 28:41
  that's him. They yes, they yes, I was I
• 28:43
  would almost say this in Lithuanian.
• 28:45
  They yes, they yes, they yes, it's like that's him that's him.
• 28:49
  I would say that to my mom was right there.
• 28:51
  I'm like, that's him that's him. And but he was under the
• 28:56
  impression that the artist would be an adult, not a 8 year old
• 29:02
  girl. So it was really a really funny
• 29:07
  experience of how me trying to convince this this, this a man
• 29:12
  to agree to model. And it turned out after a lot of
• 29:16
  conversing and he explained and that he also was a Carpenter
• 29:21
  himself. And after some time passed and
• 29:26
  he agreed to model for me, and that's when the Prince of Peace
• 29:30
  painting started. A Carpenter like Jesus Christ
• 29:34
  our Lord. How incredible.
• 29:37
  I'm still pinching myself because I can't.
• 29:42
  If you really just look back in time, like all the pieces coming
• 29:46
  together and all those it, it just it has to be a reason why
• 29:52
  there's it's for a purpose that's way beyond me that I
• 29:56
  could not have foreseen. And I'm just feel I felt at the
• 30:01
  time that I was just trying my best to be the best version I
• 30:06
  can for this part. So I was.
• 30:09
  So he, this Carpenter gentleman shows up.
• 30:12
  He looks exactly like the image in your heart mind's eye.
• 30:17
  Or was it slate? Was there any difference and he
• 30:19
  there? Was everything that I needed for
• 30:22
  in a model. The image that I had in mind was
• 30:27
  of course it was a lot. It was definitely a little bit
• 30:30
  more different, but it was exactly what I needed.
• 30:34
  And I think that was the key was because it allowed me to almost,
• 30:41
  it felt like the best way I could describe it.
• 30:46
  It's like almost like put clothing on like a skin like it,
• 30:50
  their skin is there, the hand is there.
• 30:51
  But I could put any kind of sleeve, any kind of attire.
• 30:57
  It had that essence where now I could start building, I could
• 31:02
  start sculpting. And that's what that's what I
• 31:05
  needed. And that's what he was for me.
• 31:08
  And how long once you got your model, how long did it take you
• 31:11
  to complete Prince of Peace? 40 hours but it felt like 40
• 31:17
  years for me. I lost 4 teeth during the
• 31:20
  process and that was how. Do you lose?
• 31:23
  I was 8 years old and it looks like I was still, I was still
• 31:27
  losing my teeth. But yeah, it took 40 hours and
• 31:33
  it, it took everything out of me.
• 31:36
  It took so much out of me that I felt that I was.
• 31:42
  I made my studio almost like my bedroom, where I would wake up.
• 31:47
  I would paint virtually, not eat or drink, and I would still,
• 31:51
  I'll paint, go back and sleep on, sometimes on the floor,
• 31:54
  sleep on my chair. I would be very invested in
• 32:01
  that, in that moment, in that experience, because I wanted to
• 32:06
  give everything. I wanted to give my heart, my
• 32:09
  soul, my hands, my my time because I knew it was important,
• 32:14
  but I I just didn't know the scope of it, if that makes
• 32:18
  sense. We're.
• 32:20
  Going to get into what happens next with this incredible
• 32:22
  painting and then the trajectory of your life has taken, which is
• 32:26
  truly miraculous. But you're 8 years old and
• 32:29
  you're acting like a you are, I mean at this point, a
• 32:33
  professional painter. You, this is absorbing every
• 32:36
  moment of your waking consciousness and you're
• 32:38
  dreaming and you're, this is 100% what you're pouring your
• 32:42
  heart into. And your parents are on board.
• 32:46
  They want to support this and they feel called by God even to
• 32:49
  support this. What happened with school at
• 32:52
  this point? You know, were your brothers in
• 32:54
  school? Did you drop out of school?
• 32:56
  Was their homeschool happening? How did they set up your life so
• 32:59
  that you could focus so beautifully on your work?
• 33:03
  That was the most beautiful thing about my family, that we
• 33:07
  had that opportunity to experiment with different
• 33:09
  schools and we tried. Public, private, Catholic,
• 33:13
  Christian. We tried parochial and we tried
• 33:19
  a lot, but a very short amount of time, like maybe a few
• 33:23
  months, maybe a year or two. But there was one day, I think
• 33:28
  around 7 1/2 where I, you know, I came back from school and we
• 33:33
  lived in Colorado at the time and I had my backpack on.
• 33:37
  I put my backpack on the floor and I looked at my mom and I'm
• 33:40
  like, I feel that my time could be in my studio and I if you're
• 33:49
  OK with it, but I don't want to go to school anymore.
• 33:51
  And she was like, absolutely, I'll take you out.
• 33:54
  And that's what she did. She took me out my And truly, it
• 34:00
  was like the decision. I think it was because I was
• 34:02
  really, really determined to like, I really wanted to spend
• 34:07
  time in my studio and, and she allowed me and what parent does
• 34:12
  that, that's that foresight that she and my, my dad had is I
• 34:17
  think is very, very admirable. And it allowed me to spend more
• 34:21
  time in the studio. And so to my brothers, they also
• 34:25
  had that option like, hey, do you want to do this?
• 34:27
  Absolutely. Go ahead.
• 34:29
  You don't want to OK. No matter where we were in our
• 34:32
  educational life, they allowed us to choose.
• 34:36
  However, at the core of it, when we were not in school, I guess
• 34:42
  we were full. We were homeschooled.
• 34:44
  And I would say it was a very untraditional way of
• 34:48
  homeschooling. I guess because there was a lot
• 34:51
  of traveling, There was a lot of like anytime my mom or my dad
• 34:56
  would, you know, do their own businesses, they would always
• 35:00
  involve us. They would always teach us about
• 35:04
  how to start, how to just beginning to end of what this
• 35:09
  lifestyle was. And so we were involved in all
• 35:13
  these very important decision makings at 7 years old, eight
• 35:18
  years old, and they involved us with everything.
• 35:22
  And I think that was, we thought it was very exciting.
• 35:27
  We thought it was a wow, we have a decision in this matter that's
• 35:30
  amazing. So.
• 35:32
  You were and you were a family unit.
• 35:34
  You did things for each other together and you had the freedom
• 35:38
  to follow calls and longings. And it's it's an absolutely
• 35:42
  beautiful way to grow up. And I think it's inspiring to
• 35:46
  me. And I'm sure someone listening
• 35:48
  right now is really inspired thinking, wow, that's a
• 35:51
  beautiful way to parents. I.
• 35:53
  I really hope that I could mirror some of those teachings
• 35:58
  and I think that, you know, having the ability to travel and
• 36:03
  involved your kids with everything, I think they
• 36:07
  inadvertently would love that and need that.
• 36:10
  I think that's so. I think that's probably why I
• 36:14
  enjoyed it. I loved it.
• 36:17
  So what? Was it like when you, after
• 36:18
  those grueling 40 hours, one of your first oil paintings, you
• 36:21
  complete Prints of Peace? What was it like to look at what
• 36:25
  you had just created? I remember pulling an all
• 36:31
  nighter and after I finished signing my name, I sat on the
• 36:38
  floor and I looked at it and it became my eyes started like
• 36:44
  fatiguing and I, I had started twitching almost.
• 36:46
  So I was absolutely exhausted. But I knew that oh, now is the
• 36:52
  time to showcase it to the world.
• 36:54
  This is the time that I could finally I was able to to show
• 36:58
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  20% off your order. After a lot of discussions with
• 38:39
  my brothers and my parents and they ultimately supported the
• 38:44
  idea of displaying this to an exhibition.
• 38:47
  And that's when everything started is when I started
• 38:53
  exhibiting this piece to people. And I would be this is something
• 39:05
  a lot of people don't know about, but in the beginning it
• 39:10
  was showcasing this painting was very difficult and a lot of
• 39:17
  people did not like it. They despised it.
• 39:21
  They called a blasphemous, they called me devil's child, they
• 39:25
  called me a fraud, they told me to burn all my paintings.
• 39:31
  They told me that I should stop painting.
• 39:37
  And this was directed towards my face as an 8 year old.
• 39:41
  So that probably wasn't the first step that I anticipated.
• 39:47
  I guess that's probably it was it was hard.
• 39:53
  It was very hard and especially when I try to open my doors, my
• 39:59
  home to all these people and come and take a look at my
• 40:03
  artwork and they would just almost walk away with
• 40:08
  indifference or disgust. And you know, that was the first
• 40:15
  eye opening experience that oh, this is not going to be as easy
• 40:19
  as I thought it was going to be. So I once again took it as.
• 40:25
  A challenge to myself, like, OK, what, how can I armor myself?
• 40:30
  How can I be stronger with all these arrows pointing at me?
• 40:35
  It's of course I'm going to be vulnerable to it.
• 40:38
  Of course I'm, I was only a child and there was at a point
• 40:43
  where I did stop painting because I felt OK.
• 40:46
  I've done my duty. I've done my responsibility.
• 40:50
  I, you know, I guess they're right at some, you know, there
• 40:54
  was moments that I felt that, but.
• 40:57
  Akiana, who are these people? People that would come into the
• 41:00
  art gallery where Prince of Peace was hanging and you'd be
• 41:03
  there, you know, just show your painting and you'd have just
• 41:07
  patrons of the arts come and basically effectively spit in
• 41:10
  your face. I mean, was that what you were?
• 41:12
  Is that what you experienced? Pretty.
• 41:14
  Much. Pretty much and and it's it's
• 41:19
  not just random people as well. It was these very high educated
• 41:26
  art professors and teachers and patrons of the art pretty much
• 41:33
  and neighbors and friends like that is a whole other ball game
• 41:37
  when friends and you would you thought they were friends would
• 41:41
  say to your face, but they did what was the.
• 41:45
  Reason behind all of that animus, if you can.
• 41:48
  If you know or can it speculate? Was it because they thought your
• 41:51
  technique was too unusual? Or they thought that painting an
• 41:56
  image of the Son of God, of Jesus, was in itself somehow
• 42:00
  bad? I mean, what?
• 42:01
  What were their justifications? I could speculate on a few.
• 42:07
  Of course, my parents have another perspective, but they
• 42:10
  truly feel that this was, you know, a lot of negative spirits
• 42:18
  trying to attack me, my Satanic. Attack.
• 42:21
  Yeah, that's they have a full and of course I feel the same
• 42:26
  way and I felt the same way. And I think in there my
• 42:29
  speculation is that of well at the time I thought OK is
• 42:35
  probably my technique. It's not good enough.
• 42:37
  It's it's maybe I have to do this, may have to do that.
• 42:39
  And maybe the message was I need to say more clearer and maybe
• 42:44
  it's this. And of course I speculated and
• 42:47
  maybe I could do better on this. But at the end of the, this
• 42:51
  whole experience, the that experience, I, I literally sat
• 42:56
  down and prayed and I'm like, no, actually, this is, this is
• 43:01
  the right, this is the right message, this is the right
• 43:04
  painting. This is I'm, I'm giving
• 43:07
  everything I have. I'm giving my soul.
• 43:10
  I'm quite literally displaying it right now.
• 43:15
  So I, I definitely it. There are a lot of speculations,
• 43:21
  but I can't give you a definite answer because these are coming
• 43:25
  from everyone from all walks of life, from all religions.
• 43:29
  And it is different when, for example, I was very, very
• 43:37
  passionate about showcasing this at that time and during this
• 43:41
  whole endeavor, I, we hired an art agent.
• 43:45
  And this art agent was supposed to be the person that would
• 43:50
  protect and show this message of loved the world with my, you
• 43:56
  know, with, with all of the things that I wanted to share.
• 44:02
  But it turns out it was he had an A different a motive and he
• 44:08
  called it called a blasphemous. He did not like any of my
• 44:13
  paintings to the point that it was I think when my mom
• 44:19
  described it, he almost scratched scratched my painting
• 44:22
  and disgust. And after wanting to display it,
• 44:26
  he decided I'm taking it. So he took my painting the.
• 44:31
  Prince of Peace painting and did.
• 44:32
  Not want to give it back, he said.
• 44:34
  This is mine and no one's going to see this painting and I, I
• 44:41
  did not expect that. OK, I so we have, we have a very
• 44:45
  poor replica. I want to have this on the set
• 44:48
  so people can take a look. So here's Prince of Peace.
• 44:51
  It makes me want to weep looking at this image because I see our
• 44:55
  Lord and I think obviously who could have beheld our Lord in
• 44:59
  the time when he actually walked on earth and he's in eternal
• 45:01
  glory, but he's with us all the time, right too.
• 45:04
  But so your art agent took he stole, he stole your painting At
• 45:11
  this time, are you 9 By this point I was.
• 45:13
  Probably around 8 1/2. You were still 8 1/2.
• 45:16
  He steals. The painting and then he locks
• 45:19
  it up. For how long?
• 45:20
  So this is the, because my parents were the ones that are
• 45:25
  trying to, they were in the middle of this extreme
• 45:30
  negotiation and this crisis. And I, I remember talking and
• 45:36
  I'm like, we have to get it back.
• 45:38
  We have to get it back and, and under the contract.
• 45:42
  Like it was, it was such a messy situation and he refused to give
• 45:47
  it back. And after a lot of prayers and a
• 45:52
  lot of conversations with my parents, there was something
• 45:57
  that happened that my mom called and during after that
• 46:00
  conversation, he agreed to send it back.
• 46:04
  But it was how? Long did he have it for?
• 46:09
  I don't recall. It was just it felt like
• 46:12
  forever. Like it felt like this battle
• 46:14
  was going on forever. And I remember the day that I
• 46:19
  got it back, he was in a It was in a crate, a wooden crate.
• 46:23
  How? Old were you at this point?
• 46:24
  I was. Still around 8 1/2 almost almost
• 46:27
  nine years old like around that age and I remember this is in a
• 46:31
  wooden crate got shipped. We unscrewed the whole the whole
• 46:38
  panel because this is a big. Painting this is a.
• 46:40
  Big paint. So 40 it's I think it's 40 by 60
• 46:42
  or something like that 40. 8 by 60 it's a large so it's like
• 46:45
  it's. Probably it could.
• 46:46
  Fill part of this wall. Oh.
• 46:47
  Yeah, for sure. And 30 by 40 or but I took it
• 46:52
  off the panel came off and it this is still wet.
• 46:55
  So oils they take months to dry. By the way, there's a still wet
• 47:00
  original painting and because of the wooden crate, a lot of the
• 47:05
  sawdust got caked inside the paints itself on the on the
• 47:10
  painting. And I am, I am crying at this
• 47:16
  point. I'm like, Oh no, my mom is
• 47:18
  crying. And we I was like, oh, this is
• 47:22
  not good. Because if they dry like all
• 47:25
  this, all the sawdust is going to be caked into the paints.
• 47:29
  So I take these tweezers and I'm on my knees on the concrete
• 47:34
  outside trying to pick individually all these sawdust
• 47:38
  for hours. It was, it was a mission to get
• 47:43
  it, all of it out. But it was salvage.
• 47:46
  And you know, it was, it was there and, and all the sawdust
• 47:53
  was it was out. Well, as much as I can, you
• 47:55
  know, so there. So there's there's 2 missing
• 47:58
  moments with our with the painting of our our Jesus.
• 48:01
  So the first one is you're our agent.
• 48:05
  Guy basically kidnaps your painting and then doesn't.
• 48:09
  He hates it, he doesn't even like it.
• 48:10
  He kidnaps it. You finally get it back.
• 48:12
  There's another event though that happens where the painting
• 48:16
  of Prince of Peace gets lost for years.
• 48:18
  Yes, for decades and for decades.
• 48:21
  So right after this painting that I got into my possession,
• 48:27
  I'm like, finally I have it in my possession.
• 48:31
  I don't want to ever have anyone else take it or I want to just
• 48:37
  display it just for just because this, this was my purpose.
• 48:41
  This was my my wish, my goal to. Share it with the world.
• 48:46
  Share. With the world, and I think that
• 48:47
  was, you know, ultimately my whole family, that was their
• 48:50
  goal. And so they all decided after
• 48:54
  after a grueling, grueling court battle, we had to separate with
• 49:02
  the previous art agent, no. Joke no.
• 49:05
  Joke and there was a lot of that that we had no resources to
• 49:13
  separate because if says he mentioned, oh, you can't get out
• 49:17
  of this contract. I own you for 12 years, 15
• 49:21
  years. You can't get out of this
• 49:22
  contract unless you give me this extreme amount of money.
• 49:26
  And we we had no money like that.
• 49:29
  So after a lot of the court battling, we were able to able
• 49:35
  to separate. And at this time I'm like, OK,
• 49:38
  finally I have this in my possession.
• 49:40
  I want to display it. And there was this other person
• 49:46
  that came with this good quote, quote UN quote, good intentions
• 49:53
  to display it. And he also became my manager
• 49:59
  and my art agent. And initially I thought it was
• 50:03
  of we all thought this was going to be a, a great step, but it
• 50:09
  turns out after this, we wanted to display this for an
• 50:13
  exhibition. He sold it without our knowledge
• 50:18
  behind her backs. And I didn't know who had it.
• 50:23
  And ever since then I didn't know where it was.
• 50:28
  So it was gone. And the face of my the, you
• 50:32
  know, off the face of the earth in my eyes, it was missing.
• 50:35
  So I, I didn't know what to do. Like it was it was bought.
• 50:41
  I couldn't buy it back. I didn't know who had it.
• 50:45
  I. Didn't know who had it, how?
• 50:46
  How heartbreaking. Yeah, I.
• 50:48
  Was nine years old and so and you.
• 50:51
  Couldn't see it again. No.
• 50:53
  So a a a few questions. First of all, during this time,
• 50:56
  this is a lot of a lot of challenges for a very young girl
• 51:00
  and her family to be facing who is entering the art world for
• 51:04
  the first time. How did you handle such, first
• 51:08
  of all, rejection and cruelty, quite frankly, and then, you
• 51:12
  know, basically scam artists you know, effectively in the art
• 51:15
  world and then losing your painting and having it sold out
• 51:18
  from under you without even knowledge or permission or
• 51:20
  anything. Did you have a sense of turning
• 51:24
  to God for help? Did you feel any consolation?
• 51:28
  What was going on in your soul? I think the best way I could
• 51:31
  describe it was after that event, I had this utter sense
• 51:39
  of, I had two lines of thought. I had an utter sense of, oh,
• 51:45
  wow, this is like I, I, it's out of my control.
• 51:50
  I can't do anything about it, but I have a feeling that it's
• 51:56
  going to be OK. Like I have a feeling that this
• 51:59
  was, even though it's out of my hands, like I feel it's going to
• 52:03
  be OK. And I've, I have this
• 52:07
  determination to keep pushing forward and don't stop, don't
• 52:13
  ever stop, don't stop painting. And then, of course, there was
• 52:16
  the other side of me like, Oh my goodness, like this realization
• 52:21
  of of course, this is absolute sadness that oh, this is like
• 52:31
  there was a moment of like loss of hope.
• 52:33
  But I think with the support of my family and that that other
• 52:41
  side of utter determination of don't stop, don't quit.
• 52:45
  It was the right ingredients to I'm going to keep pushing
• 52:49
  forward. And I think this is what God
• 52:51
  wants me to do. And I, I had daily walks and
• 52:57
  prayers with God. And I, I, the way that I
• 53:01
  communicate with God is through painting and this through art.
• 53:05
  And I think it was, it's my, it was my own, it was my own
• 53:10
  conversation. And I think through these hours
• 53:13
  and hours of every painting, it felt like I was getting more
• 53:16
  closer and closer and closer to God in my own way.
• 53:20
  So, you know, even though that this was gone, I knew that God
• 53:28
  wasn't gone. And also because you've we had
• 53:33
  this, we salvage this one last scan of this painting.
• 53:39
  And through that scan, we were Prince.
• 53:41
  Of peace of. Prince of Peace, before it was
• 53:44
  sold without our without our knowledge, we were able to make
• 53:48
  replica, you know, duplicates, replications and Jacques prints.
• 53:53
  And so we were able to utilize that one last scan to, to share
• 54:01
  it, to share it as much as we can.
• 54:04
  So my dad made that executive call of he quit his job.
• 54:09
  He says, I'm going to, I'm going to help you in any way I can.
• 54:14
  And this is, I know this is your mission, but my mission is
• 54:17
  protect you and protect everything that you do.
• 54:20
  And in my family, that was his mission.
• 54:23
  So he and my mom, they both helped me start my company and
• 54:30
  my business and we made our mission to share this painting
• 54:33
  with the world is. And that's where you know, Oprah
• 54:37
  and a lot of the CNN, you know, Fox, they it just spread like
• 54:41
  wildfire and in such a beautiful way and silly, but surely a lot
• 54:46
  of you know, books were I was writing my book and you know, a
• 54:51
  lot of media caught on and it just has became such a beautiful
• 54:58
  domino effect it. Is amazing that when this
• 55:02
  painting was first effectively stolen, then sold without your
• 55:07
  permission or knowledge, that in a way instigated this openness
• 55:12
  of well, we're going to take a digital copy and make it
• 55:15
  available for everyone to put in their home if they choose or
• 55:18
  wherever they would like it. And I remember again 15 years
• 55:22
  ago walking into my friend's house and they had a replica, of
• 55:25
  course, not the original, but they had the replica of Prince
• 55:28
  of Peace above their mantle. And they all said they they had
• 55:33
  him there to remind them that Jesus was always with them and
• 55:38
  to give them, yeah, an experience of looking into the
• 55:42
  eyes of Jesus when they would walk in and out of their home.
• 55:45
  And I think that has been true for millions of people now,
• 55:47
  including myself. So thank you for all of the
• 55:50
  sacrifices and the yes. So that you could let people
• 55:54
  have a window and just looking into the face of God.
• 55:57
  Thank you so much for sharing that.
• 55:59
  And I will tell you those testimonies that you just shared
• 56:04
  is what makes me want to get up every morning and go to my
• 56:07
  studio. And I think this face brought
• 56:13
  millions of people to a similar compass, similar calling to
• 56:21
  never forget that face of love and in their own way.
• 56:25
  And and I would say it was one of the most beautiful
• 56:30
  experiences when there are totally different families at
• 56:35
  the opposite sides of the world and they're calling us and
• 56:38
  contacting us saying I've seen this in my vision.
• 56:42
  I've seen this in my dream. You painted him to another
• 56:45
  person saying I've lost hope and I was about to end my life
• 56:53
  tomorrow. But seeing his face made me find
• 56:56
  hope again and to another, like there was just all these influx
• 57:01
  of so many stories come. And to me it was this was much
• 57:07
  bigger than I, bigger than myself that I have ever
• 57:11
  imagined. And the whole purpose of this
• 57:14
  painting is, as you can tell, that his eyes are green.
• 57:18
  And the reason why it made them green was obviously because I
• 57:23
  saw it. But that particular particular
• 57:26
  hue in color signifies to me the color of peace.
• 57:31
  So green has like this, this, this characteristics of peace in
• 57:35
  them. And one side of his face is
• 57:38
  light and the other side of his it dark.
• 57:40
  Because if you, I wanted to represent the dark side as
• 57:46
  suffering and trials and the light in his eye and the dark
• 57:50
  side represents that he'll always be with us when we are
• 57:53
  hurting and when we are in a dark place.
• 57:56
  And the other side of his face is light, where it is purity and
• 58:00
  it is is warmth. It is light.
• 58:04
  And the whole purpose of his painting was for someone to,
• 58:11
  when they look at it, they could have their own personal
• 58:15
  conversation with him in their own way, in their own language.
• 58:19
  And we all deserve to be loved and to love.
• 58:25
  The other phenomenon I've heard express and I've experienced
• 58:28
  with this painting is that when you look at the eyes, when you
• 58:32
  look at the painting, it has this feeling as if the eyes are
• 58:35
  always looking at you regardless of the angle that you're looking
• 58:37
  at the painting. Yes, that.
• 58:39
  How did you accomplish that? I would tell you, you know, I
• 58:43
  don't know how to answer that. However, I do recall when I was
• 58:48
  working on the eyes because I started painting the eyes first
• 58:51
  before anything else. And I wanted to have that
• 58:55
  striking gaze that I felt. And of course in the oils it the
• 59:00
  more I worked on the eyes, the more I built on the eyes.
• 59:04
  So it has almost like a 3D effect of his eyes almost
• 59:10
  protruding from the canvas. And that's where when someone
• 59:14
  would see him, especially in person, that wherever you
• 59:18
  walked, you would always, he would always notice you.
• 59:22
  I'm sure you've heard of the Shroud of Turin, and there's so
• 59:25
  much more evidence coming out about the authenticity of the
• 59:29
  Shroud of Turin. And you can glean some of the
• 59:33
  the imaging, you could say, of the face of Jesus Christ and of
• 59:36
  course his body from that. Does this painting match up with
• 59:39
  the Shroud of Turin? Many say yes, and almost in a
• 59:44
  very, very high identical percentage.
• 59:48
  We were approached many times in the past and they came from a
• 59:52
  lot of researchers, archaeologists and people who
• 59:56
  were associated with the Shroud of Turin's discovery and, and
• 1:00:03
  testing. And they themselves were the
• 1:00:06
  ones that told us that this what this painting was one of the IT
• 1:00:11
  is the most one of the most accurate representations of the
• 1:00:14
  the the Shroud of Turin. And that was, that was so I was
• 1:00:20
  so wild to hear. That's to me, that is, I don't
• 1:00:24
  know. I'm very, very as time goes on,
• 1:00:29
  I truly feel that these blessings really feel they just
• 1:00:36
  propel me even more. And I, I feel really blessed to
• 1:00:41
  hear that. And the Shroud of Turin, of
• 1:00:43
  course, with is the burial cloth of Jesus that have been
• 1:00:46
  discovered, as you said, and are being tested.
• 1:00:48
  And it is an amazing similarity that exists between your
• 1:00:52
  painting and what is on the Shroud.
• 1:00:54
  There's also been these mystical experiences that some have had
• 1:00:57
  even in today's world recently, like the story of the little boy
• 1:01:01
  Colton Burpo, who had a mystical experience and he had a near
• 1:01:05
  death experience. So he had passed away, then
• 1:01:08
  miraculously came back to life. There's a whole movie made about
• 1:01:11
  his life and books and everything, but what did he say
• 1:01:15
  when he came across your painting?
• 1:01:17
  Oh my goodness, that in itself is a whole other a whole other
• 1:01:21
  story. And we're I'm still in contact
• 1:01:23
  with him today and with Colton, with Colton.
• 1:01:25
  Burt Bow yes. And during his experience, you
• 1:01:28
  know, he had a very, very life threatening situation in his, in
• 1:01:32
  his in his childhood. And, and he did mention that he
• 1:01:36
  met Jesus and his father was determined to try to find a, a
• 1:01:43
  similarity of what this Jesus looked like to his son.
• 1:01:48
  And there were many times where he showed him one image, showed
• 1:01:51
  him another. He's like, no, that's not him.
• 1:01:54
  No, that's not him. And one day, I think it was
• 1:01:58
  during one of my media programs, this painting came up and he
• 1:02:03
  showed it to Colton. He says, is this him?
• 1:02:06
  He looked at his, that's him, that's him, and that's where our
• 1:02:13
  relationship connected and, you know, our families connected.
• 1:02:18
  And I was so blessed to be part of his story and his book and
• 1:02:24
  also his movie. What Happened to the Carpenter?
• 1:02:28
  The man that served as your model for Prince of Peace.
• 1:02:31
  I still, I still have his contact.
• 1:02:34
  I still know about him and I think for and not he wants to be
• 1:02:44
  very anonymous and I really want to keep that not anonymous, but
• 1:02:49
  he's alive and well and he's there was a point actually.
• 1:02:54
  It was a really funny story, right when I painted this
• 1:02:57
  painting and we live in such a small town.
• 1:03:00
  There was a point where he was being recognized that he had
• 1:03:03
  wore a beanie hat over his hair because of the striking,
• 1:03:10
  striking resemblance. And there were so many people
• 1:03:13
  that came to my exhibition and it just, the word just spread
• 1:03:16
  like wildfire. And.
• 1:03:18
  But yeah. You were raised non religious
• 1:03:22
  and your parents or I should say in a non religious household,
• 1:03:25
  your parents were non religious before this painting.
• 1:03:28
  How did the events leading up to the painting and then all of the
• 1:03:32
  crazy events since impact their faith?
• 1:03:35
  Every single one of my family members, they, the all of their
• 1:03:40
  spiritual journeys got impacted in such a beautiful way.
• 1:03:45
  Even though my mother was an atheist and my dad was non
• 1:03:48
  practicing Catholic and we were raised in a non religious
• 1:03:52
  household. The events that transpired in my
• 1:03:56
  childhood and my drawings and and also the experiences with my
• 1:04:03
  artwork, it brought them all closer to God in their own way.
• 1:04:08
  And I think the beauty of it is that seeing from a daughter's
• 1:04:13
  perspective and a sister's perspective, I see all of them
• 1:04:16
  almost navigating their own questions and their own
• 1:04:21
  research. And I think that's so
• 1:04:22
  fascinating. And I think that's what it's all
• 1:04:25
  about in a way, because I think spirituality and faith is not
• 1:04:31
  supposed to be in a box. It's not supposed to be a title.
• 1:04:36
  It's supposed to be very personal.
• 1:04:38
  I think that you have, you have to go deeper into that and I
• 1:04:42
  think it's fascinating to see everyone grow in their own way.
• 1:04:46
  What was the last vision that you had that you felt inspired
• 1:04:49
  to paint? Visions and dreams, they come
• 1:04:52
  and go throughout my whole life for sure.
• 1:04:54
  And of course most of the visions were when I was younger.
• 1:04:59
  But as time goes on, like I would seek inspiration from real
• 1:05:03
  life experiences and and not just the visions and dreams.
• 1:05:08
  But I think the last vision, the strongest vision that I had
• 1:05:11
  recently, there were a few, though probably the most
• 1:05:17
  recognized is probably the the other painting that I painted at
• 1:05:25
  in 2017 of Jesus. That was the hyper realistic
• 1:05:31
  agony. Image.
• 1:05:32
  It was. It was a I wanted to capture the
• 1:05:35
  feeling of this was the transition of the resurrection.
• 1:05:39
  Oh, and not the agony. I think this one the.
• 1:05:43
  Father, forget them is the one that you were.
• 1:05:46
  OK, I'm thinking, Father, this is this one.
• 1:05:47
  Yes. That's so gorgeous.
• 1:05:49
  Yeah, that. Was that took 1000 hours to
• 1:05:53
  paint and that took everything out of me to the point that that
• 1:06:00
  was let's just say my parents said that I, I did not come out
• 1:06:04
  of my studio for a long time. I was very heavily invested into
• 1:06:09
  painting that painting. And because I wanted it, when I
• 1:06:14
  saw that vision, I wanted it to be as close, as accurate as I
• 1:06:19
  saw it with the all the years and years and techniques and
• 1:06:23
  paints that I've accumulated, I felt that this was also the time
• 1:06:27
  to to paint it. But.
• 1:06:31
  All right, so here is the image of Jesus beginning his
• 1:06:35
  resurrection. Yes.
• 1:06:36
  I was, I wanted to capture that, that moment where it was that
• 1:06:42
  transition of being that in that human form.
• 1:06:47
  And that's like how I needed to paint that painting at at all
• 1:06:51
  costs. And with that strong vision that
• 1:06:53
  I had, I'm like, I have the tool to have the techniques.
• 1:06:57
  And after 1000 hours and quite literally, my blood, sweat and
• 1:07:02
  tears went into that painting and I finally was able to finish
• 1:07:06
  it. What deeply moves me about this
• 1:07:09
  painting Akiana is that makes me want to weep is that I got
• 1:07:13
  really obsessed is a strong word, but I got really
• 1:07:17
  fascinated by the holy face of Montpello.
• 1:07:20
  I don't know if you've heard of this, but Paul Bade, this
• 1:07:22
  journalist did this whole report and I went to Italy and I got to
• 1:07:26
  pilgrimage this tiny little town outside of Rome, maybe 200 miles
• 1:07:30
  outside of Rome. I don't remember exactly where.
• 1:07:32
  The face of Montpello. It's basically the imprint of
• 1:07:35
  the outermost layer of the, excuse me, the innermost layer
• 1:07:39
  of the shroud. So the shroud of turn.
• 1:07:40
  There's seven level layers of burial cloth which would
• 1:07:44
  traditional in Jewish custom that they bury Jesus in, and
• 1:07:48
  this was the layer closest to his face.
• 1:07:51
  So you can see this beautiful, very, very thin fabric and you
• 1:07:55
  see the imprint of his face, but the imprint on it is his face at
• 1:07:59
  the moment of resurrection. They say this kind of
• 1:08:01
  transitional moment, which I'm so maybe it sounds like you
• 1:08:05
  have. Yeah, not a lot of people know
• 1:08:06
  about this so. But I always thought, oh, it, it
• 1:08:09
  looks so unusual almost this Jesus.
• 1:08:10
  It does kind of match the dimensions of shot of Turin.
• 1:08:13
  And by the way, the material is it it's miraculous, the imprint
• 1:08:16
  of the of the of the ink or you could say on the fabric.
• 1:08:19
  It's not they they've done scientific and.
• 1:08:22
  It said something about the light being like it was there
• 1:08:25
  was it was not able to be produced anything but the strong
• 1:08:30
  ray of light from the in the natural.
• 1:08:32
  Order yes so it's a miraculous image the the holy face of
• 1:08:36
  Montpello and but his face looks like this face and so it's just
• 1:08:42
  a very it like fits proportionally because it there
• 1:08:45
  was something very unique about that face of the holy face of
• 1:08:47
  Montpello. So it's just a very mystical
• 1:08:50
  thing, of course, that God is allowing here and and inspiring
• 1:08:54
  here. And I think it is all too,
• 1:08:57
  again, like you said, bring us back to the face of the Prince
• 1:09:00
  of Peace and to receive his love and be able to ultimately share
• 1:09:04
  it. So I want to ask you, you got
• 1:09:08
  the face though of the Prince of Peace.
• 1:09:10
  You got it back the painting eventually.
• 1:09:13
  That's a short story. The longer story is that after
• 1:09:19
  decades of not being able to to find the location of the Prince
• 1:09:26
  of Peace, finally through a lot of chain domino effect, we were
• 1:09:31
  able to find the location after a few decades and but under one
• 1:09:35
  condition. The owners at the time would not
• 1:09:40
  let it part because they knew who I was and what value it was.
• 1:09:46
  They would not let it part with an extremely extreme amount of
• 1:09:50
  money, so they. They wouldn't let you have it
• 1:09:53
  unless you. Got they?
• 1:09:55
  They could. Sell it back to you.
• 1:09:56
  They wanted over, I think it was over $1,000,000 to have it back.
• 1:10:03
  And at the time, you know, we after a lot of prayer, we
• 1:10:08
  figured out that the time it's getting close to have having it
• 1:10:14
  in our care. But it just coincided during the
• 1:10:20
  this particular time frame, we got a call from another family
• 1:10:24
  who was interested in purchasing the principies.
• 1:10:29
  And we said, we know somebody that is able to who wants to
• 1:10:36
  sell the the principies, but at this very high price.
• 1:10:41
  And we're like, you know, whatever what's literally in
• 1:10:46
  God's hands, whatever decision is made it I we all feel that
• 1:10:51
  felt it was right. And through lots of prayers, the
• 1:10:54
  new family says absolutely. And after some negotiations, we
• 1:11:01
  we all flew to we all flew to the storage that it was located.
• 1:11:06
  It was in storage. It was in a, it was in a vault
• 1:11:09
  for all those years and it was never so that to my.
• 1:11:14
  Didn't want to sell it except for $1,000,000 but they were
• 1:11:16
  keeping it in storage, yeah. They that's to my best of my
• 1:11:20
  knowledge that it was not showcased to anyone and it was
• 1:11:23
  in wrapped up for. Like 15 plus years.
• 1:11:27
  Yes. And not only that, it was in
• 1:11:29
  under the staircases it was in, it was definitely did not sea
• 1:11:34
  light for many, many years so. Wild and.
• 1:11:40
  It was one of the most interesting days where after we
• 1:11:45
  landed and we were driving to this to the storage and this is
• 1:11:49
  the being of the first time I met in person.
• 1:11:52
  This new family that wants to acquire the Prince Peace and.
• 1:11:55
  They were going to pay almost $1,000,000 for it.
• 1:11:57
  And they were, and the old owners, they, they, we were all
• 1:12:04
  going to meet in a specific location.
• 1:12:07
  And they walked with me and I saw this painting that was on
• 1:12:14
  this wall covered with plastic. And I turned around and, and I'm
• 1:12:22
  like, Oh my gosh, There's a lot of emotions coming through me.
• 1:12:25
  And I'm like, OK, my hands are sweating.
• 1:12:27
  This is the first time I've seen it since I was nine years old.
• 1:12:31
  And I think I was so I was 20. I think I was 25 somewhere
• 1:12:37
  around the 2425. And I'm my hands are sweating
• 1:12:41
  and I'm almost about to tear up and I'm taking the plastic off
• 1:12:46
  the Prince of Peace. And I gently take it off.
• 1:12:49
  And at the influx of memories just start like piling up in my
• 1:12:56
  head and I'm automatically transported back when I'm 8
• 1:12:59
  years old. Like I remember like all those
• 1:13:03
  paint brushes, all those strokes and the paint being dried in a
• 1:13:08
  certain way. And because I wanted, I was
• 1:13:12
  there. I wanted to be there to prove
• 1:13:14
  the authenticity of the painting.
• 1:13:16
  And only I can do it. Only I can prove the
• 1:13:18
  authenticity. And that's.
• 1:13:20
  So that's why you're there. That's why.
• 1:13:21
  I'm there. Determine it's real.
• 1:13:23
  Exactly. And I remember there was this
• 1:13:26
  particular area where my agent scratched the painting and I see
• 1:13:29
  this. He actually scratched it.
• 1:13:31
  Yeah, intentionally. That's what my mom said.
• 1:13:35
  This is this is a lot of onion, onion layers to the story.
• 1:13:40
  And and I remember just looking at it all this little, there was
• 1:13:44
  a couple's pieces of sawdust that still got trapped into the
• 1:13:50
  painting. They didn't get didn't get out
• 1:13:52
  yet, but everything, everything just came back.
• 1:13:58
  And I remember even though that I haven't seen it since I was
• 1:14:03
  nine, it was still the same. It was still the same painting.
• 1:14:08
  The feeling is the same. The message was the same and I
• 1:14:15
  was just, I definitely, it wept a lot that day because I was so
• 1:14:23
  happy to see it again. And after the transaction
• 1:14:29
  happened, the new owners quite literally were they have the
• 1:14:35
  heart of gold and their mission was whatever my mission was.
• 1:14:42
  And I'm like, I all they wanted was for this painting to be
• 1:14:47
  displayed and just for anyone to see it.
• 1:14:50
  That's all I want. That's all I want.
• 1:14:52
  And they're like, we're going to make it happen.
• 1:14:55
  And with a lot of planning transpired after that and they
• 1:15:01
  all, we all came together and brought some ideas.
• 1:15:05
  And they opened a gallery specifically centered around
• 1:15:10
  this painting in Texas called the Beloved Gallery.
• 1:15:15
  And that's where it still stands there today.
• 1:15:18
  And thousands and thousands and thousands of people from all
• 1:15:21
  over the world flew all in this little town in Marble Falls, TX
• 1:15:27
  to see the painting. How?
• 1:15:30
  Beautiful. And this painting.
• 1:15:32
  Where is this guy? This guy is incredible.
• 1:15:36
  He's still. In my private care, my private
• 1:15:38
  collection and my mission in the near future is to want to
• 1:15:44
  exhibit some of my really, really close, you know, very
• 1:15:51
  emotional pieces. And I think this was one of them
• 1:15:53
  and I I'm hoping to display it soon.
• 1:15:56
  They're both unbelievably stunning.
• 1:15:57
  This one, though, I can tell. And I can't even imagine how
• 1:16:00
  beautiful this one is in real life.
• 1:16:02
  Like it is. I mean, if somehow, obviously
• 1:16:05
  you're painting this in your 20s, right?
• 1:16:07
  Just recently, yes. You painted this one.
• 1:16:08
  Yeah. And then this was 8 years old,
• 1:16:10
  so it's a even finer piece, if that's possible here.
• 1:16:14
  But it I, I would, I hope one day to be able to travel to get
• 1:16:18
  to see that one in person. I.
• 1:16:20
  Hope one day I can show it to you and I'll, I'll tell you all
• 1:16:23
  the story behind it. And you know, there was a moment
• 1:16:27
  when I finally was able to finish that painting.
• 1:16:30
  And every painting I do, I always call my family into the
• 1:16:33
  studio and I always do like this, this reveal.
• 1:16:36
  And I put it on the easel. My whole family's there.
• 1:16:40
  I unveiled it and I remember my brother Jean Lou.
• 1:16:46
  He looks at it, he closes his eye and he he's almost like, oh,
• 1:16:51
  wow, that's it, There was this. He says that he has to almost
• 1:16:57
  take his time to open his eyes again because it was really a
• 1:17:04
  lot for him. And I think seeing that and
• 1:17:09
  feeling that made me confirm, Oh my, I, I did what I I could do
• 1:17:16
  all for this painting. And now I'm ready to share it
• 1:17:21
  with everyone else. Wow, I'm going to take a quick
• 1:17:25
  minute and I highly recommend folks listening.
• 1:17:28
  They'll have the opportunity to click the link in the
• 1:17:30
  description to see your art. But I want to go through just
• 1:17:34
  the trajectory here. You have very beautifully put it
• 1:17:39
  in your gallery online and you can see by age, which is such a
• 1:17:43
  special thing. And again, your mother, her
• 1:17:46
  intentionality to just really shepherd your gift, it's an
• 1:17:51
  inspiration to me as a mother. And I think any parent
• 1:17:53
  listening, I think is inspired by that intentionality.
• 1:17:57
  But here's your sketching. Sketching at age 4, which is far
• 1:18:01
  better than sketching that I can do at age. 37 so.
• 1:18:05
  This is just tremendous. And then you see age 5 and just
• 1:18:09
  the advancement in your ability to sketch is incredible.
• 1:18:14
  And you can see, like you said you first started doing color,
• 1:18:17
  yes, limited colors like you were describing this gorgeous
• 1:18:20
  Jaguar right here. And then here we are, age 7.
• 1:18:24
  That's when I go went into acrylics.
• 1:18:26
  Wow, and there's more colors now, Are you still?
• 1:18:29
  Yes, it's. Getting a little bit more it's.
• 1:18:32
  Getting a little bit more and I'm starting to get the the just
• 1:18:36
  of it, the just of the colors. And and then I started diving
• 1:18:40
  into oils around this age and I think the planted eyes, the one
• 1:18:45
  on age 8 of the African American lady.
• 1:18:48
  She was my first oils ever. And I remember painting that and
• 1:18:53
  it felt so the oils felt so easy at the time.
• 1:18:56
  And I felt, oh wow, this is going to.
• 1:18:58
  This is the medium I should use to paint for Prince of Peace.
• 1:19:02
  And then there we have Prince of Peace.
• 1:19:04
  And then you just see just all of this incredible explosion of
• 1:19:08
  creativity. This is.
• 1:19:11
  Yeah, Father, this is this. Is the one I was referencing
• 1:19:14
  earlier. This was also age. 99.
• 1:19:18
  This is a young painting and this is our Lord, Yes.
• 1:19:21
  This is also displayed at the beloved gallery and they were
• 1:19:25
  they wanted to acquire this in in conjunction with the Prince
• 1:19:29
  at Peace and this was painted. I finished it on my 9th
• 1:19:33
  birthday. And here is with yous Akiana in
• 1:19:38
  your little studio. How beautiful.
• 1:19:41
  Age 9 my. Dad built the easel for me.
• 1:19:44
  He went, it was so big. Most of her like my paintings at
• 1:19:50
  the time, I was quite small at the time.
• 1:19:52
  So they literally were either eye level or just almost my
• 1:19:58
  height. Like I wanted to paint on these
• 1:20:00
  large canvases, like the larger the better and.
• 1:20:05
  I, I, I just had to, I just had to.
• 1:20:08
  And it was as time progressed, as I was traveling all these
• 1:20:12
  countries, I think I've been to 35 or 36 countries and I think
• 1:20:17
  my paintings definitely got smaller because of the travel.
• 1:20:20
  And I wanted to, it was more practical for an artist.
• 1:20:26
  But the messages and the details, they're, they're just
• 1:20:30
  more enhance. They're more accentuated as time
• 1:20:34
  goes on. But yeah, the father, forgive
• 1:20:37
  them, was the one that I wanted to have this particular red
• 1:20:43
  color in his veins that I couldn't find anywhere.
• 1:20:48
  So I, it was so happened one of the days I was, you know,
• 1:20:51
  cooking or something. And I cut my finger and I
• 1:20:54
  remember like seeing that color of blood on my finger.
• 1:20:59
  And I'm like, this is, this is the color I'm looking for.
• 1:21:02
  And I, I put it on on the painting.
• 1:21:06
  So there is like, as you can tell, like as a 8 year old, 9
• 1:21:10
  year old, I'm just I'm giving pretty much my blood, sweat and
• 1:21:14
  tears into this. Amazing.
• 1:21:17
  And your parents had the wherewithal to take images, take
• 1:21:23
  even video of you painting at that young age because later on
• 1:21:28
  you would be accused of it being fake, that this was actually
• 1:21:32
  painted by an older artist and they're pretending to be younger
• 1:21:37
  or have some, like, deal with you to make money.
• 1:21:40
  And your parents knew that this attack was coming.
• 1:21:43
  And so they actually created an archive to prove that these were
• 1:21:46
  your paintings. Yes.
• 1:21:47
  And the, the foresight that they have was on another level.
• 1:21:51
  And I think because because of that, they and I, we were, were
• 1:21:59
  conversing. We're like, the only way that we
• 1:22:02
  were able to solidify this authenticity was to film.
• 1:22:08
  So during the process of painting the Prince of Peace or
• 1:22:12
  painting some of my other paintings, like there was a
• 1:22:15
  camera in the room and I would fill me as much as they can.
• 1:22:20
  And, and, and a lot of these films are online.
• 1:22:24
  Anyone can see from me painting the Prince of Peace or and ever
• 1:22:29
  since then, like there was a time, I think I was 13 years
• 1:22:34
  old, I painted this painting called Wonder and it's about
• 1:22:38
  this baby looking at the butterflies and I was 13.
• 1:22:42
  I very had very, very long hair. I remember that.
• 1:22:44
  And this was at the time when it's still, I was getting still
• 1:22:49
  some questions, still some here's.
• 1:22:52
  Wonder. Yes.
• 1:22:53
  That's it. I was getting a lot of a lot of
• 1:22:56
  still questions. And it's, it was really
• 1:22:58
  interesting because we still had a lot of this footage, but I
• 1:23:01
  wanted something from beginning to end with no stop, no cuts, no
• 1:23:06
  nothing. And this painting was shot from
• 1:23:09
  beginning to end. And we brought it to this
• 1:23:11
  converter film converter studio. And this lady was one of the
• 1:23:16
  people that was skeptical and she didn't truly 100% believe
• 1:23:21
  that I, I did what I did until she converted all my footages
• 1:23:26
  and she put it everything from beginning to end.
• 1:23:30
  And, and she felt that that whole process of watching me
• 1:23:36
  paint like it was a, it was an, an experience that she didn't
• 1:23:42
  expected. And she says everyone needs to
• 1:23:45
  see this. Everyone needs to see this.
• 1:23:47
  So that planted a seed in my mind.
• 1:23:49
  I'm like, actually, you know what, let's do it.
• 1:23:52
  Let's, let's do more of this. So that's where a lot of my
• 1:23:57
  films throughout the years, I do my best from beginning to end
• 1:24:01
  and showcase the process of my creative process of how I get my
• 1:24:05
  inspiration, what inspired me, what happened during the
• 1:24:09
  beginning of the middle. Like there was a challenge
• 1:24:11
  there. I, I'm brushing 5 paintings over
• 1:24:14
  each other just to get the right painting on at the end.
• 1:24:18
  So yeah, I I just thought that this was going to be a great
• 1:24:24
  tool to show what goes on in my studio.
• 1:24:29
  It's they're very inspiring, beautiful, beautiful videos.
• 1:24:32
  You have short versions on your Instagram, your website that
• 1:24:35
  people can see and they're just so inspiring.
• 1:24:39
  Akiana, what advice do you give to people?
• 1:24:43
  What would you want them to know about how to hear or receive
• 1:24:49
  God's own calling in their life? To be open to something
• 1:24:52
  beautiful He may have for them to experience or to do?
• 1:24:58
  I could only share what worked for me and that was through
• 1:25:05
  painting, poetry, drawing those creative outlets is it's in my
• 1:25:13
  mind is it's it's purest form, purest portal to communicate
• 1:25:18
  with God. In my humble opinion, I feel
• 1:25:22
  like experimenting with things that your soul feels at ease and
• 1:25:28
  peaceful, but also challenging, whether it's singing, whether
• 1:25:33
  it's cooking for your loved ones or taking on daily walks or
• 1:25:37
  prayer being, you know, praying in the mountains.
• 1:25:41
  I, I really feel that every one of us are unique in our, in our
• 1:25:46
  own right. There's not one answer to
• 1:25:52
  everyone that we can all share. Everyone is different, but I do
• 1:25:58
  see a lot of these similarities amongst a lot of people is
• 1:26:03
  through a creative outlet because we are gifted with
• 1:26:08
  certain things. And I believe those are from
• 1:26:13
  God. And I think it makes life so
• 1:26:20
  meaningful when you utilize those keys.
• 1:26:24
  And I really believe that they can open a lot of doors, a lot
• 1:26:27
  of raw communication that you never knew existed.
• 1:26:32
  And I really think that everyone should try to experiment to to
• 1:26:39
  do those things to create. I think that's what makes human
• 1:26:47
  being closer to God very, very meaningful.
• 1:26:53
  You just got married. Congratulations.
• 1:26:55
  Thank. You so much so.
• 1:26:56
  Happy for you. Your wonderful husband's here in
• 1:26:58
  the studio. Beautiful couple.
• 1:27:01
  What are you most excited for in the future?
• 1:27:04
  You've got a lot of projects you're working on.
• 1:27:06
  I'm. Excited for the future in
• 1:27:07
  general. I'm excited to travel with my
• 1:27:11
  husband and create a family with him.
• 1:27:14
  Also just sharing my life with him and, and I just what makes
• 1:27:22
  me so happy is when all of our families come together and we're
• 1:27:26
  just laughing and just enjoying each other's presence.
• 1:27:30
  It just feels like no matter what life throws at us, we're
• 1:27:33
  going to over always overcome it.
• 1:27:35
  And I'm just really, really happy that, you know, all these
• 1:27:41
  when all these new projects, when they come my way, I'm doing
• 1:27:44
  it together with this special person.
• 1:27:47
  And it just so happened that we are together working on a, a
• 1:27:52
  feature film and is a it's a project that's going to be like
• 1:27:58
  no other. And I'm partnering up with the
• 1:28:01
  beloved gallery. And they are the ones, the
• 1:28:04
  beloved studios are the ones that are going to be documentary
• 1:28:08
  everything. And we've travelled to Texas and
• 1:28:11
  Korea and soon we're going to think it was Brazil this year to
• 1:28:18
  do a very, very amazing exhibition.
• 1:28:22
  So lots of exhibitions, lots of lots of new exciting projects, a
• 1:28:28
  lot of film projects. My third book recently got
• 1:28:32
  published. Congratulations.
• 1:28:34
  So amazing. Thank you.
• 1:28:35
  So much What's the? Name of your third book?
• 1:28:38
  It's called Akiana, the Journey of an Artist, and it is a visual
• 1:28:43
  diary of all of my works that I have done throughout my whole
• 1:28:47
  years. And a lot of the things that is
• 1:28:50
  not on the website is, is in the book.
• 1:28:53
  And I want I went through all the archives.
• 1:28:55
  I went through all these the storages addressed to uncover a
• 1:29:00
  lot of these missing unreleased paintings and sketches.
• 1:29:04
  So it was such a fun time putting this book together and I
• 1:29:08
  wanted it to be done for such a long time.
• 1:29:11
  But I, you know what, I felt that now was the time to finally
• 1:29:17
  publish it because as an artist, you always have to make this
• 1:29:22
  call of like every book has a last page.
• 1:29:26
  What page? What do you want it to be last?
• 1:29:29
  So I was always like on a hunt to trying to make that final
• 1:29:33
  piece, that final piece. And, and I came to that
• 1:29:36
  conclusion like, let's just do a Part 1.
• 1:29:39
  So I'm doing a Part 1 and I'll always add on to it.
• 1:29:42
  My life of an artist will never stop.
• 1:29:46
  It's still going to be, I'm still going to be painting when
• 1:29:49
  I'm 100 years old. And so I'm so excited to keep
• 1:29:54
  painting and keep exploring and, and especially sharing my life
• 1:29:59
  with my husband and. People can find all of that at
• 1:30:02
  akiyan.com. Yes, and it's Akiyan pronounced,
• 1:30:05
  but it's spelled with an E at the end, correct?
• 1:30:07
  Yes, because my it is a a name that hasn't been used before.
• 1:30:13
  So my mom and my dad, they especially my mom, she created
• 1:30:17
  this Lithuanian and Russian name together.
• 1:30:20
  So that's why it's such a unique, a unique name and it
• 1:30:24
  means ocean. So it I, I feel very honored and
• 1:30:29
  blessed and I feel like I'm live, I'm wanting, I'm living up
• 1:30:32
  to my name because I love the ocean and I love being either
• 1:30:37
  being near the ocean and my favorite color is blue.
• 1:30:39
  So it just feels really fitting and I really love my name.
• 1:30:43
  It's. Beautiful, and you have an image
• 1:30:45
  of Mary, the mother of God, the mother of Jesus.
• 1:30:49
  Yes. Is it on your website?
• 1:30:51
  It is actually which where is it?
• 1:30:53
  It's called Is this? Is this her Right now it's.
• 1:30:55
  Mother's love, Mother's love not.
• 1:30:56
  On my knees, OK, I think. It is each.
• 1:30:59
  Mother's love 10 or 11 OK? That is actually, I really
• 1:31:04
  wanted to showcase this in my exhibition.
• 1:31:07
  This is my top five, one of my most emotional pieces and very
• 1:31:12
  dear to my heart. I painted that with that color
• 1:31:17
  blue that I mentioned because that that blue is very
• 1:31:22
  important, that shade because it represents the thoughts, the the
• 1:31:27
  dreams. the IT is literally called, it is literally the
• 1:31:31
  color of the mind. That's how I perceive what that
• 1:31:34
  blue is. And that mother's love.
• 1:31:38
  You can see the she's hold Mother Mary's holding Jesus and
• 1:31:42
  her shawl and her whole robe is connected to him.
• 1:31:48
  So it's all together and looped into one unit.
• 1:31:53
  And I felt that that was my indirect representation of a
• 1:31:59
  mother's love that will always be connected to her child and
• 1:32:04
  this pureness, this innocence, this, this pure love.
• 1:32:10
  And I think that I wanted to encapsulate that through this
• 1:32:15
  painting. What's very beautiful what what
• 1:32:18
  you said too, and all the Marian apparitions and in the, you
• 1:32:23
  know, in the church and everything else, blue is often
• 1:32:26
  her color that she chooses. And it's the color used in her
• 1:32:29
  mantle. And it's a It's a common color
• 1:32:32
  that Mary seems to show up mystically in you.
• 1:32:35
  Know it was interesting. I didn't know this when I
• 1:32:37
  painted it. It was only like years and years
• 1:32:40
  later when I saw some of these images about this particular
• 1:32:44
  color being associated with Mother Mary.
• 1:32:47
  And it just reaffirms that that that dream that I had was was
• 1:32:54
  very important. And I'm so glad that I was able
• 1:32:56
  to paint it. Beautiful.
• 1:32:58
  Thank you so much, Akiana. This has been such a treat, and
• 1:33:02
  I'm so grateful for your willingness to share all of this
• 1:33:06
  beautiful inspiration with me and with everyone listening and
• 1:33:09
  with the world. Thank you so much.
• 1:33:11
  It's been such an honor. I had such a fun time talking
• 1:33:15
  with you today and I'm so thankful you're able to allow me
• 1:33:21
  to share my story and the message is thank.
• 1:33:26
  You. Thank you, Akiana.
• 1:33:28
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• 1:33:32
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• 1:33:35
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• 1:33:38
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• 1:33:41
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