As I painted this, I thought mostly of the isolation of the man who buries the one talent (coin) that he’s been given. The other two servants who receive coins use them in some engagement with the world, which is how anything we receive is supposed to be used. Ultimately, whatever we’ve been given should be used for communion – not the literal partaking of bread and wine on a Sunday morning, but whatever form of communing with the rest of creation we can engage in ethically and lovingly. The figures at the top of the painting symbolize this — the circle of dancing women wear dresses of grain for the communion bread, the lone figure to the left holds grapes for the communion wine. They have chosen to participate, to claim their place within a creation that is full of change and uncertainty, but also full of life and grace. The man who buries his gifts has chosen the opposite, and is tragic and isolated.
