THE ROAD HOME
By Daniel Bonnell (paintings) and Garth Hewitt (songs and prayers)
SPCK. 48 pages
ISBN 0 281 05598 X
The Road Home is a beautifully produced book, well-designed, in an attractive format. It combines art and music in an unusual way and these two elements, plus the prayers, complement each other very well.
Christian art is a broad category today and the strength of the artist's faith says little about the quality of his/her work. It's difficult to judge these paintings as I haven't seen the originals, and only details are shown in the book. Without the titles and further illumination of the songs, they could be of any people in any landscape. So I feel they fall more into the realm of illustration. The paintings are of tough subjects, but handled rather gently in my opinion, and overlaid with emotion and an unreal sense of heroism.