Time Laspe Charcoal Sketch for Painting of Broken Lighthouse

I've taken to recording some of my paintings and sketches for paintings. Here's the most recent.

Small Acrylic Paintings and Other Odds and Ends

Acrylic, 2010

Here are some old beauties of paintings I thought I would air out online.

Acrylic, 2010

Pen and ink, 2010

Watercolor, 2009

Acrylic, 2011

Acrylic, 2013

 

 

 

Digital Painting, 2013

Set of Small Acrylic Cloud Landscape Paintings for Sale with Free Shipping

I have a set of 6"x6" paintings for sale in my Etsy shop now. That size of canvas is very addicting!

You can find them HERE,

unless they are sold! '


























And here are the detail pictures for you! 
 

Having an Idea for a Small Fiber Art Series: Should I Pursue the Project?

I had an idea for a project, which is always very dangerous, because ideas are just powerful.

Also, ideas tend to be very strong for me in the beginning of the inspiration cycle, so sometimes I need to sit on it for a few days to see if it's wise to pursue.

Meanwhile, I want to make a small fiber/mixed media series called The Twelve Baskets.

Each of the vessels represents, or will represent something we can give to God that he makes bigger. We give of our little, we give of whatever tiny thing we have, and trust in him to grow it to fill the need.

I had many ideas for how to go about this, even down to asking for donations of materials so I could "enlarge" the donation with the art process and make a piece of trash worth $60, and have a sort of cooperative art work! We'll see. I'd like to have people invested in the process, and they can see thier contribution in the final product too. And I'd have at least 12 people at the opening event.

But where to exhibit these things? I would be selling them individually unless someone really wanted
all of them. And I'd want to have a little booklet to go with them.


Another idea for Art Shows:  QR codes that people can scan and go to information about the art! I'd have to see how those work, because I don't have a smart phone.

When Acrylic Gel Transfers Fail: An Art Post Mortem

Usually, I can fix failed transfers. This one, maybe not!



Bubbles, the alignment is off, and chunks that came off with the paper removal process. Oops. Good thing I printed it cheaply!


So why did it fail? I didn't take my time to do it properly, and I was afraid I would run out of gel, which I was short on anyway.

1. I didn't line it up properly. I may have cut it wrong to begin with.
2. I didn't use enough gel on the layers.
3. I didn't use enough gel to "glue"the print the prepared canvas.
4. Can it be saved? I'm thinking in the interest of time to let this one go. I can sand the surface and do a transfer on top of it, or just throw it out, it's only a cheap 16x20 student canvas.

Doing a Series of Art Works

I've been thinking of doing a series of art works, paintings, transfers, I don't know yet. I know, I know, let's do that in my SPARE time.


But I need something to express me, I need something that has an ongoing purpose or message. I need a project! 
A painting a day sort of project would be awesome, but time is always an issue with me. However, I do paint rather quickly usually. It could even be a digital painting a day! 

I need an art project to post on this blog about and make you keep coming back for more!
There are so many things I want to create, and I need an audience to support me in order to do that. So another reason to do any art in a series is to grow my audience.

How do I grow an audience? I make stuff and put it out there.

The Two Languages of Art: Creating Art for the Church and the Secular World

   Why do I really want to go to this conference?
  I am an artist, and an artist for the church. I paint during the service sometimes, and they even have a whole wall in the lobby with my paintings on it! So in a way, I feel responsible to grow in this gift. But I also want to sell my work and eventually make a living at it too, and creating excellent art for both secular and faith based worlds that SELLS is a challenge.

  Beyond that, art is a communication tool to deliver a message. The problem is the church and the secular world speak two different languages. The secular world may be put off by the languages, much less be able to understand it. "Blood of the Lamb" taken literally or not in the secular world, is really quite creepy and cultish. But those of us with a Bible based background and education know the implications and symbolism of "the blood of the Lamb."
But the same message of redemption can be delivered in a visual language that the secular world can understand.

It's like translating the Bible into another language. The visual language.

And that's partially what this conference is all about.
I would really like to hear what other people in the Christian artist workforce have to say about this.


The church as a whole has gone back and forth about art for millennia, and I'm sure it will happen again with the cycle of the use and misuse of art as a tool. But we are currently in a phase where we are bringing GOOD art back to the church, and we young artists are at the forefront of that effort that will shape how art is perceived by the church for the artists and years to come.

More importantly, we have a responsibility to use our talents, skills, and time for God's glory. We can worship God with stick figures and joy, but need a reputation of excellence if we want to put it on the same market as the art we sell to pay our bills. It's about giving God our first-fruits, the BEST of what we can do. If the best we can do is stick figures, so be it. If not, let us paint will all our skill. We have to compete on two grounds. The first is how we pay our bills and the secular, visible, physical standards by which our art is priced and valued by the customer. The second is the spiritual, the message of the work, and our heart in creating it. Spiritually, it can be a tool or a snare. Satan will hate the tools, and what may be spiritually powerful may not be commercially viable in the secular market, because they are judged differently. So how do we as artists make a living at art and worship God with our gifts at the same time?

"Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all this will be given to you as well."
God knows what we need, he knows that we have to practice our art and eat, it's how he designed us. And it might be hard, but that is part of the great adventure. It just never seems like an adventure at the time. But I believe that we should make art for God first, because that's the art that will have the most lasting impact.

No matter what happens:

"Make good art" ~ Neil Gaiman