Creative because of The Creator

Passion and Pain

2011-06-27T00:31:00.001-05:00

Disappointment and rejection are one of my main obstacles in showing my art. As an artist my creations are an extension of my person. The creative process forces the essence of who I am to be extracted. The work is infused with my life force, with my soul. After nurturing these pieces until they are brought to resolution, a type of cathexis is formed. Emotional attachment makes the paintings more than what they actually are, medium on surface. They become precious to me (if no one else). When I do muster the courage to proffer my precious treasure for the world to see, I do so with trepidation. On the occasion that I offer my favorite gem to be judged, and it is rejected, I am brought to the place of brokenness and despondency. Temptation to end the cycle of work, hope and wretchedness is great.

If art is a creative call on my life then how can I turn away from that yearning, driving force I have within? Yet to carry on seems like pretense.

This is the passion and pain that I live, yearning for acknowledgement and fearing the truth.

note: After this was posted, the painting in this post was accepted by the International Encaustic Artists, Encaustic Masters: Inspirational Visual Voices, juried exhibition.

Surface

2011-04-18T12:37:00.000-05:00

Most artists have a particular surface they prefer to paint on. Canvas, in cotton, linen or a variety of other fabrics is the most prevalent, but the choices are not limited to these. All manner of board, paper, and panel, make it confusing for the novice, and exciting for the expert. For those of us somewhere in between, we experiment, until we settle on one, (or a few) we are most comfortable with, and best suit our method, and subject.
We have an obligation to our patrons, to ensure our work is archival, and will stand the test of time, hence our choices must be appropriate.
My personal favorite is Ampersand Deep Cradled Gesso Board (with two inch edges), for oil paint, and Arches 140 lb, hot press, water color paper, for drawing, and any water media. Both of these surfaces have silky, smooth, finishes, I like to glide my hand over, before getting down to business. They lend themselves well to my favorite techniques, and subject (water). When I decide to utilize canvas, I find myself sanding, reworking, and polishing, until I have a surface, on which the paint flows and glides (much like my favored subject). It takes no little effort to achieve my purpose. Finally, I am ready to make my painting.
I believe our Heavenly Father handles us in the same manner. For each one of us, He has a particular surface, He prefers. He uses our life experiences, our problems, difficulties, complications, and obstacles, to to rework the "surface", of our hearts. Many times it takes quite a bit of effort, to make us into something smooth enough, to reflect His glory. We frequently have trouble remembering, it's not Him placing misfortune in our lives, but our choices, that bring them to us. Fortunately, He is able to see beyond our "issues", and use them to prime us, for our purpose. Thereafter, we are prepared, to become His work of art.

Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places.
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed
Isaiah 4:4b,5a NLT

Restoration

2010-08-16T12:04:00.004-05:00

At the age of 33 I met my father.
It was after the death of both my adopted parents, that I chose to seek out my biological family. After exhausting every earthly possibility of finding my birth family, I finally gave the job to my heavenly one. A group of friends prayed with me, on a Tuesday evening, that I would be reunited with my biologicals. On Friday evening my phone rang. It was my biological brother! He had been given the assignment of looking for me, by my father. In just three days the power of prayer accomplished what three years of my own labor could not.
During the next four years I would not only meet my father but several of my siblings. (I am one of seven!) At our initial encounter, Poppa tried to apologize and explain why he gave me up. There was no need for it. In my heart I knew that God had a purpose and plan, for the directions, on the road map of my life. For me, our new relationship was a gift to treasure, with no worries about the past. Our relationship grew and I believe he truly loved me and did everything he could to express that love to me.
It was during that time that something else wondrous happened. Poppa was an artist, living and working in Southern California. He ran a gallery in Los Angeles, called Goldfield Galleries. Not only was Poppa a brilliant artist, he was also one of the foremost restoration artists in the country. People brought him pieces from all over, to have restored. One of those pieces was in really pitiful condition. The client that brought it to Poppa did not even want to pay the $1500 cost of having it restored. He offered the painting to Poppa for $1500, saying, "If you think it is worth it, I'll sell it to you." At that time Poppa did not even have the money to purchase the piece. He borrowed $750 from his business partner and paid the rest.
As the process of proper restoration began, Poppa realized there was actually another painting under the one he was restoring. When his work was complete, a stunning jewel was revealed. Ballerinas! Degas was the first word that came to mind. Poppa sent the painting to the Metropolitan Museum, in New York, for authentication. Assuring him that it was indeed a Degas, the Met promptly purchased the work from Poppa for 1.5million dollars.
During the next few years Poppa spent almost all of his profit from that sale.... Some of it on me. I would receive several lovely treasures in the mail from him. A beautiful antique vase... A tiny bronze statue. He also brought me to California to spend precious time with him.
Poppa's health began to decline and he died in 1997, of complications from lung cancer. In total I had five years to get to know him. During that time he came to know our Heavenly Father as I do. Poppa accepted Jesus before he went to be with Him. I was blessed to be a part of that 'restoration'. My earthly father to my Heavenly One.

In his kindness God called you to his eternal glory by means of Jesus Christ. After you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 1Peter 5:10

Lift the Veil

2010-01-30T12:47:00.010-06:00

Between 1980 and 1999 a prodigious endeavor went into the restoration of Michelangelo's frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The restoration team was comprised of Gianluigi Colalucci, Maurizio Rossi, Piergiorgio Bonetti,and others. They followed the strictest guidelines found in the Rules for restoration of works of art as established in 1978 by Carlo Pietrangeli, director of the Vatican's Laboratory for the Restoration of Pictures. The restoration had a profound effect on art lovers and historians, as colors and details that had not been seen for centuries were revealed. It was as if a veil had been lifted from the frescoes revealing their true resplendence.
Yet many art historians have been extremely critical of the restoration. Disagreements about this have been vociferous and are unresolved. Really, no one actually knows exactly how the frescoes were painted, or how they originally looked.
Even in the midst of controversy, monumental, inspirational, moving, stunning and beautiful are still adjectives used to describe the frescoes.

On occasion, we have a spiritual veil lifted from our vision. People, places and circumstances will be revealed to us in stunning, brilliance where once they were obscured. We are able to open our hearts and minds to ideas, truths and blessings that we just couldn't see before. There is a profound effect. While we will have many critics, through this revelation of the Holy Spirit, we feel renewed and restored, with a fresh excitement and a feeling of unlimited possibility.

2 Corinthians 3:14 But the people's minds were hardened, and even to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, a veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:18 And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.

Illusion

2009-10-22T12:37:00.003-05:00

Trompe-l'oiel incorporates elaborate techniques artists use to create an illusion of reality. It means literally to "trick the eye".

Photographers have been manipulating images for decades. With contemporary technology they are only limited to what their minds can conceive. Deception has skyrocketed because of the availability of tools to make nothing into something. Great beauty as well as the reprehensible are altered beyond recognition.
How can we know what is reality?
Sincere, genuine, unaffected, truth.
Looking beyond the facade is sometimes impossible.
Sometimes we do get a glimpse, a tiny peek and we adjust our thoughts.
On the rarest of occasions our paradigm is altered when we realize that what we always believed was authentic is actually a brilliant illusion.
Disbelief, anger, bitterness, forgiveness, grace, mercy.
We choose our path to resolution.
Luke 7:47

Something Good

2009-09-10T16:23:00.003-05:00

Something good is going to happen to me.

Words of wisdom are sometimes most facile.
Acting upon them creates, energy and will cause them to come into being.
When I found this stunning field of sunflowers I had merely spoken the words and I was unknowingly led to the location of this glorious panorama.
Something good happened.
A tiny step of faith produced a bountiful harvest of delight.
Speak, and give life to the desires of your heart.

You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy. John 16:24

Living Water

2009-08-29T21:47:00.010-05:00

Living- alive, continuing in existence, responsive, vital

Water- the basis of fluids of living organisms

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
John 7:38

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Revelation 22:1

Water is both physical and spiritual.
In the physical it is the tasteless, odorless, almost colorless liquid made up of two parts of hydrogen and one of oxygen. Life sustaining and refreshing...
Spiritually, water in the Bible references birth, the word of God, purification of the Christian and spiritual life. It is everlasting life we enjoy now in Christ.

Reflection

2009-06-18T22:23:00.003-05:00

In art value stands for the relative degree of darkness or lightness of a color.
As individuals do our values reflect the relative degree of darkness
or lightness
of our hearts?

Luke 1:78-79

My Secret

2009-05-25T22:05:00.005-05:00

Form and color flowing from my brushes onto surfaces. My deepest secret, my hidden knowledge...
They paint themselves.
Choosing pigment, mixing, holding brushes in hand, ready for direction... I follow His guidance. Compositions crystallize as facets of the arrangement are merged.
It is not me, but Him.
When the shift from my work to His opus happened, I am not certain.
He mitigates and ameliorates.
I receive the blessing of this undeserved approbation.

Deuteronomy 28:8 “The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you."

Watching Paint Dry

2009-05-04T22:43:00.006-05:00

Time is what it takes for my favorite medium to dry.
Oil paint... Instrument of the masters.
Rich, creamy texture and glowing, translucent color. The properties that make it a delicious, pleasure to apply. The moment it is expressed from the tube, oil entices me to blend colors with the pallet knife, just for the satisfaction of feeling the silky smoothness as colors meld.
Depth and complexity of color are unmatched by synthetics. Just as artificial can not rival natural floral splendor. Neither can acrylic bear semblance to oil...
Virtually every great classical artist has used oil paint. In the beginning grinding the raw materials. Now convenience.
Still, drying takes time. Even with special additives there is the wait..
It is a matter of biding time. Nether heat, nor wind can speed the process. Invisible changes are taking place within the chemical composition of the paint. Bonds form creating soundness, durability and permanence.
The outcome is worth the delay.
Waiting on God can be like waiting for paint to dry. Slow response to circumstances that we have flooded with prayer generate change within us.
Patience, tolerance, restraint, forbearance, acceptance.
When His answers come we are equipped.
Isaiah 40:31

Heart Wood

2009-04-19T09:46:00.006-05:00

Autumnal colors dazzle us with their splendor. Their fruits delight and sustain both humanity and the animals who feed from them. We find respite from the sun's heat beneath their shelter.
Trees are a beautiful expression of the Fathers love for us. Their structure and design can be as intricate and delicate as the finest Belgian lace or as simple and strong as a pillar of carved stone. Trees are used by Him as natural sculptural enhancements to His glorious creation.
Arboreal magnificence continues even when there is decline within. Leaves flush with growth. Limbs full of fruit. Branches resplendent with floral grandeur. Until the test of the storm...
Weakness is revealed. The vigor and resiliency of the core is challenged.

The storm is where we are always tested and tried. Our strength, abilities and faith are in the balance. We rise above and stand as the cypress in the hurricane. Or we splinter and tumble like the water oak.

Our core strength is what sustains us.

The Word within us, His Spirit around us and the body of Christ keep us from falling. This is our fortitude.

Proverbs 10:25

Ruined

2009-02-24T16:28:00.007-06:00

Ruined.. Why did it happen? How can you repair it? Do you even care to try? Sometimes when doing a piece of work something happens and the whole thing gets ruined. Paint thinned with medium runs down the surface of the painting causing drip lines. A bug flies in to the creamy wet paint and dies there to form a brown mass in the focus area of the painting. Your dog swipes the whole canvas with his tail smearing everything. Maybe you caused the mess by careless mixing of colors and everything turns to muddy gray.
There is always redemption. Careful manipulation of the layers of paint can disguise the drips. Scrape away the bug and reapply the area to cover the mass. Catastrophic messes take more. Sometimes the entire work has to be painted over, covered with a fresh coat of gesso or base color.
That is when you have a new beginning. Another chance to "create" a new and different piece. Better than the old because of lessons learned about protecting the work and choosing more carefully. This time masterpiece.
God works on us in the same manner. Scraping away the bugs and manipulating the layers of our person to make us into His perfect image. We can't understand why he will totally renew and transform what has previously been catastrophically destroyed. That is where grace comes in.
In turning our focus on Him and what He has for us we are covered by his blood and turned into His Master-piece.

Philippians 3:21

Looking Up

2008-11-08T06:54:00.005-06:00

With eyes to the sky, continually looking up, the beauty of His creation is ever before me. Daily I am entranced by the complexity of the design. Ever changing, always moving, the composition is never the same. No human medium can replicate, mere words can not describe what is accomplished above us every day. .. .. I keep endeavoring.
We boast about our "work" and we revel in the praises of our peers. Holding on to the belief that we are the impetus behind our artistic aspirations.
Our DNA, the very essence of who we are is what it is, because of our Creator.
We are a fragment. He is complete. We continually strive to emulate Him.
Genesis 1: 1-5

Passion or Pain

2008-10-25T20:17:00.003-05:00

Passion. It is a term that is used liberally in the artistic community. Athletes are passionate about their sport. I hear it even in the more staid professions of medicine and even banking. People have a passion for their work. It drives them and makes them strive for excellence.
From whence does that passion come?
Is it a force that causes us to have stress and angst, never able to obtain the level of perfection we so desperately desire?
Or is it an inner sense of knowing that we can do more, be better, go further?
Is the result of our passion, trepidation, frustration, restlessness. Is it pain?
Or is it satisfaction, contentment, gratification, peace. Is it joy?
From the source comes the results.
Luke 6:43

Go further

2008-09-25T13:53:00.006-05:00

Taken too far. The work has just been taken too far. Over painted, over worked, just way too much. What too do when that happens? This is a question that was asked recently of a prominent artist at a public showing of his work. His response was exactly the same as mine would have been. "Go further..." Keep going with the work until you have a breakthrough and something totally different emerges. Many times that is when a new thing happens in my painting. My work takes a completely new and different direction. Things look fresh again. Production comes quicker.
Go further can be applied when there needs to be more, or it's not good enough or in many other scenarios in your paintings.
Go further.. We can go further in our lives too. In our personal relationships, in our jobs and school but also with our God. If we press on, press in, keep going in Him, He will give us a breakthrough. Our lives will be changed and something totally different will emerge.
We will be fresher, better, quickened.
Phillippians 3: 13-14

Hurricane images

2008-09-11T19:15:00.008-05:00

Hurricanes... I have been spending a lot of my time lately looking at images of hurricanes. Hurricanes and their aftermath. From above I see lovely, swirling creamy, white, fluff, covering the darkness beneath. Its what goes on underneath, in the darkness that causes the damage. Catastrophe, suffering, misery, disaster. These images come after.
It is so much like us. Lovely and covered in swirling fluff. But watch out, when the swirl has done it's work disaster is revealed.
That's when the Holy Spirit comes in. Like the clean up crews, with their, excavators, bucket trucks, chain saws and new transformers, our Heavenly Crew scrapes us clean and covers us with His blood. He attaches the new transformer of the Holy Spirit to our hearts and we are filled with real power.
Next time the lovely, swirling fluff comes we will be prepared.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18

Painting hunger.

2008-08-23T10:37:00.003-05:00

Have you ever felt the painting hunger? It comes upon you as a craving and increases until there is a gnawing inside that can only be satiated with brushes, medium and some kind of surface to be worked upon. There are images inside you and a pull toward creating a beauty, a truth, a place or time... Imagine what our Creator felt as he was designing us. He spoke us into being. Artists relate to God in a way that others cannot. We strive to do with mere sticks, oil and dirt, what He did with His very breath!
I imagine that we have an inner desire to be like our Father in His perfect creativity. We astonish with our efforts. Could it be that as we try to be like Him in our creative efforts, He leads us in His peace?
Philippians 4:8-9

Soul Painting

2008-08-22T18:44:00.002-05:00

Mind, will and emotions, these make up my soul. My innermost being is spirit, the spirit wears the soul. and the soul wears the body. ( My body wears clothes!) As I think I paint with my mind. I want to make a painting that is pleasing. Happiness and satisfaction come when I have brought a work to resolution. Mind, will, emotions... I'm a Soul Painter!
Challenges come when I endeavor to control my mind, do God's will instead of my own, and maintain my peace through every challenge. That's when I need the Holy Spirit to give me power to control the part of me that wears clothes... my flesh.
Romans 8:5-7

On being "led of the Lord" in painting

2008-08-20T20:36:00.006-05:00

Whenever I begin a painting I never know how it will be resolved. With every brush stroke and every layer I am taking a step of faith that He will lead me in the direction to make a painting that will be pleasing to Him... and to me. But I have to be real here. I am not just waiting for God to say " use Paynes Gray mixed with raw umber". The "Spirit Led" painting method hasn't worked for me. .. Yet. I have tried to work that way. Really I have. There are unfinished works in my storage now waiting for the next step. It just never really seems to come to completion. Maybe I expect too much. Maybe I am too impatient. They are still there, I am still waiting.
Once I shared with a missionary friend about my my biological father being an artist, and my belief that my talents came from him. Several weeks later I received an email from her after she had gone back to India. In it she told me that it was not my biological that I had gotten my talent from but from my heavenly One. I had a paradigm shift.
As I serve Him and draw near to Him, He will draw near to me.
So.. I paint with my heart, mind and the Spirit. They come to resolution that way.
I am who I am, because of who I am, in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 2:20

Something from nothing

2008-08-18T20:18:00.006-05:00

Create
(verb) bring something into existence
Can we as mere humans actually bring something into existence? Can we actually make something from nothing. In the artistic community there is plenty of loquacity about "creativity" but are we humans creative, or maybe just seeking to be like the Creator.
Genesis 1: 1-4

The enemy hates creative people.

2008-08-17T22:04:00.007-05:00

The Enemy hates creative people. He does everything he can to destroy the creative arts. Many of our best artists, in many industries fall into sin and ultimately are destroyed and killed by him. Brilliant fashion designers, hairstylists, makeup artists, painters and sculptors are seduced, deceived and caught up in a lifestyle that ends badly.
It is with compassion that I say these things, not condemnation. It is our responsibility to reach out to hurting people.
We also have to keep up our guard. Stay strong in the Word of God and prayer.
No one is safe. We are all at risk.
Armour up.
Ephesians 6:11- 16