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We all know that art is not the truth, art is a lie that makes us realize the truth. ~Pablo Picasso

This composition began as a crayon sketch doodled while I interacted with a group of 3 yr. olds. I had been browsing an old (rather thick) book titled A Concise History of Modern Art while in the teacher's breakroom earlier, and felt inspired to try something different than my usual representational art. The only thing I had on my mind was to create a pleasing composition using circles and swirls. My color choices were very limited, as was my time, so I worked loosely using mostly full-arm motions. After noticing how many famous 20th century artists named at least one of their paintings "Composition" I was going to jokingly do the same.... but then when I looked at it later it struck me that it was not such a random thing as I had thought. A name came to me: Trinity.

The following Sunday at Anawim I took out the art supplies and had another go at the composition. Using oil pastels I could give it a more painterly look. Notice the color values in this are reversed from the other versions.

Next I decided to take a shot at doing an acrylic painting beginning with a tonal black-and-white underpainting. I laid a foundation of textures and values over which I was going to glaze color. I bought some acrylic gloss medium for this purpose, as well as some new paint and canvases (I love Jo-ann's 40% off coupons!). As I sort of randomly turned the painting around I saw that when in the "portrait" position it resembled a figure of a person. So I decided to keep it in that orientation.

Tuesday night at the art table I continued to work on the color glazing and details. My 9 yr. old friend, Mercy, daughter of Steve Kimes, inspired me to add some gold and silver paint. I added a "halo" at the top of the figure and a few small gold details. It may still undergo more work before I declare it finished... or I may just sign it and give it a final coat of gloss medium. I'll have to think on it. After all, art is a process. There is often much more going on in the doing of it than what you see in the final work.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~Scott Adams 'The Dilbert Principle'

How Great is that Darkness!

The art table remains open even during the teaching. On this night, I was reminded of what Jesus said in Matthew 6:23: "If...the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"

This was the same night as I wrote about in the last post.

Perceptions

I recently had an extraordinary experience at the Art Table. Two young men were at the table facing me; one on my right and one on my left. The man on the left wore a hoodie with the hood drawn up over his head. He stared vacantly toward the floor, his eyes blinking slowly. He spoke almost inaudibly in a sing-song murmur to no one in particular. It was not the typical self-talk of a schizophrenic, he was telling stories of his experiences, but they were fantastical, eerie stories that couldn't possibly have been his own experiences, more like dreams or hallucinations. Without looking up at me he seemed to be speaking to me, responding to my under-my-breath comments. I found his presence distracting, the demonic nature of his one-sided conversation disturbing.

The young man on my right heard the other man say something about modern prophets which sparked a conversation with his girlfriend about other self-proclaimed "prophets" in modern times, explaining some of Paul's teachings about what prophecy really is. He is a new Christian being discipled by Steve Kimes and my husband. His face shone, his manner focused, intense and animated.

I was sitting before a blank paper, completely distracted, unable to focus on what I should paint. So I covered my face with my hands and began praying. Mostly that God would rebuke the spirit at work in the young man to my left, cause him to leave, or show me what I should do. I received a clear answer, "paint what you are seeing". Immediately I saw the images above.

The Third Heaven

One of the unique aspects of painting during worship is the time limitation. Working in acrylics allows for making a fully layered painting in a short amount of time. But the (relatively) brief window of opportunity forces me to compose freely and with less deliberation or fussy detail. This painting sketch was completed in about an hour. I didn't have all the details because I didn't spend the time looking up the references to the "third heaven" in which God resides. It is described as a throne surrounded by a rainbow and Elders, sitting on a sea of glass or crystal. There's more but I couldn't remember. This also, unintentionally, resembles an eye. Very often, it is the "unintentional" detail which most speaks to a viewer. You can call it serendipity, chance, blind luck or whatever.... I prefer to think otherwise. If I am yielded, it is quite possible my hand could be guided by a Will other than my own.

Welcome!

A shiny new blog needs a post! I will most likely update this infrequently as the mood strikes. For now I will just post a recent painting and explanation as soon as I can get the photo upload feature to actually work...

Ah, the problem was apparently MS Explorer. Firefox managed the upload just fine!

This idea first formed itself in a colored pencil doodle I made during one of Pastor Steve's teachings from Revelation. It's a sort of fractal-like pattern which made me think of the passage in Ezekiel about the "wheel within a wheel" and another passage about one of the heavenly creatures which was covered all over with eyes. So I call this "Eye of God".

11x14" ~ Acrylic on canvas.