a crazy creative idea

I've mentioned before that the great American expressionist painter Jackson Pollock has been a huge influence on my abstract expressionist paintings. There are several of his works that I really like, but one in particular has stood out for me over the years. It's called "Male & Female". Today I painted my own version of that painting...but not on canvas...on one of the walls in my art studio!

I got this crazy creative idea a month ago when film director John Hughes passed away. John was the creative mind behind many of the teenage angst movies we high schoolers of the 80's connected with...movies that starred actors we affectionately called "The Brat Pack". After his death I spent a couple of days watching some of those movies and being nostalgic high school and the 80's. One movie in particular, "Some Kind of Wonderful", became a favorite of mine (on so many levels). It was about a guy who wanted to be an artist who had a drum playing tomboy as a best friend. Both characters struggled emotionally as to where their place in life was to be....and in the end they found true love and acceptance with each other. But I digress...

The artist had this painting on the back of his bedroom door. The entire door. And it when I rewatched the movie and saw that in the scene...I knew what I needed to do. Today I did more than paint a door...I painted a wall. And with each stroke I thanked God for blessing me with this crazy creativity inside of me that can't be squelched. This wall in my studio is a tribute to Jackson Pollock...but also to Some Kind of Wonderful...a chance to hope and dream and be who we really are.....glorious in the sight of God!

getting out of your comfort zone

Tonight I got to participate as a leader in a special event that VineArts facilitated for the youth of Vineyard Boise. We held an Art & Worship night for them....an opportunity to get them out of their comfort zones to work together to create something that represents who they are as a youth group. There was close to a hundred teenagers!

We prepped 3 large canvases with outlines of scenes painted on them that represent some core values of what the youth group stands for (1. a scene representing Christ-like behaviour of serving others, 2. a scene representing encountering Christ through worship, 3. a scene representing relationship & fellowship as believers in Christ & participating in baptism and communion).

The youth were encouraged to each spend some time painting on each of the canvases....together! They could paint whatever colors they chose, however they wanted to paint, they could embellish on something someone else had started...they just couldn't destroy what someone had painted.

Throughout the night there was a worship band playing, one of our VineArts leaders spoke to the group as the kids painted (he had inspirational stories, poems, quotes, and things to share), the Youth Leaders helped with some of the logistics and made sure each of the youth were participating at some point in some way, and those of us VineArts Leaders who were there helped with the paint & encouraged the youth individually as they painted...all the while the youth were painting the scenes and spending time in prayer and worship as they felt led.

It was an amazing night of creativity! I always love being a part of these kinds of events. I get to see how a group of people (many who have no art background at all) can let down their walls and let go of their fears and allow the simple act of painting open up whole new worlds for them. For many of the them, painting is not something they do naturally (and that's okay, cuz this kind of event helps to get people out of their comfort zone and paint side by side with each other...artistic talent isn't the point, willing hearts are the point....which this can be a scary thing even for seasoned artists!). Many people also don't connect or understand worshipping God & creating art at the same time...this kind of event gives them an opportunity to actually experience what it can be like to partner with God creatively. It's incredible to watch what happens!

They were unable to finish the paintings tonight in the time we had, but they will have a chance to finish them over the next couple of weeks. The canvases the youth worked on will later be hung up in the youth room as inspirational artwork.