have your way

This is a series I just completed titled "have your way". Each piece is 24x30(ish) size. I painted on cardboard cut from a box, so the edges aren't straight & are a bit ragged. I primed the cardboard and then used the combination of latex house paints & images printed on paper to create these mixed media abstracts.

The first painting is titled: "fill me up". The second painting is titled: "sing over me". The third painting is titled: "rain down on me".

I had worked these paintings out on my computer first (as I often do with my abstracts). So I had a plan and a direction in my head as to what the paintings were going to look like. But as I painted the first one, I found out that even though it was primed on all sides, the cardboard reacted differently to the paint than canvas usually does. My normal painting techniques weren't getting my desired effect. So midstream I had to readjust what I was doing & allow the unexpected difference to take me to a place that I had not planned. It was a fun process as I let go of my expectations on the pieces and let them be what they needed to be.

I didn't have an overall title for the series until after it was finished. Once I stepped back and was able to view all 3 paintings together, I knew it needed to be called "have your way". As I had just experienced that working release in my creative process, I could then see that it was a tangible example of how my heart needs to be pliable for God to work in my life. I sometimes have expectations as to how and what and where my life should be...but if I were to only let go and allow God to paint me as He sees me, then I would be able to become who I really am.

communion: breakfast on the beach

I recently created this 24x30 mixed media painting on canvas after my experience on the art mentor retreat in Texas last month. It was inspired by several events & people who have influenced my life over the last 10 years...converging together as an epiphany in my heart & mind about communion.

Matthew 26:26-28 talks about Jesus sharing in communion with his disciples (during the Passover Feast) before he was to be crucified. He shared himself in a real way with them over a meal (the bread and wine that was available at the time). John 21:12-13 talks about the risen Christ inviting his disciples to join him on the beach for breakfast (a form of communion). He shared himself in a real way with them over a meal (the bread and fish that was available at the time). I wanted to take this theme and connect it with something our culture shares in today: the act of having “coffee” with one another. When we invite others to “coffee” with us, it’s like we are inviting them to commune with us in relationship and to be real with us over a "meal" (the coffee and whatever food that might be available at the time). It’s like a portal to an ancient custom...a custom that Christ seemed to think was important for us to remember Him in. It’s that kind of relationship of heart to heart sharing over a cup and a meal that Christ desires with us and through us with others.

I created this painting with that kind of communion in mind.

eyes reMADe for WONDER

Today I painted a small mural in the bookstore of Boise Vineyard. Last year I had painted a slightly larger one with a Dead Sea Scroll & Pottery Jar (see post titled "Word UP" dated February 26, 2009). Today, I got to paint some crazy Johnny Depp Mad Hatter eyes! This was the "mad" brain child of the Pastor who oversees the bookstore & the small group ministry at Boise Vineyard. He spoke this theme in his life sermon recently when he was ordained. It's a call to us all to truly SEE...to see beyond outer appearances, to see beyond the surface, to see past our prejudice & preconceived viewpoints, to see beyond our limited circumstances...in order to see through to the heart and the wonder of life. I had a lot of fun painting this one.