I'm an abstract expressionist artist and live painter, I'm the sole-proprieter of my art business "revelatorART", the co-founder of the local Boise performance art company "Marten Evergreen", I'm an art minister with the local Boise arts ministry "VineArts", and I travel the world connecting cross culturally in communities through creativity. I work in mixed media painting. I create most of my work in my studio, but I often paint live as a way to allow the creative process to be a collaborative conversation between me (the artist), the audience, and (if available) other artists, musicians, dancers, and speakers.
Over this last week I had 2 really cool opportunities to paint live in 2 very different venues, collaborating with 2 very different groups, to converse with 2 very different audiences.
I painted live on a stage in a church during their Sunday morning services and I also painted live in the display window of a downtown city center vintage clothing shop.
What I loved about both very different experiences is that in each opportunity, of creating art live in front of people, there was the chance to connect with people not only visually (as I painted) but also conversely (either during or afterwards). Connecting with people is the main reason I paint live. Yes it's a cool thing to get to show the world the creative things that are within me as they find their way onto the canvas. But it's an even cooler thing to talk with people and have them share with me what they are/were experiencing by watching me create the art, or have them share with me what's going on in their lives and how the simple vulnerable act of me creating something in front of them became a safe invitation for them to open up too. It's a really cool thing!
For me, human interaction is the stuff of life. It doesn't matter to me if I'm in a Christian church, in a shop on a busy city center street, performing at an art event, accompanying a band at a concert, creating something special at a birthday party or private event, or connecting cross culturally in a community overseas. Painting live is like the ice breaker for conversation (art is only the language) so human to human hearts can connect.
That's what I'm about. I'm all about the heart to heart. I'm all about the love.
Painting Live at Vineyard Boise Church:
photo taken by J. Nilo
Abstraction in design within a church.
photo taken by J. Nilo
Collaborating with the band that led the congregation in song.
photo taken by J. Nilo
Collaborating with Pastor Mike Freeman as he spoke to the congregation.
The finished painting. A parable of Jesus about being generous to others with what we've been given.
It is only one of many style-similar images that local artists are creating at the church on Sunday mornings May-Sept 2016 to illustrate the parables of Jesus. They are being hung up as a backdrop to the stage in the sanctuary.
Painting Live at LUX Fashion Lounge in Boise:
Partnering with local shop owners to help support local (both ways!)
photo taken by R. Rodriquez
Abstract Expressionism within a shop window.
photo taken by G. Deeming
Interacting with people watching.
The stopping point for the painting at the end of the night. It morphed and changed throughout the 3 hour time I was creating it. It went from complete abstract to an impression of the Boise River. I don't know what it will end up actually looking like, but I will finish it up in my studio.
And this is the finished painting after spending some more time with it in my art studio. It's still representing the river....but I moved it back into more of an abstract expressionist painting rather than impressionism (which is what it was moving into while I was painting live). I really like how it turned out. I realize that I couldn't really have done the splatter effect the way that I really wanted to do in this painting while painting it live in the shop because of being in close quarters in the display window and in such close proximity to clothes racks and other merchandise. Once I was in my studio I had the freedom to let the painting go where it wanted to go.
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