Are you an ARTIST teacher?

This series of images documents the ongoing progress/process of a very large in-class demo of oil painting.

Just this past summer, I had the great honor and pleasure to meet one of my blog readers (Hi, K!) in part because they were doing their graduate studies capstone research project on the matter of not just teaching art but being an artist who just as well teaches. The whole idea was so curious and intriguing to me because I never stopped to think about what kind of teacher I am and even seek to be other than just trying to be the best professional art educator myself. 

Still, it got me thinking - have I been an artist teacher? What does it take to be an artist teacher if you aren't one? And, if you aren't an artist teacher, should you seek to be? And if you are an artist teacher, when do you stop being an artist and start being a teacher of art - or are those identities/roles so beautifully braided together that they don't beg to even try to be separated?

When I met with my blog reader, the intent was to be interviewed by them about the whole notion of being an artist teacher but it ended up turning into a very interesting and thought provoking conversation about that plus many other things. At one point they asked me something along the lines of if I wasn't an artist teacher or even an artist, what would I call myself. I sat and thought for a moment and then I declared that I am "curious" and that's what I believe that I am. Even now, months after that interview/conversation, I feel like "curious" is the best way for me to both explain, define, and identify myself. 

Last year, I believe I struck upon something incredibly important that has truly changed the trajectory of what I was trying to do when I first became an art educator five years ago. I realized the importance of process within the creation of art and I also started making a great distinction between the notion of CREATING art vs. making art. I did this not only in my own life but I also stressed this within all that I was teaching my student artists. 

I believe it's because of this that I finally started seeing more original, interesting, thought provoking, intentional and REMARKABLE artwork from my student artist more than I ever had before. It was incredible and the difference between what I did last year with my student artists and years before? You can totally see how much more on a different "level" it was and then continued to be with each next step they took with their learning and project endeavors. The difference between the two was that I made my teaching objective and curriculum a lot more about them (so, student-centered and inquiry-based) and a lot less about me (lecturing, deliberately steering each of them through very narrow paths of techniques for making things rather than creating them).

This year I tried something even more adventurous than what I did last year with an even greater emphasis on the importance of developing and having a creative process in order to be a more intentional artist and designer. While I have readily used in-class demos before, it's been in a way that kind of disconnects me from the process for the most part - meaning, I don't really show them much other than just demonstrating specific techniques. In my own experience as an artist though, I have learned that process isn't just figuring out and refining technique. It's about the perseverance, the critical thinking, deep emotional investment and personal connection with whatever work of art is currently in the works. All of that is even more integral to the creative process than refined technique but if I don't show the students that I go through this? I fail to show them some of the most important parts of the creative process and any finished work of art I might show them that I created seems to just appear vs. it being something that they truly see and understand was a labor of love (if you will). 

Finally got the stem and leaf (on the right) done the other day! Now to keep myself from going back and messing it up.

I have been working on a giant oil painting of a Hoa Quynh flower for weeks and going on months at this point. To say that it's been slow going would be an understatement and this is as much because I can't spend a ton of class time on it because I am constantly circulating and interacting directly with the student artists and their artwork as much as I have been just avoiding painting as I am wont to do even in my home studio. I am committed to pushing the painting through to the end though and even though the students have now finished their oil paintings, I refuse to give up on finishing mine because there is still so much process to share with them for them to learn of that I know will help them in their own journey to find and use their unique artist voices.

Learning to listen and then let go

Some weeks back, I started oil painting again after taking an unintentional sabbatical for quite some time. I was able to complete two 36 x 36 pieces in one weekend. I felt pretty uplifted by them both.

And then something happened with the second one I did. The longer I looked at it, the more I become convinced that it wasn't as it was supposed to be. There was an unnatural darkness about it that made me feel uneasy and prompted me to try and make adjustments to help illuminate it. Everything I did only made it worse and spread more darkness over it. My husband tried his best to convince me that I should just let it be and friends of mine gave me plenty of affirmations that is was "pretty good." I wasn't convinced though I ended it quickly by rubbing it down with turpenoid and not even thinking twice about it. I knew that finishing it and then wiping it clean was absolutely essential to the creative process for what this painting would be.

This is why I paint and why I should be painting a lot more often

This weekend provided the first opportunities in months for me to really invest some time and paint in my home studio. Here are the fruits of my labor...

Both were done in Gamblin oils on stretched canvases that are 36x36 in size. Both are completely original works for me and this is a huge first for me. Both were also done - start to finish - within less than 48 hours of time. I have no titles for them yet but I am working on that. The inspiration for the subject matter should be obvious enough but largely it is informed by my Christian beliefs and experiences so far in my life.

Mini Masterpiece prepping with Artist Trading Cards :: Interactive Art History

This is my third year of doing the ever popular Mini Masterpiece project with the Art History students and this year I decided to add something into the creative process of it by having the students do some trial runs with artist trading cards (ATC). Do you do ATC at all with your students?

In all honesty, I have wanted to get in on the ATC "game" for quite a while and I even have quite an inventory to do it - I ordered different supports in ATC size at the beginning of the year - but I haven't been able to get it and keep it going. I blame the ridiculous schedule I keep at any given time with working full-time, graduate studies (also full-time), married and family life, and everything else in between.

(Next year, my goal is to definitely get ATC creation and exchanges going here within the school's art community and then eventually have it connect with another school/art community. I think it would be a great for a student leader to spearhead and so it's on my goal list to make happen in that way. Anyway...)

I have all of these ATC but I haven't used them this year so far. Last week there was a major school-wide field trip that happened though with the Science department and I was left with only half of my students in almost every class! It was the perfect time to break out some ATC for the students to do some creative processing and exploration. I found it especially useful with the interactive art history students since they are prepping for doing the Mini Masterpiece project and the ATC are just the right size to get them to start thinking about scale in order for them to do more successful works of art when they get their final materials.

I put my hand in this shot so you can get a better understanding of how small they are! 

The students used the Portfolio brand Oil Pastels that we are such a huge fan of and they all turned out some pretty amazing ATC that many of them took with them in order to be able to give to their friends and/or hang in their lockers.

I have never done ATC before but I feel like it really worked as a nice stepping stones for art history students to feel a little more prepared and confident for when it comes time for them to put paint to canvas.

Why ride waves when you can paint them :: Oil Pastel studies of waves

In continuing to prepare the 2D Design class to jump right into landscape painting from picture reference for their turn of doing a Place of Grace, we got our proverbial feet wet by wave painting!

While we could have done a youtube instructional video for this one, after the clouds in the sky and the tree, I felt like they should attempt the waves a little more on their own. I did provide some instruction for the purposes of prompting them to connect what they would do with the waves back to the tree and the clouds - like helping them to realize that the crest of the wave is not unlike the clouds or the foliage of the trees. I also helped them to see the darks, mediums, and lights of the sections of the wave as well as helping them to understand where things should be more heavily blended and where their marks should be preserved as they are.

Overall, the goals of the wave painting were to allow them to have a lot more autonomy, be a little more intentional with their marks, and prove to them that they can paint (and well at that!) by using a picture as a reference. I differentiated the instruction by allowing them to select which wave they would do but by the end of the exercise they all had attempted to do both to of them. I projected two pictures I found of wave paintings online and I projected them split-screen style on the dry erase board so I could label them as I needed to.

You can see some of the labels I drew on top of the pictures. 

And here is the student work! The students are getting better and better with their marks and I am so delighted with how they are becoming more "painterly" with their work overall. I am especially excited because this is a class of student artists who are very much foundational in what they know of art so this is their first major endeavor into really producing something that (for them) will feel a lot more legitimate. See if you can figure out which wave (A or B) that they did based upon their work!

This student wasn't done but I believe they have the essence of the wave they were attempting.

There was a lot of peer tutoring going on amongst them a they did their work and I know that helped. Many of them also learned (and demonstrated!) the importance of not just drawing in the center of the paper and using the whole space of the paper. Showing them how to bleed and anchor the shapes, colors, and values to the different sides of the paper really helped them to better understand the overall composition of each of their pieces.

One last thing I did was to play a youtube video as background "music" in order to make their painting as full sensory as possible. It was so relaxing hearing the waves crash every day that they did this. Here is one I used...

This is the first year that I have used youtube at least every other day - for either co-teaching instructional purposes OR to do things like helping to create a more authentic experience of creation in the studio classroom and I am going to keep doing it because it has really made a difference for the students and their work.

Something else of all of this painting of landscapes? I am convincing them (as I told them I would!) that despite any of their individual claims that I ALWAYS hear from them of "I am not an artist," they not only will come to love and crave the experience of painting but they will also be good at it too!

Maybe I will take a nap instead

Merely taking up space for the past 6+ weeks

I suppose I could have pulled myself out of bed at a reasonable time this morning in order to get things accomplished but I didn't. And this is the third morning that this sort of thing happened.

I would use the excuse that I am on Spring Break and that's why this sort of thing is happening but I don't know. To me that's hardly a reasonable excuse or justification or whatever you want to call it in order to explain that my serious lack of anything creative in the direction of personal works.

I mean... I don't know. I don't have any very good excuse other than the fact that when I am sleeping I am even dreaming about being able to take a nap so I'm just going to say that I am tired. I am REALLY tired and worn out.

I have one more day (tomorrow) of this Spring Break where I could possibly get in some really good uninterrupted painting time without having either a husband and/or a child wanting for my attention in some way, shape, or form so tomorrow I gotta get back to the easel and make SOMEthing happen.

Today, I really do think that I will take a nap instead. It just goes like that sometimes.

Social Media for GOOD :: That time Gamblin sent me FREE paint!!!

Last month, in the midst of all of the craziness that was the production of the musical, my birthday happened!! And despite the fact that my birthday has been known to bring about things that are not worth celebrating - like one year my grandmother died and my other grandmother was diagnosed with cancer - I usually let it go by unnoticed if I can help it.

Times they are a-changin' though and this year? Well this year's birthday was STELLAR compared to what every other birthday before has proved to NOT be. Why? Because I came home to a package from none other than Gamblin Oil Colors that included F-R-E-E tubes of paint from them!!!!!!

Did you get that? I said FREE tubes of GAMBLIN brand Oil Paint!!!!!!! The stuff is NOT cheap even if you get a deal on it through Utrecht. And they sent me (3) tubes of it along with a ton of literature about pigments and color palettes and all sorts of other useful stuff as well. My artist heart could not have been so blessed if anything else would have showed up in my mailbox and what a thing to come home to on my birthday!!!

My three tubes of paint! Alizarin Permanent, Torrit Grey, and Cote d'Azure (limited edition)

A terrific selection of reference materials for me that will be so helpful in my painting endeavors.

So, are you wondering how I went about getting such a lovely package delivered? Let me just tell you!

Now, I am NOT being compensated to review or hype up this brand in any way shape of form. I am a loyal user of Gamblin brand simply because they so awesome that I can't not use them. My painting professor from last year got me started on using the brand and I have used some store brands before but there is just nothing that compares to Gamblin and I stick with it for that reason. And because I am a real "talker" about things I love, I am all about shouting it via every conduit I might have access to about how much I love Gamblin brand. I regularly post pictures on Instagram of paintings I might be working on and I almost always tag them with either hashtags or the Gamblin username in order to let them know that I am using AND loving their oil colors.


About a month after I took my vocal love about Gamblin brand to the social media avenues, I was contacted directly by one of their marketing folks who asked me if I might be interested in trying out a new version of Alizarin that they were now producing. *WHAAAAAAAAA?!!!! YES!!!!!!!* I, of course, graciously accepted the offer and then I just waited and waited. A little more than a month passed and I started thinking that maybe they had changed their mind because they started to dislike some of the work that I was still posting on Instagram. I sort of lost of painting "mojo" and some more time passed and then my birthday showed up and with it came the long awaited package from Gamblin!!!! I was BLOWN AWAY. And I (of course) took it back to Instagram and thanked them very publicly for supporting me and my art with the free "swag."

From my own doings and understandings of Gamblin's activity on Instagram, there were a handful of other people who they sent paint to as well so I wasn't the only artist who they hooked up so nicely. I don't really care about that though and I just feel like it was such a blessing not only because it was free paint and REALLY amazing paint at that but also because I feel like them recognizing me by sending me some of their products to use really legitimizes me that much more as a visual artist and I (honestly) doubt myself and the talent I do or don't have on any given day. Seriously. I won't say that I am super terrible at painting but I know I have a lot to learn and there are a ton of artists/painters who are "better" than me and I am not every kidding myself about any of it.

Still, I wanted to be considered and respected as an artist who is serious about creating and being a working artist. I mean, I don't aim to be in a gallery necessarily but I also don't want to be one of those folks who people look at and just kind of gets lumped together with anyone else who might also be holding a paintbrush and painting for the fun of it. Painting and creating and artwork means so much more to me than just it being for the fun of it, y'know?

So, yeah. I am here to tell you that Gamblin Oil Colors seriously sent me FREE tubes of paints and I know it happened by and large because I was willing to talk about how much of a fan I am of theirs on Instagram. See how awesome social media is? It's not so bad really.

This is what two weeks of painting looks like

Two weeks ago the canvas looked like this...

Underpainting

And then it went to this...

 

And I have revisited it so it currently it looks like this...

 

I am guessing that I have at least another week but more than likely two more weeks ahead of me to actual finish this painting. It's been a tremendous amount of work and very challenging but I have learned just as much too and I am in no major rush to complete this. I just want to be able to paint this well and CORRECTLY. I want the colors to be right, the marks to have integrity, the lines to have obvious speed, and I am not willing to skimp on anything that will diminish how it speaks to glorify creation and the creative process.

There is so much JOY in this journey

It has been almost three months since I entered full-throttle into this new chapter of my life that requires me to devote myself more whole-heartedly to more personal art and creative endeavors. (Right now it's just fine art oil painting but it will also include sculpting and creating artisan jewelry). Though it's been incredibly challenging, I can't say I am doing anything less than feeling like I am living a dream of some kind.

I have always ALWAYS wanted to be a painter and more than any other kind of artist in the world. And I have always ALWAYS felt like I couldn't be that because what I was painting was merely rendering things and wasn't ever truly creating anything worth the paint and time I was using up in order to paint in the fist place. And while it's debatable that I am any good at all, well... I am not very hung up on that. This is because for the first time in my life I feel much more like a legitimate painter (and in turn serious visual artist) than I ever have before. I feel like I actually have a specific direction for the artwork that I am seeking to create and I am not just making the same thing over and over again or swiping other peoples' work by simply remaking what they very uniquely created to begin with leaving me with only a poor imitation of their truly phenomenal work.

I mean... like I said before - I am not trying to say that I am some acclaimed artist or anything worth my salts (or rather my paints) but I finally don't feel so hung up on the whole business of whether I am good or not. And even if someone thinks I am not good? Eh... I am not hung up on that either because I feel like by painting and sharing it, I am doing what I have been called to do which is really what is validating me more than any priceless masterpiece I might ever create or not.

The beginnings (in sequential order) of a piece I am currently working on.

 I have been painting since early 2000s but I always knew I was never quite that good while I was doing it. People would see what I did and they would appreciate it but I always knew that they agreed with me that what I was doing wasn't all that noteworthy. Looking back I can evaluate what I was doing and say outright that my work lacked confidence and direction and also what I was painting? It was obviously indicative of the fact that I was trying to paint for the sake of painting and I wasn't saying much with what I was painting but I also didn't know what to say. I was just sort of painting for the purpose of hoping that I would turn out something decent and worthy of praise at some point but I had no idea how I could be a little more intentional.

None of the aforementioned applied anymore though. Why? Because I have made a more concerted effort to do something more than be simply self-taught and an enthusiast of the art of (and from) the act of painting. Now, don't take this like me bashing self-taught artists. That's not what this is at all. I mean, for as much as I struggled during my self-taught years but still continued to paint despite it, well... being self-taught (and thus a little bit unknowing about the importance of being something more than simply self-taught) helped me to explore a territory and offered me plenty of mistakes to experience so I would be able to understand the importance of more formal training - that which I now have at this point in my life!

Some more sequential images via my instagram feed. It's a work in progress but I feel like it's working out enough to show progress better than most any kind of artwork I have ever done before!!!

Definitely, I learned plenty during my time of being self-taught painter but I have to say that what I learned in that time can be summed up mostly by saying this: I definitely didn't know very much or at least what I knew didn't help me to do and (visually) say what I really wanted to. I mean, I still have plenty to learn about and to prove that I know a thing or two about (as evidenced by the most recent image of the state of my painting as seen below) but I can't help but feel like I have already come so far even though I know I still have many miles to go.

Added lighter values and warm colors back in after darkening almost the entire canvas in an effort to correct value issues.

I might never sell a painting in my life and I might never make it into a gallery of any kind. But you know what? That's not my point in being a painter and a visual artist anyway. I am doing what I am doing because I feel truly called to do it and with every mark of my brush, with every canvas that I "dirty" with paint, I feel like I am answering that calling and that gives me greater joy than anything I might ever have for all of the rest of my years on earth.

Amazing grace

Underpainting on a 36x36" piece I am starting for the purposes of creatingartforHim.com

I finally painted something worth painting more of this weekend. I did it Sunday night to be exact. Amazing how it took me all last week and then all this weekend to finally put brush to canvas and paint the way I know I am supposed to. It's a darn good thing that I don't do this full-time seeing as how long it takes me to do something as (seemingly simple) as underpainting.

In all honesty, I really didn't intend to paint this. My plans were actually to paint a picture of an elephant. Yes. You read that right. My goal was to paint an elephant. (Elephants are a bit of a thing for me and my life. I don't know what it is about them but it's just happened that way.) And all weekend long I have known that I needed to get started with painting but I haven't been able to motivate myself to actually do it. Essentially, the whole business of painting became a bit of an elephant in the room for me.

So... I finally got to painting and did the above and it just wasn't working. I mean... it was well and good enough but I just felt unsettled before, during, and after it in a way that I cannot explain and also feels completely foreign and out of the ordinary. I finally stopped the process right after I snapped the photo and then I went about the rest of the evening - putting away Christmas things with my family, getting my daughter into her nightly routine, etc. etc. etc.

And I just kept thinking of elephants the whole time. I kept picturing them in my mind and feeling completely and ridiculously uncomfortable until I put the above canvas aside to dry and got out a new one because I thought, "OK. I will do a stinkin' elephant painting and just get it out over with already!!!"

Thank the good Lord above I did because almost immediately I felt that peace and JOY in my heart that I get from being in my "happy place" that painting almost always brings to me...

I think this one is going to be a mother-daughter joint effort because I invited my little shadow to block it out and underpaint it with me. She did such a good job and it was such a joy to have her alongside me at the easel.

After I completely the blocking of the elephant piece, I realized what my problem was. My whole business of painting needs to be something that my family is in on. It simply cannot be separate.  When I did the "Covenant Revisited" piece (on the front page of my fine art portfolio site) it was accomplished only because my husband was alongside me helping to figure out parts of it. But tonight when I was trying to do underpainting on the first one? Well... my family was here with me but I was really more working around them and they were hardly a part of the process. As it goes, I think they have to be a part of the process rather than being a problem that I have to contend with during the process.

One of my art mentors from long ago used to tell me about how they had such a hard time painting and creating sometimes because it competed with their role of being in and of a family. There was always a husband that they weren't spending time with and three children begging for attention. What ended up happening was that they weren't able to really do great work until after they had found themselves in a different time in their lives when their familial relationships were quite something that they had to choose to focus on. And while I listened to their stories of struggle as an artist, I couldn't help but ask myself over and over again, "Does it have to be that way though? I mean... Can't I have a family AND be an artist? Or... Do I really have to be sentenced to a life alone in order for me to be able to create and paint?"

I have spent a lot of years before now alone. I remember sitting alone in my apartment in between hour 10 and 11 of a 15 hour painting marathon of an over six month stretch of working on one piece that was hardly noteworthy and thinking, "This can't be all there is to this. This can't be it." And you know what? I was right. I was right about that.

I do believe that I finally found my voice as an artist and especially as a painter as a result of me being married and having my little girl. Despite the suggestions long ago from not only my previous art mentor but from many others as well, art doesn't have to be something that can only happen separate from the way I want my life to be. My family doesn't have to be something that I have to contend with and I don't have to take things away from them in order for me to enjoy the joy that is creating and painting. In large part that's why photography (as both a business and an artform) have not worked for me. It was something that created a competition (with my family) and I always ALWAYS let it win and my family lose miserably. But that's not my life anymore and that's definitely not my art. The way I understand it, if my family loses, I will lose and you can best my art will be lost as well. It doesn't have to be that way though.

I am not sure entirely how it works out like this - because logically it makes NO sense - but I think that the way my life will go will not require me to juggle anything. I think so long as I put my family first and remember to preserve and maintain the covenant I have with them because of what the Lord has called me to do (being a wife and a mother) I will end up turning out some of the greatest works of art of all of my life. I mean, I am just barely a week into the new year but... well... something tells me this is how it's going to work out.

Taking stock of it all

I am less than a day away from Christmas break and I cannot wait to be done!!!! (Has it been so terribly obvious with my lackadaisical approach and publishing schedule with this blog?)

Still, while it might seem that I cannot wait to be done because I am so done for and fed up with school/teaching, that's not the case at all. Rather, I am ready to be done because I have been working incredibly hard and have been investing myself more completely than I ever have in my teaching and working artist career and I believe that it is time to take a nice long Sabbath from all of it that will enable me to be good and ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.

After Christmas break finishes, once I get back to school in January, I will have less than a week and a half of instructional time with the student artists. This means that they are all working on final projects and otherwise being the almost completely autonomous visual artists that I have been working so hard to help them become. I am seeing them create in more original ways that require less of my explicit instruction. I am seeing them have more confidence in their skill sets in large part because they have serious skill sets to enough to carry them in all of their creative endeavors. They are showing exceptional examples of refined technique and showing inventive ways of manipulating materials and mediums that they know quite a lot about at this point.

All of this being said? I am so incredibly proud of what I am seeing of all of my student artists. I am continually amazed at their talent, their deep investment into the creative process, and their exceptional abilities to CREATE and not simply make "things."

As for me? This past weekend (as I mentioned previously) I wrapped up two graduate level classes and I also was able to do a number of other things on my "to-do" list. One of them was to both start AND finish a commissioned painting from picture reference. I had been going back and forth with the client for a while about what should be painted and although the final painting ended up deviating from the direction that was first established, the finished painting is one that we both are very happy with and I (especially) feel like speaks well of both my personal style AND the general direction that I have been taking anyway with my fledgling aspirations as a fine art painter. Here are some stills of the painting in it's different stages...

Blocking it out and just layering paint/color

Refining the different areas in order to build the correct value and establish better structure overall

Almost done but the tree trunks still need some work

Still wet but I call it finished with the heavier brush work on the tree trunks and the value absolutely the way it should be

The last thing to do with the painting to finish it off was to sign it and this is how I am going to be signing my work from here on out...

Does it look like my name? It shouldn't. It's something that could be thought of as just a graphic that I am also now using on my fine art portfolio website but for me? Well, it's much more a visual reminder of how I am managing to do all that I am doing in my life - for work, school, and creative art endeavors. No matter what I am doing, I am trying my best to point it all back to the sovereign Lord who has provided me with all that I have. All that I am creating IS so much for Him and it's not about me and I feel like (for my purposes) "signing" anything I create with a visual representation of the holy trinity and excluding myself definitely puts credit where credit is due to to begin with.

Since tomorrow starts my Christmas break, I'm going to be devoting myself to thinks of His works so that means there is definitely going to be some charitable events in there (I might share some specifics them at some point but I am hesitant to because I don't want to appear as if I am tooting my own horn for myself) but also a lot of time with my family and plenty of painting to establish the new series that I am embarking on in my own personal studies of visual art.

And so? I guess this is my way of saying Merry Christmas to you all and may you be blessed in whatever way you choose to celebrate this season.

Special delivery from Jerusalem - Pt. 2 of 2

Want to see what was specially delivered from Jerusalem? 

Here it is...

Four hand-stretched canvases with belgian linen over heavy stretcher bars sans priming/gesso.

A little underwhelming? Expected something different? I assure you. There is much more than meets the eye here.

In the midst of my asking and seeking for what the Lord wants of me, creativity, and creation right now, something stirred inside of myself that led me in a few overlapping directions...

• Focus on His creation as it is so beautifully discussed in scripture
• Use materials for supports like what the old master painter used to
• Root my technique from what has previously been done so masterfully by painters from hundreds of years before me
• Use my own efforts and endeavors to support and uphold other currently working artists as much as possible

All of the above led me in the way of finding hand-stretched, unprimed belgian linen canvases from a wonderful fellow artist who lives and works in Jerusalem. Yes, yes. THAT Jerusalem in Israel. Friends, I cannot tell you how much of a "God-moment" it was for me to have been able to be led in such a way as this. If this isn't a signpost from the Lord that this is precisely what He wants me to be doing with my life then I don't know what is.

I am still asking and seeking out what the Lord wants me to paint on these canvases. In the midst of Sunday sermon of just this past weekend while I was running the projector for service, something the pastor said sparked something in me and offered me a bit of a pearl of what comes next. It's still all brewing so I can't quite share it with you yet but I will tell you it is requiring me to really study and meditate the words He gives us in scripture. It was almost like He gave me inspiration this past weekend and then just said to me, "Now sit with this. Be still and wait. I will tell you when and what comes next."

And so I am doing just that! Kind of a good thing for me to do because I continue to feel really overwhelmed with all of this. God-moments are like that, you know? And when I get bombarded with them like how it has been happening recently (it also has happened like this one other time in my life about 6-7 years ago), I truly feel like my heart and soul can barely take it. Why? Because how gracious and forgiving and provident is He that after all I have done in my life apart from Him - even at some points outright refusing Him to be in my life - He is here with me now and giving to me so abundantly and freely. It's truly humbling and I can't help but be totally overwhelmed where it makes me feel like it couldn't possibly be happening like this.

Discipleship for the Christian visual artist

My first student for this discipleship experience that I am offering! He is doing a mastercopy of a Peter Max work while our amazing custodial staff looks on. (They are teaching ME Spanish! I am kind of bad it though.)

This year I am trying something new: Private art instruction paired with a discipleship relationship for the young, promising (and hungry) Christian visual artist.

Private instruction you probably know about but are you familiar with discipleship at all? In the Christian faith, it is a very special and highly regarded path that a follower of Christ takes in their journey of walking in faith. (Here is a little bit of detail about it.)

I don't know how many people have ever ventured into the world of visual arts discipleships before but I wouldn't be surprised if I am one of the few, if not the only one. *shrug* I don't say this to toot my own horn or anything but perhaps rather to say the following...

1. Where was such a thing as this when I was looking for it?!!
2. Why are there not more distinctively Christian visual artists who do this sort of thing? Because (as mentioned in #1) I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS FOR SO LONG!!!
3. Is the reason why this exists only because I am starting it? Does this mean that I am crazy for doing this? (Don't answer that.)
4. Who in the world do I think I am trying to do something like this? I mean... I have never been in a discipleship myself, how in the world can I possibly think that I am a good candidate to disciple others?

*shrug*

To answer all of my own questions as posed:

1. There is likely not something like this and hasn't been something like this ever though I don't entirely know why it's like that. I suspect it's because artists tend to be islands unto themselves without hardly trying. 
2. Distinctively Christian visual artists are hard to come by for a myriad reasons that I might present for discussion based upon my own observations and unique experiences. Distinctively Christian visual art galleries are certainly few and far in between so it's no wonder that it's so hard to find artists to fill them up! 
3. Yes. I might be the only one starting this. Yes. I might be crazy. However? Well... most of my "craziest" ideas have turned out to be some of the best ever!! (This comes from other people saying so and not just me.)
4. Uhmmm... I don't really know who I think I am. Honestly? Sometimes I see myself as the most unlikely person to disciple others. I'm certainly no Bible scholar and I only became a devout believer in my mid-late 20s. I have been told that I have very abstract and even uniquely mature understandings of the gospel and though I take that to mean something positive about my walk in faith (so far), I don't know. I guess I always try and sell myself short by not believing enough that whatever I am/know/can do is enough so this situation applies for that as well.

Anyway. All of this is to say that I am wholly investing myself in this process of trying to disciple some young (and willing and eager) student artists who are wanting to learn how to oil paint. (We don't offer oil painting at my school.) As with all that I do during regular school time, I am attempting to use the vehicle of visual art in order to teach them more about the gospel in order to be able to apply it to their own walks in faith in trying to be distinctively Christian visual artists. This doesn't mean that we are only painting things of Christian subject matter though. Rather, my main goal is to help them steer through understanding and using the creative process as colored and framed out by the gospel. My goals are other to teach them how to develop good technique and then refine it so it is of very high quality and they are (in turn) producing beautiful artwork that can then be connected back them them, a visual artist who seeks to glorify the Lord with what they are creating.

Other things I am doing include:

• Helping them to heed and answer the callings that they feel are being given to them to be creators as they truly believe they have been called to create.
• Helping them to see and embrace themselves as distinctively Christian visual artists.
• Showing them that with the Lord's infinite wisdom, intervention, and supremely uplifting inspiration, they can really create things that are both anointed by Him and are astounding to behold - both in its actual creation and when it is viewed in its finished state.

I offered this discipleship opportunity up to a select number of students that are mostly upperclassmen. This is because I was attempting to maintain certain structural elements that other discipleship "programs" (if you will) already have within the school and local church communities and because this is how it's been done and worked and I haven't done this before, why reinvent the wheel? The other thing of doing this with primarily the older students is that it doesn't limit them/me as much since most of them can drive and have greater liberties within their schedules. I also have built relationships enough with a lot of them that they feel comfortable with me already to steer them in the very specific way that this discipleship experience requires.

As things are going, I only have one student who has started (the senior student pictured above who is painting) but I have another student (another senior who is female) will be joining in after choir season finishes its big concerts this weekend. There is a possibility of an alumnae from last year coming in and also giving a go at it in addition to informally shadowing me to figure out if she wants to perhaps go into art education. (I think she would be a GREAT art teacher so I am really praying that she entertains the opportunity for both discipleship and shadowing!)

I will admit to you all that I am intimidated by what I am doing (for all of the questions and answers I have posed already) but I am just as much certain that this is what I am supposed to be doing and this is part of why I retired from my former career as a professional photographer. I'm delighted to report that this path that the Lord is now inspiring, leading, and enabling me to take is an answer to prayers because I have had the thoughts in the not so recent past in the way of, "Well... if I am not a working visual artist in the way photography work the way I have always known myself to be - what am I?!!!"

I know. I know. I am lame and silly at convincing myself I have to BE something specific to be able to identify myself so specifically AND that it has to be something of visual art. What can I say? I am petty like that and my silly little ego cries out for feedings more often than I care to admit.

Whatever and however the case, GOD WILLING - I am DOING THIS.

(I'll let you know how it goes, of course.)

Home studio, sweet home studio

I'm happy to report that since converting my daughter's playroom into a family art studio - where I can paint, my daughter can draw, and my husband can sculpt - it's become what some people call their kitchens: the center of our home where everything else revolves around.

Seriously. If you ever have the notion to convert one of the common rooms of your home to a home art studio - DO IT. It is SO worth it!!! It keeps you from isolating yourself when you are creating, invites others to join with you in creating, and it also allows you to be able to create first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

I recently received an early Christmas present from my parents that is a Daylight lamp (you can find the one I have HERE though I didn't pay such a price for it since it was a gift and I also watched the prices to wait for it to drop down around $120 before I steered the efforts to purchase it). Here it is in action the other night when I was doing some late night painting on a newly inspired series...

I initially was not super impressed with the lamp but after using it late at night and trying out the detachable magnifying glass for detail work in the way of impasto, I am slightly more pleased with it. For my purposes, so I can stand while I work, I have found it helpful to place the tiny canvases I am working on on an overturned Artsphere (Originally purchased for a steal because I thought my husband would enjoy it for charcoal and sketch work. I was wrong though. *shrug*) I cover it with wax paper to try and keep it clean because I have a tendency toward being a real mess of a painter.

One of my favorite things to do is to scrape things down - canvases, my glass painting palette. It is so cathartic for me sometimes and I actually sometimes paint with the intention to scrap what I do to help clear my mind of things that are clouding my view of the inspirations I know I am supposed to be spring boarded by.

Other things I do? I like to watch Netflix instant of old reruns of series like My So-Called Life or Felicity. Recently I discovered that Lionel Richie made a cameo on Felicity and I just about choked on the leftover banh mi I was eating!

 

 One of my new favorite things to do though is to study the works of the old masters. I have pared down my art books to just the ones that are most informative and inspirational to me and one I bought for super clearance at a major bookseller who was going out of business is called ART by Ross King and it is chock full of full-color images AND background information of a huge number of artists and their works of all mediums. I think I got the book for less than $20 and it is one of the best resources for art education and history I have. It's so great that I honestly thing it might be one of those few things I would grab if ever there were a fire and I needed to do so.

 

I have never done a real series/collection of paintings but I am getting ready to embark on one (definitely) and another one might be in the works. I am feeling really uplifted by the Lord right now and encouraged with what I know He wants me to do even though I am quite intimidated by the fact that He sees fit for me to do such things. Just the same, when I fall short I know He will be there for me to see me through it all. That's the point of it all, y'know? It's not my creation to have anyway. It's His. It's all for HIM.

Lesson Idea: A place of Grace | Landscape painting with Water-miscible oils

So... it's been at least a month and if not more than that since I blogged a lesson idea. It has happened like this not because I have been sitting around twiddling my thumbs but much more because I have been doing this lesson for that long and on Friday was the final day of it!!

I have already blogged about the WiPs stage of doing this landscape painting project with my 2D Design class HERE when I shared about the creative processing related to establishing strong and successful visual composition and then HERE when I showed the students applying color (for underpainting purposes) to their sketched (on canvas panel) pieces. This project was intended to be a very long-term type endeavor both because I wanted the students to do well in painting their selected places of grace landscape paintings as much as I wanted the painting process itself to be a place of grace in the midst of their busy school days. I am happy to report that on both accounts there was major success!!! 

By encouraging and supporting their learning processes of painting techniques and manipulating/working with water-mixable oil paints, they ended up learning not only about how to create some incredible examples of great visual composition not just in the structure of the overall elements of the pieces but also by using color relationships and intentional value work to push and pull the painting in the directions that it needed to go. The students worked from photo reference and they were required to go through a number of stages before they got to the point where they were laying paint to canvas panel. 

If you can believe it, the majority of the student work that I will be showing you was done by students who have never painted in this style/type of painting before. I did a lot of 1:1 consulting with each of them every day to ensure that they would move along swiftly as much as confidently and this project endeavors has turned out the greatest amount of successfully created student artwork examples ever for me!!! I am so incredibly proud of these kids. The below is just a small sampling of what I could have shared with you but I will be doing at least one more round of sharing more examples tomorrow so come back and see me then! 

Each piece was painted on a Blick-brand canvas panel that is 11x14 inches and the brand of paint we used was Reeves class pack of water-mixable oil paints. Also, I went through three entire large tubes of Titanium White (purchased separately) that I distributed/rationed carefully to make sure nobody took more than they needed but everyone got exactly what they wanted.

I just LOVED doing this project and I cannot stress how proud I am of my student artists for turnig out the incredible work they did. Many of them discovered what their personal artistic voices look like and a select few will be embarking on developing what they have discovered and refining it in their own (and mine as well) time. (More about this on another day.)

Anyway, like I said, tomorrow I will share another handful of student samples of this project. Hope you enjoyed the above so far!!

Painting = Finished. Everything else = just getting started.

I am still working on a name for it or even the series/collective that it will belong to but for now I am going to go ahead and call it "The Seven hour painting" because that is actually how long it took me to paint. While the pictures help you to get a sense of it in its finished state, it's truly amazing in person. 

The inspiration was actually an instagram photo I took some weeks ago. I talked about it in my last posting.

That's right. You heard me. That's a 40x40 canvas done with Gamblin brand oil paints, some liquin and some natural turpenoid, and it took me only seven hours. SEVEN HOURS. I seriously cannot believe it only took me seven hours from start to finish. Unbelievable.

I am as astounded by this fact as much as you might be. (Perhaps I am easily impressed? Or maybe I don't know anything about oil painting and large scale painting and this is completely normal.)

Whatever the case, I think it asserts and affirms the fact that giving my professional photography endeavors the "pink slip" from occupying the part of my life it   has was a very good thing. Or, as I like to think of it, very much a GOD thing. I have never ever been able to paint like this. NEVER. I mean, really? But that's kind of the point. I don't believe I did this.

I firmly believe that it was and is the power of Christ working through me to lay out the colors and values on the canvas the way you see it. I mean seriously? I have "dabbled in painting for probably five years or so but I only just learned how to oil paint this past summer in the five week intensive course I had to take at the local community college in order to satisfy some studio art credits for my Masters of Arts in Teaching program. As far as I would tell you (even now after completing this piece) I am a beginner at this whole business of oil painting.

I am still working on figuring out what the Lord wants me to do with my time and talents but I firmly believe that all of this with this painting is something that is very much a part of what He wants for me and from me. Is this the start of me trying to establish myself as a professional working oil painter? I don't know. I really don't know. I am not that concerned with such a thing either. All I know is that the Lord is truly providing me with the thing that makes me happier than anything in the world. And that is to be able to PAINT and CREATE beautiful things as inspired by Him and His creations.

My little girl is more and more inspired and encouraged to work alongside me on her own easel, see? I love the fact that she is learning to associate the delicious smells of oil paints and the colorful marks on a page with HOME. 

While I have not shared the "gory" details of my personal life from the past year or so, I will tell you that I feel like I have been in some serious rebuilding mode. It's been scary and maddening at times and I will tell you that there have been at least a dozen times when I have wanted to look at God and the trials and paces I know He has put in front of me to be tested by (and to choose Him in spite of) and say, "You know what, God? How about NO."

I haven't done that though. I haven't said no to Him. Rather, I have sought shelter in Him and asked for Him to tell me and show me what He wants from me and then comfort me when I have admitted to Him that it's too much for me to do alone.

As things are right now? I feel like I am in the midst of the part of the gospel that is the re-creation of it all. (The gospel starts out with the Creation and then the Fall happens followed by the Redemption and the Crucifixion and Resurrection and then the Re-creation because of it all.) While I know my life can always veer off course back into the Fall again, I know that just like I have in the most recent months especially, Christ is and will be for me always so that I can be redeemed over and over and over again. Lamentations reminds me of then it's discussed repeatedly throughout His word.

If you'd have asked me a month ago if I would be here having these things - an abandoned professional photography career, a fully-functional and actively producing home art studio, and a FINISHED 40x40 oil painting despite the fact that I haven't painted in months - I would not believed you. But because I believe in a sovereign, abundantly loving and forgiving, and truly provident Lord God Almighty, I can tell you that I (indeed) am here and this all is very much happening.

Amen. Absolutely, positively, and as loudly as I can say it - AMEN.

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UPDATE:

I removed the the light post at the base of the painting because it was driving me crazy. 

I felt like it destroyed the aesthetics, composition/visual armature of the piece, etc. etc etc. 

Check out the below for what I mean...