More Art...

After spending the afternoon down at ART634 at the Ap(art) exhibit, I was inspired to do some more work at home. This piece ("Burning Bush") has been sitting on my desk for about a month. I started it on a sunday afternoon and didn't quite finish. I finished it up today and then started another one but it is still drying so, no photos of that yet.

"Burning Bush"
2009
11"x17"
Acrylic on Canvas
Yes, it is a real leaf in the paint!

My 2009 Ap(art) Piece

Thanks to some friends who strongly encouraged me to participate in Ap(art) last night, I ended up producing this piece. It is Acrylic & Oil Spray on 3/4" plywood. Size is 4'x4' (the largest I've ever done). It took me 4 1/2 hours. All Ap(art) work will be auctioned off to the public in order to pour money back into the community. This is a missional effort. Money will be given towards scholarships for art students, expenses for artists in residence, and grants for art programs here in Jackson for underprivileged students. Because Jackson is worth it. Check out the Ap(art) website for more info (and to watch streaming video of the event).

Metaphor on storms of life

"A geologist was being interviewed. He was a beach geologist, so his field of study was beaches and sand and the like. And at the time he was being interviewed, there was a large hurricane pounding the Outer Banks off the Carolinas. He was being interviewed about what hurricanes do to beaches. We all know what hurricanes do to beaches and beach houses and such. We feel they're very destructive, right? They destroy homes and take down power lines and take away sand, and whole beaches disappear in a hurricane. This is what got my attention: The geologist said, 'You know, I can't wait to get out there in the next 24 hours.' And the interviewer said, 'What do you expect to find out there?' and I was listening and I thought he was going to talk about all the destruction he was going to find. What he said really surprised me. He said, 'I expect to find a new beach.'" - Margaret Wheatley

A thought on spiritual growth

"It is simply not possible to proceed very far along the path of spiritual growth without honoring the need for individual time, without valuing subjective personal experience, and without cultivating and exploring your own inner life. The wisdom of the ages, if one but culls out the most self-serving of the messages of organized religions, is that the spiritual life begins with the inward journey and moves outward from that. If it does not begin there, it is simply a matter of outward forms - a parody of the religious life in which church is merely a forum for social connection and advancement, and 'outreach' a way of assuaging one's conscience. Faith without works may be dead, as St. Paul argued, but works without a deeply rooted, faithful inner life is shallow, superficial, and ephemeral. More important for our purposes, it does nothing to advance one along the way toward true spiritual growth and the development of the kind of maturity that is essential to life and work in our new cultural paradigm." - C. Michael Thompson, The Congruent Life: Following the Inward Path to Fulfilling Work and Inspired Leadership, p.236

A little encouragement

"Concerning all acts of initiative and creation there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tuesday Night Art

Decided to get out the paints tonight for a bit. Ended up with this.
11x14 Acrylic on Canvas.

Latenight Artwork

So, I've been finding that the only time I can manage to squeeze in art is in the late hours. It also serves as a nice way to unwind the day. Last week I tried to do something with this 18x18 canvas that I have and it totally flopped so I had to start over. I painted the canvas white again and let it sit in my garage for a few days. Tonight I went for round two. As I sat down I didn't really have anything in mind (which makes starting a challenge sometimes). But, I just started throwing paint on the canvas and this is what emerged.
As it started to look like fire I couldn't help but think that it was inspired by a fire that we witnessed earlier this evening. As we drove home we saw smoke and stopped to watch an abandoned factory building burn. The kids thought it was cool. I took a quick snapshot (been trying to keep my camera handy these days). Here's what we saw.
Maybe you can see at least a little of the resemblance.

As I paint, I hate to waste paint. So I rarely clean a brush between colors. Instead I keep a spare art pad handy (Lately it's been a 11x9 book) and when I need less of a particular color on my brush I just do some random designs on that blank page. Tonight, as i finished up the 18x18 canvas I had a pretty ugly looking scrap paper sitting there in front of me. Not wanting to waste the paper, I decided to shift my focus to at least make it worth looking at (some may still argue that point). I looked around for some inspiration and saw, on the shelf in my office, a 9/16 bolt. I'm not entirely sure why it was sitting there but I turned it into my paint brush for the next hour. The result is the painting below which is a base coat of leftover colors brushed on in random patterns and a top layer of acrylic paint applied with the head of a bolt. Even if you don't like it... it was fun, and in a weird way represents the life emerging from the recycled paint of the fire.

Limited Prints Now Available for these Paintings

I have a limited number of 11 x 14 prints for each of these paintings. If you are interested send me a note. $15 each (shipping included).

New Simply Missions T-Shirts are here!

Just got some new promotional t-shirts made for Simply Missions.
I am making them available for $15 each or two for $25 (plus shipping).
It's a combination between a little advertising and a little fund raiser for us.
Adult sizes: S, M, L, XL, 2XL
E-mail your order to joe@simplymissions.org!

This Week's Artwork