Does God Inspire You?

These last three months I have been promising myself that I will get up at 5:00 am, study and worship and do some artwork and then get dressed and ready for the day. I usually crawl out of bed at 6:45 and watch the today show and then get to work at 8:00. I am really going to do it this week....I hope. How much better my artwork is when it is God inspired! I thought I would pose this question to you....Does God inspire you to be creative? Do you include God in your artwork? If God wants to bless us, love us and foster us, then why not include Him when you get creative? I'll make a promise to you....I will get up this week and praise God and worship if you will take some time during your busy day to do so.....deal? Let's see what happens, shall we?

The Artistic Retreat is Growing!!!

Last Sunday, the Artistic Retreat taught Children's church! We had 16 kids participate. We made three sets of artist trading cards (ATC) to send to three well deserving people or groups. All the kids made such pretty cards!!! The first set was cards we made to help cheer Austin in Chicago. Next week he goes into a chemo treatment and we wanted to remind him that his healing was already in the bag. We talked about Austin and healing and the fact that our cards just were meant to remind him that he had a harvest coming. The following are pics of the cards made:

Another group of cards we made are being sent to a lady in Australia who is then sending the cards on to an orphanage in Kenya. Here are the pics of those cards:

Finally we made cards for a girl named Cheyenne. She is featured on the "make a child smile" website

http://www.makeachildsmile.org/

We had a lot of fun! Thanks to the Artistic retreat members and the Children's Church volunteers who helped this Sunday. Next Sunday we are going to make paper dolls that will literally travel the world! The first stop on their world tour is Chicago, Illinois (Austin's Place) and then off to Washington DC. Future trips are already being scheduled to Massachusetts, Minnesota, and the state of Washington. Hope they don't get jet lag!

More and More arts in the News

Maybe I am becoming more aware of the discussion of Art and Christianity or maybe not. Could it be that God has decided to hit a general theme with many of his children? I think this is exciting and refreshing! Here is another article by a Christian organization about the arts.
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7620

Great Article

http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/cp-ministry.html
Check out this article! A friend of mine on a Christian artcard trading site posted this link. I really liked the focus on servant based creativity. Let me know what you think.

Childhood Mar 02-09

I belong to a few art discussion sites and there has been a lot of conversation about how the artist's environment during their childhood affected the attitudes toward their art as adults. What I found intriguing was that many of the artists I have talked to have been discouraged by art teachers and that most of them hated their art classes. The classes did not stretch them in their craft but instead imposed rules that had not been previously there. They faced criticism for the first time and did not like it. Another interesting thing that came up was that teachers and parents did not foster real artistic talent in their children because they did not see the value of art in the child's future. The was most common among boys than girls. Our world is changing in that art is becoming more important. People with a Master in Fine Arts are being recruited an paid much more than people with a Master in Business Administration. Why is this so? Many factors explain this but to put it briefly, because of our exposure to so many different varieties of products on the market, the unique stands out. Many companies now see creativity as a great asset and value to product design and marketing. This week consider what mark your childhood left on your art and try to break down some of the negativity that has been holding you back.

Week of Feb. 3-9 I Believe.....

Do you have any strange beliefs that no one knows about? How about wierd superstitions? I truly believe that I will always get into the slowest line at the grocery store or Walmart. I find myself "knocking on wood". Sunday Aaron said that people say that if they are reserved at a football game then they should be reserved in praise and worship....I used to believe that...I am changing that belief. If you look at the word "believe" do you notice a small little word built inside of it? I won't tell you...see if you can guess. This week see if there is any strange beliefs that you intellectually know is untrue but believe it anyway. This is a great exercise for those creative writers out there. The following is a fun link to look at. It is interesting to see how many superstitions are directly linked to religion or the Bible.

http://www.islandnet.com/~luree/silly.html

Jamie's History

Week of January 27th-February 2

I am always fascinated with stories that people tell about their lives. Where they came from and why they believe the things they believe. I had a wonderful grandmother who was always telling stories. I think that is why I like listening to stories so much. It reminds me of sitting in my Grandmother's kitchen drinking coffee (thanks for the addiction Grandma) and listening to her talk. This week think about your story. Try to communicate where you come from or an incident that has shaped who you are.

There is a group called Story Corps...
http://www.storycorps.net/
they are in the business of recording as many stories as they can Check out the website and think about the story you would contribute if you had a chance

Week of January 20-26

Learners

This weekend a few of us attended a workshop called "Hearing the Voice of God." One of the speakers, Aaron, talked about how God talks to us. We all have different styles of learning and experiencing our world. Our learning is based on one of our senses. We can be visual learners, audio learners or we may learn by touching or experiencing things. I am very tactile...I like touching things. So I would have to say that I learning through feelings and impressions. That is why I like mixed media. I like the different textures and patterns in life! This week create something that best expresses your learning style and how you experience the world.

Nick's Beginnings

Here is Nick G's Beginnings contributions
Great job Nick!!

Jarett's critic

Here is a self portrait of Jarett and his critic.
Thanks Jarett!

Good Art?

I'm going to put myself out there and ask the question.
What is good art?
I am reading a book right now about art and Christianity and in the book they use this verse from Philippians 4:8

"8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things."

The book makes the point that we should use this verse as a benchmark for judging our own art as well as the art of others. Could it be that we have allowed moral relativism to seep into our thinking about art? If the Christian world has been so disconnected from the art world...does that mean that anything goes and anything is art? I am not talking about good craftsmanship. I am talking more on the lines of subject matter. I belong to a couple secular art groups on the web. Some artists are very political and want to make a statement with their art. Some art is just flat out evil. But have we been so disconnected that we are afraid to criticize when we see bad images reflected in art? With this blog I have been forced to ask myself these questions because I have to moderate the site. I have discovered in myself that art...any art has been OK with me because it is just that....art. Yet, we would not put some contemporary songs on our site if we were musicians because of the content and not all creative writing is good for the soul...so what about art? I would be interested in how all of you feel.

Chuck has inspired me!

The following is a link inspired by Chuck and other artists like him. http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Spring04/throne.cfm
James Hampton, this artist created a sculpture out of light bulbs and other found objects. His work is now in the Smithsonian. If you are working with the topic we posted this week...just think. James Hampton was a janitor who worked at night to build this sculpture. Can you imagine the criticism he was subject to! Now his work is a museum display. So keep plugging and let's get some posts going.

Week of January 13-19

The Week's Topic is: The Critic

Think this week on who shaped you as an artist good or bad. My mother was very good for me as I was growing up. She always praised my work, she let me have all the crayons, paints watercolors, etc. that I wanted. She didn't worry about me making a huge mess...she did make me clean my messes but she did not prevent me from creating on the chance I'd make one. She showed the patience of a saint! She still has some of my attemps over the years to make good art. So, thank you Mom! My big bad ugle critic is ....me! For the longest time I was terrible to myself. I had this great love and desire to create but I never let myself be free with the creation. This made for one very unhappy person and I shut down a lot of the fun that I had as a child. But the good news is I am getting so much better! I am feeling the love God has for me more and more. I am cleaning house and getting rid of the old lady in my head who judged everything I did negatively! Praise God! It is a new day!

Yeah! Finally the world sees our genius!

Book on Amazon.com. My husband went to a workshop based on this book. It sounds fascinating! If any of you are interested I could borrow the video and we could watch it at our next meeting. Need feedback!

Sharing a watercolor technique--rsklarer

Sharing a watercolor technique [Jan. 8th, 2008|02:06 pm]


Just wanted to share one of my experiment small paintings. I used watercolor with pen and ink. I like the technique I used for the coral. It requires some time. First, you paint the colors. After, they are fully dry you apply a very muddy color mixture. While this layer is still wet, you position dampened rock salt around to form the ins and outs of coral, you leave the rock salt on unil fully dry. The last step is to use pen and ink stippelling to add definition. The salt leaves a very textured effect for watercolor. I really liked how it all came together this time.
Happy art to you! Robbie

My Contribution

This is my contribution for this week. It is made with some ephemera and beeswax. I am hoping to see what you come up with.

Week of January 6-13

The topic for this week is

Beginnings!

What are your expectations, feelings, goals and possible fears of starting on this journey with our group? While working on your project consider what is driving the bus. Try to focus on your feelings, what God is telling you and why you chose the elements you did.

Some quote to ponder:

"All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant's revolving door."
-- Albert Camus

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (New King James Version)
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.