Rich Brimer December 31st, 2008
So, painting for 5 Christmas Eve services was not as hard as I psyc’ed myself out for. It actually got much easier each service. The thing that I was not figuring on was that there were three pastors preaching three different sermons at these five services. Each used the painting to illustrate the sermon point is a bit different way, and with different timing… But it all worked out well. Below is a photo of me about half way through the 4th service. The 3rd and 5th services were filmed and I plan to upload a highlights version when I get the DVDs.
Rich Brimer December 21st, 2008
So, I have got the start on the first of five panels. I decided to do all seascapes. I will add the highlights and other details during the services. This is about as far as I will go as a head-start. It took about an hour.I am working in acrylic, which I really do not favor. It is much easier and fluid to paint in oil. I am using acrylic because it is much more friendly in a large fast-paced setting… but it has drying issues that I am not used to. It is like dry brushing sometimes if I am not careful. I add a lot of medium and use a lot of water, but it still gets sticky, or even dry pretty fast.
Now I have four more to do in preparation of Wednesday….
Rich Brimer December 20th, 2008
So, I got a LOT accomplished today which was VERY necessary if I am going to pull off this HUGE task. With the help of my son Nick today, I built five 48″ wood panels with 2×2 frames that were stapled to the back. Then I put a first coat of flat house paint to seal the wood and I will add another coat later tonight. Since I only have about 50 minutes to complete each painting during the services on Christmas Eve, I will need to prepare each panel with a rough start of a landscape painting. That will actually be very nice to have a head start before each service starts. When the congregation begins to enter the main room, I will already be on stage with my brush in hand and they will not know where I started. They will just sit down and the service will begin… then the fun begins 
Here is the five framed panels getting prepared with a coat of flat house paint. It is a cheap $5 gallon of discarded paint I picked up at Home Depot.
Rich Brimer December 20th, 2008
Here you can see that I have begun to block in the four figures on the left panel. There is a lot of work left to get the faces right, but I am well on my way to a good start. I have been off line with this painting for a couple of days to prepare for painting for Christmas Eve services.
Rich Brimer December 19th, 2008
Here is am painting in front of another audience for an event to raise money for a building water wells in Kenya.
I wanted to tell you about a Christmas Eve gig I got today. I will be going to Mission Viejo to do a 48″ x 48″ painting at each of FIVE Christmas eve services for a big Lutheran church (Mount of Olives). They have three “contemporary” services and two “Traditional” services starting at 4pm and the last one is at 10pm. The theme of the evening will be apparent when the pastors “cue” to me while I am painting is going to be… “and then we messed up God’s creation” and whatever I have been painting up to that point becomes all messed up with a big brush. THEN… that mess has to turn into “something” within the next 30 minutes before the service is over…. We have not worked out the details yet, and I have not talked to the pastor yet, only to the worship pastor who I have worked with in the past at Calvary Community in Westlake Village. He is leading the worship for the services down there, and contacted me this morning about all of this. I will also be taking some other paintings for display in the foyer of the church. I will be bringing my current “I was Thirsty” paintings to show and to raise awareness of the Living Water project I am partnering with. Maybe I will have a plastic 5 gallon water bottle below it to collect pocket change.
Samantha and the kids will stay home and watch some Christmas movies while I am gone for the evening. I will get home excited and wiped out… ready for Christmas morn.
If you are anywhere near Mission Viejo on Christmas Eve, please join us for a happy Christmas eve service.
Rich Brimer December 8th, 2008
So, here is the very first early sketch of a new painting. This is the 4th of my “Face of Love” series. After drawing it with pencil, I began to do a wash of burnt umber and walnut oil. I will not be able to get back to it until Sunday night. This will be called “I was Thirsty” and is going to be my hope that through it, I will raise the funds necessary to build a well in a waterless village in Africa. I am inspired by the hundreds of churches that are conspiring together this Advent Season to provide funds to allow Living Water to build hundreds of new wells around the world.
This is from the Advent Conspiracy website… “Drilling a fresh water well is a relatively inexpensive, yet permanent solution to this epidemic… Solving this water problem once and for all will cost about $10 billion. Not bad considering Americans spent $450 billion on Christmas last year. Our hope is that, by celebrating Christ in a new way at Christmas, the church can serve as the leading movement behind ending the water crisis once and for all.”
I know a few more churches this year that are involved in this effort. I am joining in with this new painting. I will be spreading the word throu this blog, and in due time, through art shows. Now to get back to painting … which will be difficult during this time of year. but I will work on it as much as I can. Soon, I will also be adding a new “Faces of Love” page to display each of the paintings in the series together.
Rich Brimer November 20th, 2008
Sometimes it is just nice to be able look at a painting up close…
<Click the image below>
<then… click the green arrow below the big image that comes up to super-enlarge>
; )
Rich Brimer November 8th, 2008
On the southside of the California Lutheran University, sits the old Peterson homested. The original home for the Pederson family which was later donated along with several hundred acres to the Lutheran’s to build the college. The above painting was done this week in hopes to be of interest to a buyer at the annual CLU fundraising dinner and auction. I have donated the painting a portrait of someone’s house or garden. This will be the first time I have done a sight-unseen offering. I’ll tell you how it goes.
Rich Brimer November 8th, 2008
So, this week I finished two new paintings. Simba was a commission of a family dog. The owner wanted outdoor scene, so I took the reference photo in the sun late in the day… in fact there were only fleeting moments left when I took the last shots. Then I added a background of some local hills to add to the drama of the scene. It is the second dog I have painted. The first is on a nursery wall.
