Today the Huntington Beach Plein Air Festival closes. I had the three paintings below in the event, plus one that was offered up for the “Painting in the Streets” event. I love
Central Ducks, Always Welcome, Triangle Sun
Lucy and this guy
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I was invited to paint during another Sunday morning service today at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Ventura, CA. Today’s theme was “Why the Bible” and the simple answer is because it provides a map to the road we are all on. So, I thought if the time I was in Assisi last year and this wonderful countryside road that lead from the hilltop city into where the fields. This is the same valley floor that San Francesco gathered his co-laborers to serve the poor and dejected, the lepers and homeless. It is there that the Franciscan order was developed and continues today. So, here is the painting “Road from Assisi” that was created in about 70 minutes during the service today. Click the image to view it larger.  Road From Assisi - 48" x 48" Acrylic on Birch Panel Click the image below for a short time-lapse view of the painting in progress.
 Ray of Hope - 48" x 48" Acrylic on Birch Panel A few months ago I was asked to consider painting during a Sunday Morning church service. In fact, there was an opportunity to paint during more than one. Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Ventura is doing a summer series of outdoor services, so it is much more casual. The series asks a series of questions starting with “Why…?” Today was “Why Jesus?” Next week, it will be “Why the Bible?” and so on. On the left is a 48″ square painting I did during the 70 minute service. I will work out the hands a bit more this week and return it on Sunday. They will use it in a raffle during their annual Lemon Festival in order to help raise funds for my film project Without Shelter.
So, on Friday (June 19th) I will be leaving the daily grind to be a gypsy artist for a week. I will take my newly gesso-ed birch panels with me to San Onofre Beach where it will be my outpost for the week. San Clemente hosts a week long Plein Air competition and I will be taking the entire week to get some sun and painting done. I always look forward to my little trips about once a year… usually alone. It is a necessary thing for me to be in solitude. Distance from the stuff of daily life has a way of giving a new perspective. Interestingly, Saturday evening will be Summer Solstice. I do not necessarily “celebrate” this, but it offers a reminder that seasons do change and life goes on even after drastic life changes happen to us. There are these threshold moments in our lives that we can look back on and see where everything became different. We can not prepare for everything that lies in the path of our future, but we can know that the trail that we have been on so far has brought us to where we are now. My artist friend Michael Pearce has a spool of shoelace material. Stitched into the lace is the word “Solitude” which is a word that I cherish. It is idealistic of me to think that I can have solitude in the chaos of my life, but I try to be reminded of its value. In the book “The Way of the Heart” Henri Nouwen has an entire chapter talking of the importance of solitude in our busy lives. It is a way to spiritually re-charge. It is infact the first step on a path that he describes as the way of the heart. (the next steps are silence and prayer) Of solitude he says “Solitude is the furnace of transformation.” He goes on to say in another book “In solitude we discover that life is not a possession to be defended, but a gift to be shared.” It is there, in solitude that I do recharge my gift. I am able to go back to the daily life of family, work, community and share the gift of life. I am truly looking forward to filling up with grace and the suns vitamin D boost as I paint along the coast next week. 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.
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.  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. Sometimes it is just nice to be able look at a painting up close… <Click the image below> ; )
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.
So the Ventura County Star published a very nice article today about my current art shoe “Faces” which is at the Cafe on A in Oxnard through Nov 16th. This is the photo that ran with the article. You can take a look at the article here |
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