On my frequent drives to Houston I pass by an area that I think is interesting. There is a flat pasture where cattle graze. Immediately beside it is a hilly wooded area. A dirt road runs at the edge of the woods, separating the contrasting landscapes. The road follows the contour of the hills just a few feet from a steep embankment created by leveling for the pasture.
Inspiration can be strange because when I made up the image to paint, it not only doesn’t really look like what I see as I drive by but is a bird’s eye view.
My youngest granddaughter decided to completely redo her bedroom. That included painting over the murals I painted which were a bunch of frogs doing things all around the world. Actually, she inherited the Frog Mural from her brother when she took over his room (see the link below).
It seemed natural that for her birthday I should paint something else for her. Not a mural this time, but a painting. That way she can put it anywhere in the room she wants. Or not at all if that’s what she wants. I had no idea what to paint and somehow ended up with a bunch of flowers in the shape of a heart. That way, whenever she looks at the painting she’ll be reminded that I love her.
It took me a whole month but I finally completed a mural on my fence. I had lost some plants and when I removed them they exposed a very ugly fence. I decided instead of re-staining or painting it, I would paint a mural.
My daughter requested this painting. It’s a view of Four Peaks Mountains as seen from Piestewa Peak in Arizona near Phoenix. She and my son-in-law got engaged during a hike there.
With 2017 being the 500th year of the still-ongoing Reformation of the Christian church I thought it appropriate to do a painting of Martin Luther, the guy given most of the credit for starting it all.
Click on image to enlarge.
My goal was to illustrate how this movement helped bring the world from the stark, black and white of the Dark Ages into the color of the Renaissance. But there is also the hint of flames and smoke because with every great advance the world is also set afire.
This painting is based on John 20:11-16, especially verse 16. It is dedicated to a high school classmate and good friend, Mike Minick, who died in 2014. He had given the canvas to me and after his death I decided to do a painting with a religious theme. I was inspired by that instant in time after Jesus says Mary Magdalene’s name but before she realizes it is Him. I feel that she represents us all because we have heard Jesus’ name but we don’t yet fully realize what that means.
I was also inspired by a sculpture by artist Bruce Wolfe of the same encounter between Mary and Jesus. I used his Mary as my ‘model.’ I originally had Jesus in the painting but I removed Him because I wanted the focus to be on Mary.
Click on image to enlarge.
It was unveiled December 11, 2016 during a concert at the Dallas Museum of Biblical Arts and dedicated on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017, Pastor Rich Pounds officiating, at Central Lutheran Church in Dallas, where it now hangs in the narthex.
An idea popped into my head: Baby fish start their lives already knowing how to swim, its instinctive. Human babies work on walking for months, even longer. What if you’re half fish/half human? I depicted a Mermaid Mom teaching her little boy how to swim. Do we call him a Merboy; a Merkid?
It is what it is: a painting I really didn’t want to do in the first place and didn’t want to continue once it was started. But I was determined to struggle through. I finally reached a point where I thought, “I’m done.”
This is my tribute to Frida, of the phenomenal Swedish pop group, Abba. It’s from the video for “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” which is on their Arrival album.
Watercolor pencils and wash on watercolor paper, 10″ x 14″
