Friday, December 12, 2014

News from the Studio 12/12/14

There is so much I could complain and rant about right now, but I won't.  Although, I have been sick recently, so I lost a whole week's worth of time that I wish I could have been working.  But I'm okay now and back to work.

The most recent piece I've done got way overlooked on the Facebook (which happens more often than I like).  I never did post it on here, so I will now.  It's called The Blood of the Martyrs, and it's a bit of a follow-up to another recent one of mine called To Live is Christ, To Die is Gain.


The Blood of the Martyrs
Oil on canvas
11x14 inches
2014
$475
I've had a lot of thoughts about the terrorism being endured by the nation of Israel and by all other Jews and Christians throughout the Middle East in Iraq, Iran, and Syria among other places by the uncaged animals known as ISIS.  This painting came out of those thoughts, just as To Live did.  And it's not just ISIS.  This is a Jew and Christian-hating world filled with such twisted thinking that somehow turns radical, violent Islam into something defended and justified through the apathy, ignorance, or sometimes even the applause of others.  But Jesus himself said to his disciples 2000 years ago that if the world hates you, understand that it hated Him first.  The blood of the God-fearing martyrs, both past and present, is never shed in vain because it is shed for the sake of the one true God.  And the Lord hates those hands that shed innocent blood (Prov. 6:17).

I don't have much left to do in 2014, and I have quite a few thoughts about where I'm heading in 2015.  It's going to be a year of new directions.  Recently, I've learned that I need something new if I am to have more financial success, which is my main priority right now.  I still absolutely love portrait and figurative painting, and you'll still be seeing some of that in the coming year, but I've decided to shift focus and do more nature and still life work that will hopefully appeal to a greater audience.  I've also chosen this focus so I can work exclusively from life in my paintings (almost exclusively, anyway).  I'm planning on experimenting with some elements of abstraction, as I did in The Blood, and also earlier in Abbey's portrait.  Don't get me wrong, I have no intention whatsoever of becoming an abstract painter.  I wouldn't dare think of doing such a thing.  I'm only talking about integrating elements of abstraction in the design of my paintings.  You'll see what I mean later.  Like I said, new (and hopefully exciting) directions.