Monday, May 18, 2015

Live Painting Events

Hi friends!

I just wanted to pass along some info about a couple of opportunities to see me do some live painting.

The first is coming up this Friday, May 22, for Fourth Fridays in Downtown Lee's Summit.  I will be at Red Door Wine from 5-8pm with some work on display and I will be doing a live painting demo as well.  This is for one night only, so I hope those of you in the Kansas City area not going to the Royals/Cards game will stop by and check it out!


The second event is actually going to be next month's Fourth Friday in Downtown Lee's Summit.  On June 26th from 5-8pm, I will be participating in a Plein Air Paint Out.  As you walk around and check out all the art on display in the various downtown LS businesses, you'll notice there will be many artists outside painting.  I will be one of them!  I've already picked out my spot at 2nd and Douglas, where I will be painting the old building of my church, Lee's Summit United Methodist, aka The Summit.  So I hope you'll stop by and say hello if you're out and about for Fourth Friday that night!


Hope you will join me for these two Fourth Fridays!  More to come later!

Saturday, May 2, 2015

A Warm Welcome at the Crossroads

Greetings friends,

The past couple of weeks have been pretty incredible, and I wanted to share a little bit about it.

Well, first of all, for the past couple of months I've been feeling extremely frustrated, and it felt like I was hitting a pretty hard slump.  Harder than I had before.  Commissions had not been happening.  Sales had not been happening.  And a workshop that I had scheduled in April did not happen.  I won't even get into that one.  But I have to say, when things start getting difficult like that, then usually painting doesn't happen either.  Call it a character flaw in me if you will, but any sense of morale and motivation in me falls flat on its face, and I start to wonder what I'm doing wrong.

But no matter how difficult it gets - even in this circumstance - let's just say I have experience in handing things over to God when I can no longer handle them myself.  Prayer works and miracles do in fact abound.

Last week, I got a tip that a gentleman in the Lee's Summit area was looking for an artist to commission for a special project.  And thanks to Teresa, Got Art Gallery's director, I was able to accept the commission, and it's been a joy working on it.  It can be a cliched thing to talk about God's timing, but the commission could not have come and a more perfect time.  I am thankful for every commission, but this one was certainly a special one.
In addition to this one, I may be accepting another commission soon from a lady who has seen my work online.  I hope so.  But again, the question of how and why God places these people in my life at the right place at just the right time is a mystery to me.  But it's a mystery I embrace.

As wonderful as these two commission opportunities have been (just in the past week), I would have to say that last night's First Friday show for me was what put it over the top.  Words like "blessing," "miracle," and "thank you" completely fell short of what I would express to God.  Last night was the opening for my very first First Friday show at Jones Gallery in the Crossroads art district in downtown Kansas City.  It was a great experience to see so many people coming through that gallery.  Seeing friends, shaking hands, saying lots of "thank yous", and forgetting so many names of a lot of friendly people.  That is my typical experience at an art show opening.  But what isn't typical is selling a painting.  But by the grace of God, a gentleman who had been there all night paid the greatest compliment to me that an artist can get.  He loved a painting of mine so much that he decided he needed to have it for himself.  One of my favorite pieces that I've completed to date called "The Wanderer" sold, and I couldn't be more blown away by it.

The Wanderer
oil on canvas
2014

I'm not one for boasting.. I shy away from it, and I don't mean to make this blog one giant boast-fest.  But there is one thing I will boast about without an ounce of shame, and that is what the Lord has done in and through me.  This isn't about getting a great commission or selling a big painting.  I want God to be known through what I do as an artist.  Whether that means painting a picture that shows the Gospel, or sharing how God has worked through my experience as a professional artist.  Things are great now, sure.  But that won't last forever.  I'm going to get frustrated again.  I will hit slumps again.  There will be times when things just don't work out for me again.  But God is not changing.  He will be just as good and faithful in working in my life in those moments as He is right now.  The best part of failing is having a moment when God shows you that you can succeed.  When the work pays off.  And getting over the fear of the unknown and unexpected.  Because those moments of blessing can be just as unexpected.

More to come later, friends!