Courage

Sometimes an image just sticks in your imagination. I was going through an online website set up to help you practice your figurative drawing and sketching skills. You enter a number of parameters for the images you want to sketch from (eg, male/female, clothed/nude, static/action, etc.) and a number of minutes for a timer. When […]

So, God, what just happened here?

“What just happened here?”

“So, God, what just happened here?”(Sketch from this evening’s Christmas Eve service.) In every nativity scene, from the great masters to kitsch lawn ornaments, it seems like we always see Mary and Joseph and the other visitors looking down at the baby Jesus in wonder. If I were there, I’d do the same. But you […]

Timeless

When I create a title for a particular figure sculpture I am working on, I have developed a practice of spending time sitting with the sculpture, letting the sculpture itself tell me what its name is.

Artist Trading Cards

I recently discovered something — Artist Trading Cards. Someone gave me a small packet of blank paper cards — 2.5″ x 3.5″.  The description on the package said that they were Artist Trading Cards. Apparently, they have social media hashtags and everything. It said the intent was for artists to paint small original pieces of […]

Sculpture Class

I started following the Proko educational art site several years ago. The site is primarily dedicated to resources and videos for drawing, especially around the human figure, but they recently added in an emphasis on 3D art and sculpture. I enrolled in their first sculpture class, watching the videos and doing the homework assignments. This […]

Little Birds

As an artist, I often find my journey following odd little twists and turns. As a Christ follower, the Holy Spirit is the one who owns my creative process, and the manner in which even the little bits of beauty I try to create find ways to speak life to those around me. Some time […]

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

As I sat looking at the finished piece, I was drawn to her eyes and the way she was holding her arms. I sensed the tension we live in every day, perpetually suspended between the past and the future.

Deeply Rooted

Deeply Rooted (CoVID)

Some time ago, I attended a retreat with our OM Arts team. We spent four days, working through different activities, exercises, spending free times and meals together — the kinds of things you would expect for a team building retreat. One of the activities involved spending an extended time in individual prayer and listening, using […]

Arms and fingers and legs, oh my!

I have always been fascinated by how our arms and shoulders silently communicate our thoughts and emotions. Working with clay forces us to deal with the fact that the arms are the most slender feature of the body, and thus pose some serious technical issues

When We Cannot See

My first actual responses to the self isolation and “shelter at home” of the CoVID-19 crisis came as a simple image in my imagination — a blindfold.