Starlight

My friend John C Brown IV is a brilliant artist. You might call him an abstract impressionist, but I prefer to leave labels to others, and instead just say his work is amazing. He and I used to get together to create from time to time and those were some of the most blessed creative times I have ever had. He was pretty new to making art back then but even his early work showed immense promise. He has since moved with his family to the other side of the country in Bend, OR and so even though I miss those creative times, it is thrilling to see him coming into his own. His work is positively anointed. His latest collection, currently on display at his church’s amazing gallery is entitled simply The Star Series. You have just got to see it to believe it. Check it out here.

Creating

I want to do more than just talk about creating here. I also need to be creating. That’s what I did today. I created a couple new graphics for a one I’m working on, influenced by some of my favorite art, the car artists like Big Daddy Roth. It’s not particularly spiritual, I’m not expecting to sell millions of them or anything, it just keeps my skills sharp and satisfies my need to create. Basically what happens is when my family is sitting before the TV, sort of mindlessly watching, I get out the sketchbook and have some fun. It stretches my imagination, I try to figure out how to make the image look the way I picture it in my head, and when I have something I like, I ink it, put it into the mighty MacBook and paint it. When it’s done I upload it to my Zazzle shop and my Deviant Art gallery, in case anyone sees it and wants it, but again it’s mainly just for fun, as well as some artistic growth.

What do you think? How do you keep your skills sharp?

Truth

Truth is important. Truth is both powerful and fragile. On one hand the Bible days the truth will set you free, on the other hand if you strip even a little away from truth, it’s no longer true. Christians, we need to deal in truth and truth alone. In a world where so many line up with Pontius Pilate and ask the question “what is truth?” We need to be right there pointing to the One who said I am the truth.

This is both an amazing privilege and a huge responsibility. We are called to be Christ’s ambassadors, this means in this convoluted world, we must be a beacon of truth. This means we read, study and share the truth of God’s Word. It means we don’t share and post things until we know whether or not they’re true. It means we don’t follow the culture for expediency’s sake, or bend the truth to advance our own cause.

My creative brothers and sisters, we have been blessed with abilities for the purpose of communicating God’s truth, and we should use those gifts for all we’re worth, but whether we work in realism or abstraction, whether we create fiction or non-fiction, whether our music is traditional, contemporary, classical, heavy metal or anything in between, what is most urgent is that our work communicates God’s truth.

Art Fun

Sometimes I need to create just for fun. I’ve long been a fan of the old school car artists like Big Daddy Roth, so in my free time I decided to do my own characters in a similar style. Musicians jam and visual artists can do the same. Think of an artist you admire and do your take on their work. You never know what might come of it.

You can get these on T-shirts in my Zazzle store.

I Make Things

My wife and I were out shopping and she saw these shirts that said, “I Make Things.” I thought it was a great idea, so I decided to do my own take on the phrase. What do you think?

Just Make Art

It was a busy day today, but I took some time out to create a new piece of pop art. I call it GoldBot. It was created just for fun and to stretch my creativity a little. I hope you like it.

November Is Up!

Well I’m eleven months into my a year in art challenge. I just completed posting the month of November. You can see it here. One more month to go. I have so enjoyed this project and I look forward to sharing what I will be doing in 2017.

New Paint Party Designs…

Want to have a paint party? I can help you out with that. Great fundraiser or just a fun activity for the whole family. People get two hours of instruction and come away with a 16″x20″ acrylic painting they can take home. It is fun, interactive and entertaining. Here are two of the designs I am offering. If you’d like to have a paint party for your organization, please contact me.

Coming soon from AMOK Books

I love to draw these things. There’s something about the mystery of drawing an eighth of a design and then seeing what it will look like when it’s all put together. It’s very loose and freeing. This is the closest thing an artist can do to “jamming.” When the TV’s on at the end of a busy day, I just grab a couple of Sharpies and start to jam. It’s fun, plus you know I love to draw some creatures.
Should be out in a week or two.

Meeting a Need… The Pappy Zone

One of the biggest parts of creativity is seeing a need and meeting it. I will give you a personal example. July 14, 2015 will go down in history of one of the best days of my life. It’s the day my grandson David John was born. My dad is already grandpa or gramps, so I chose to be called pappy after my other grandfather. I was thrilled and wanted the world to know. I decided to go and buy myself a T-shirt. Of course if I had been grandpa my choices would have been almost limitless, but I have yet to see a single shirt with pappy on it. My wife “grammy” has run into the same thing. Likewise I have yet to see a single “I love my pappy” shirt for my grandson. I think that is about to change.

Pappys and nanas, grammys and pop pops, Omas and Opas rejoice. The Pappy Zone is here. This digital apparel shop will feature shirts and other items for the grandparents overlooked by the mainstream companies. I understand why theses make only a few styles in the most popular names. It would be a nightmare to stock as many different names as there are, but thanks to on-demand printers like zazzle.com if you can design it you can make it. The possibilities are endless. This idea is still in the very earliest stages. At this point I have only one design in the store. So why am I sharing it so early? To show you the possibilities. In this digital world, meeting needs and solving problems is easier and cheaper than ever before. There is a way to do virtually anything you want to do very inexpensively. Create the concept and find a way to produce it.

If you are a creative, the possibilities are endless, so get to work!