The Matrix, 2014

The Matrix

I started this painting on December 31, 2013, while web streaming the OneThing Conference from IHOP-KC during Matt Gilman's worship bringing in 2014. It has evolved, layer upon layer, since that New Year's night. A little like our lives, the times we live in, our memories, our understanding of truth, our transformations, as we grow and experience this life. I got the name from the movie "The Matrix," (though my son thinks that's a silly name for it). But I feel it fits. The movie is really about two realities... or should I say, the world that we think we live in, and the world that is Truth... It is the realm of the "totally other than" that I am exploring, expressing, and hoping to interest you, the viewer, into pondering. And I am realizing that in every artwork I do poses a question. And I know now that it is the way that the Lord, my God and Father, whom I most affectionately refer to as Abba, communicates with me. The question. Not because He is in need of an answer, for He is the Creator of all things, and knows our thoughts before we do... but because He created us to be critical thinkers, and wants us to connect to Him through wisdom and understanding. There is nothing hidden from His sight, there is no searching His understanding, as Isaiah 40 puts it. 

Chrysanthemums...

Still Life - Gramma's Flowers
oil on canvas board
2014

My grandmother was an extremely talented Artist. Her first oil painting, in 1963, was a still life:  Chrysanthemums. She so inspires me, then and now, and I have attempted to re-create her painting. Though she was far more talented than I, I hope to continue to grow and learn, and aspire to have just a little of her beauty in my artwork. She was taught at University of Mexico, and learned lots of traditional styles in the tradition of the academy model (so-to-speak), but had such a wealth of knowledge and such wonderful training. 
In this day of the post-modern, and/or contemporary, or whatever phase of Art "History" we may be in, I hope that I can glean from her commitment

I joined a local art gallery, Blue Line Arts, in Roseville, CA. As an artist member I was filling out my profile. One question: Who is your favorite artist and why? So I write about that on Word, copy and paste it only to find I can only write to 100 characters! Thats about 1 sentence. So I am posting my response here, just because.

Who is my favorite Artist, and why?

     I have so many favorite artists, those who inspire me, that I could not list them all. As I child my favorite was Post-Impressionist Vincent Van Gogh, who still moves  me with his bright colors and thickly laid on oils and bold impressions. 

    My other favorite from childhood was Maxfield Parrish who painted the most beautiful landscapes and murals, and created intricately beautiful and whimsical illustrations for many early 20th century periodicals and magazines. 

    French Impressionist Claude Monet quickly became my all-time favorite with his amazing impressions of light and soft colors. 

   I have since discovered JMW Turner, a British painter from late 18^th-early 19^th century, who actually inspired Claude Monet, and was considered the Father of Impressionism. He also inspired American landscape painter Thomas Moran, best known for his watercolor, though he used oils as well. His luminescent paintings are stunning. 

    A few other influential favorites I must mention are Georgia O’Keeffe who captured the Southwest with her beautiful, giant flowers and landscapes. 

Other inspiring and amazing artists are: 

Denise Allen – late 20^th century Quilt Artist

Augusta Savage early 20^th century Ceramicist

Frank Lloyd Wright, 20^th century architect

Stephen J Kaltenbach, Conceptual Artist, painter & sculptor, California Artist

Laura Ross Paul, Colorist, Figurative Artist, & educator who resides in Portland, OR

...and of course Leonardo da Vinci, who needs no introduction at all.

JMW Turner
Angel Standing in the Sun
1846, oil on canvas

Thomas Moran
Fiercely the Red Sun Descending, Burned His Way Across the Heavens
1875, oil on canvas