America the Beautiful

I should have been posting here as this piece was being created.
I had many posts on Facebook as it was being put together.
So I'll just put a few pics up here and then be sure and watch the video at the end.

Here is a series of pictures showing one of the panels as it is being put together.

Each section of the piece is 3'x3' so the completed piece is a little over 6'x6'

(because of the framing around each section)

Here's a little picture video of my friends, Tim and Michael as they help me install the piece.

Psalm 8 - What Is Man?

I painted this for our annual Art Festival. Our choir sang a beautiful anthem with a Psalm 8 text "The Majesty and Glory of Your Name" for the Sunday morning of the festival.

Psalm 8
1 LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?

Road to Emmaus in the UK

This is a post from Facebook from March of this year.

Father Pastore in the UK has asked to use my "Road to Emmaus" painting in a retreat he's leading. It is taking place around the time of Pentecost. There will be times of meditation and my painting and others - I think - will be there as one of the "meditation aides." 
I think I said that correctly.

Psalm 1 Tree

This is not the finished painting. Not sure why I haven't updated it. It ended up better than this. 

Psalm 1:

1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, 

Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 

2

 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates 

day and night. 

3 He will be like a tree firmly planted 

by streams of water, 

Which yields its fruit 

in its season 

And its leaf does not wither; 

And in whatever he does, he prospers. 

A Psalm a Day

I'm reading a Psalm a Day in 2017 and then blogging about it. You can read about that here Psalm Challenge

A few years ago a friend told me about an artist that is painting his way through the Psalms. His paintings are beautiful. (I'll see if I can find that info again and I'll share it here.) Many of his paintings are abstract and he would probably need to explain why a particular Psalm is represented in that particular painting. But I really like the idea. I would LOVE to paint something each day for whatever Psalm I've read that day. but realistically I know that it will be extremely difficult to paint something every day.

But I AM going to try to paint something every week - something inspired by one of the Psalms that I've read that week.

So I'm not challenging myself to a Psalm a Day painting, but I am going to try a Psalm a Week painting. I'm sure that encouraging words from my friends will help me meet this challenge. :-) Hmmmm, maybe some little ACEOs would make it possible for more than one painting a week.
"What is an ACEO?" you may ask. From Google "ACEO stands for Art Card Originals and Editions. They are kissin' cousins of ATC's or Art Trading Cards. Both are by definition cards of artwork measuring 2.5 x 3.5 inches, the same as a standard playing card."

 Ebay's take on ACEOs

Here are two ACEOs from a few years ago.

Hickory Point (the view out my window at home)

Colorado Sunrise

The challenge begins January 1, 2017.

Yellow Roses

My lovely wife loves yellow roses.

I painted this picture to put in an art auction to raise money for missions. But after I finished it I decided that I should give it to Cheryl since she likes yellow roses so much.

I thought I had some pictures of the work in progress to put on here, but I don't see them on my computer. So I'll just put up the finished product.

It's acrylic on 16x20 canvas.

Photographed in the gazebo for some natural light

Abstract Art for Missions

I don't like putting titles on abstract art. I think that limits others' interpretations. 

I say that now because of this painting.

I've had several people tell me what they think it is: a black hole, a galaxy, a solar system, a whirlpool in the mud, the pull of sin.

And then they say, "What is it?" and expect me to tell them if they were right or if I had some other idea behind it. I think they would be very disappointed to know that sometimes a person just creates art and that there isn't a definitive answer of "what" it is.

But they say that art - good art - elicits a response from its viewers. I personally don't care what you decide this painting represents as long as you like it and spend a little time studying it. It can have some very deep meanings. :-)

Here's a closeup of a part of it.

I don't think that you can tell from the pictures, but there are three or four different kinds of gold paint on it. Some of the gold is a glaze that only shows when you look at it from the side instead of straight on. It's one of the things I like about it. 

The bright gold is gold leaf.

The only way to get my big easel to hold this painting is with the top down. I'm glad we had some good weather in April for "top down."

Oh. And the mission part? This painting was in our Silent Auction - Art for Missions at Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville, TN. 

The final bid on this painting was $175. 

All went to help our mission team going to Portugal.

Abstract Art Evokes Wide Range of Responses

I always enjoy seeing the variety of responses that I get when I post a picture of an abstract painting on Facebook and ask  "what would you name this painting?"

Here is the painting I posted with that question yesterday.

16x20 acrylic and gold leaf on gallery wrapped canvas

Some are very clever or insightful - others, not so much. It's interesting that some are very concrete "elephant" while others are more, well, abstract. Ha!


One person "shared" my painting on her timeline and wrote this.
"Genesis. Because it seems to be the beginning of a beautiful event or series... of paintings. ?
This image leads me to see a sequence of paintings, each one more defined and less subtle than the previous..."Which received these responses.
that's good....
get busy Lyndel
Perspective 1 and then continue on with perspective 2 and so on through series.

What are your thoughts?

Here are some of the other responses.

Asian-Pacific Islands

Birch

Golden Elephant.

It reminds me of an aspen tree.

A forest in the winter that someone accidentally spilled gold paint on.

The bigger blob (is blob offensive, none intended) looks kinda like Japan. So I'd go with 金の島 (pronounced kin no shima).

Warming by fire on snowy night

Narnia. Kind of looks like a map from far and a snowy winter land closer

Gold Rush

I see an elephant climbing a tree, and an owl.

Gold Rush

Life is a Puzzle. Only you can connect the pieces

Spirits gathering

Regeneration or renewal

Running Man

It's kangaroos hopping!

I see dogs rejoicing!!!

Awakening....like you're opening your eyes from a dream to a warm, glowing room.

Twilight Dawning

archipelago

What Lies Beneath

Refined

The gold in the left looks like an angel. On the right it looks like a horse drawn chariot flying upwards. With all the cloudy white background, I'd call it Highway to Heaven.

Forest of Shadows

Ok I'm weird but I see a happy small elephant on its hind legs facing left smack dab in the center. I also see other small animal faces. I also dream weird so maybe disregard everything I just said lol. It's very pretty!

I saw the same thing! But I have weird dreams too LOL

I did see the face of a snow leopard....

map of countries

 (He's doing tests on us!)

I also saw an elephant on first glance!

"Global Warming"

Renewal

Golden dawn....

Flecks

Gilligan's islands--hahahahaha

There I was!!!!

Royalty

Peeling paint

Golden Globe

Looks like mud splattered on a frosty window pane....just saying!

Silver Lining

The Chase

Snow Echo

Whisper

On a Rampant Field . . .

There is an elephant there!

'Layers'. The layers of life and wisdom are built by experience and revealed by the scars. The deepest scars reveal the most valuable layers.

The Lost Empire

Heavy metal

'Wall section from abandoned hotel lobby'

My first thoughts were "Chasing Rainbows"

Playing in the snow.

Psalm 46:10

Ok Lyndel, it's got an elephant. 3 confirmations of an elephant sighting. Linda makes 3

Golden Veins.

Global warming

Separation of the Continents

Spirited Away

Gold in the mist ....

Rivers of dreams!

May I turn it on the left end?

Pangea! (that's the science teacher coming out)

Breaks on Marblehead

Evening Splendor

Beauty in Gold

Tile

The Dance of the Elephants.

running with elephant in a storm

The World

Wall with torn wallpaper!!

The lady and the fox.

Scampering...

Hidden Treasure

Global glitz.

Snow Covered Golden Forrest.

Gold Rush

Shadowed riches

Pure Animal

Life's a Circus

Marble

Nebula

(If you read this post earlier, I've changed the name from "Galaxy" to "Nebula.")

I've been experimenting with gold leaf and acrylics. I didn't have a outer space in mind when I made this painting, but it kind of reminds me of pictures I've seen at the planetarium or from Hubble. 

I don't suppose paintings have to have names...... but I'm calling this one "Nebula."

It is acrylic and gold leaf on a 16x20 canvas.

It has a gold sheen that changes how it looks from different directions and different lighting. 

Here it is hanging up in our bonus room.

Nebula on Wikipedia

Poppies in a Copper Pot

It's very difficult to photograph a painting that has a shiny black background.

Well, actually, the black is red and green and blue and more mixed together to make black.

The leaves are made of blues, greens and purples but are lost in the background if the light is too low. That's on purpose. The stars of the show are the beautiful poppies.

This picture taken outside shows the color better without so much reflected light.

You can see the color in the leaves better in this shot.

This painting is acrylic on canvas 36x48

By the Light of the Moon

I'm having a lot of fun with encaustic painting.

I'm not doing encaustic painting in the traditional sense as described on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encaustic_painting but I call it encaustic because that sounds so much more artistic to me than "Yep. I melted crayons with an pink embosser that I bought at Hobby Lobby." (Disclaimer: pink was the only color they had the day I was at Hobby Lobby to buy the embosser.)

For this painting I started with an art board that had been painted black years ago. I added more black, purple and blue to the background to give it some depth and to make it a little moreinteresting in the light. You can't see anything but black form this photo.

The tree trunks and branches and the ground were all painted with acrylic paint. I had a little white moon at first but then decided it needed a big moon. The moon is white and yellow and was painted with thick acrylic paint so it has a lot of texture.

The leaves for the tree were the fun part. I chose several shades of yellow, orange and red and melted them with the embosser. The fun part is watching the melted wax swirl together and form interesting shapes and color combinations. The artist has a little control over where and how much wax to put in a particular spot, but a lot of the process is chance. It is guided chance, but chance none the less.

I'll have this painting in Hilldale's Art for Missions Silent Auction at the end of March.

Abstract Painting - Melted Crayon

My newest painting is melted wax crayons on canvas paper mounted to cardboard.

I suppose you could call it an encaustic painting, technically encaustic paintings are made with melted colored bees wax, not melted crayons. But encaustic sound so much more artistic. lol

I had the dining room in mind as I was creating this painting.

The room is painted in and decorated in whites and golds.

There's a small space between the kitchen door and the entry hall door that seemed like the perfect place for a painting like this.

Do paintings need names? I don't know.

for right now this one does not have a name. Maybe you can suggest one in a comment.

But actually, that's the cool thing about abstract art is that it says different things to different people, so I guess giving it a name takes that away to some extent. 

I may not ever name it now that I've thought about it.

I didn't know how to sign the painting. I tried painting my name with acrylic paint. It just slid around on the wax. I tried writing with a sharp crayon. Bad idea.

So I scratched my name in the wax with a sharp pencil and then filled in the scratched part with gold paint. I'm happy with how it turned out. 

Painting with Crayons

Over the years I've slowly gathered up restaurant crayons. It seems like a small thing, but I hated seeing perfectly good crayons headed for the trash after a short use on a Red Lobster children's menu. So as the rest of the family gathered their things I walk around the table and gather the barely used crayons.

Once home they would usually spend time in my closet next to my billfold, but eventually they would end up with all of the crayons I had rescued from boxes and restaurants and various children. I always thought that one day I would sort them in this nice "Lazy Susan" we got from Cheryl's Granny Kay. (I doubt that will ever really happen. It kind of takes the fun out of searching for just the right crayon.)

A fun thing to do with used broken crayons is to make BIG multi-colored crayons out of them. You take the paper off of them, break them up where they will fit in a muffin tin, heat up the oven (not too hot) and then let them melt. Stir the melted was a little after they melt or you'll end up with clear wax on the top and color on the bottom. After they cool (duh) pop them out and you have cool discs of color for your kiddos. They are great for making rubbings. (You know - where you lay a piece of paper on a rough surface and then rub the crayon over it....)

About a year ago I saw something new to try with crayons. Crayola made some crayons to use in making melted crayon paintings. I bought some canvas boards and my daughter, Christy, and I tried to paint with a hair dryer, using it to melt the crayons. It sort of worked, but we weren't happy with the process. The hair dryer melted the wax, but it blew so hard there was little you could do to control where the wax went.

A couple of months ago I saw an acrylic painting that inspired me to try a new way to paint with crayons. I new that a hair dryer blew too hard and made the melted wax spray across the canvas, so I bought an embossing heater. A heat gun would have been good. I would show you a picture of it, but the only one they had at Hobby Lobby was pink and I don't want you to know that I have a pink embosser. :-)

OK. This has been way too long of an introduction. Here's what I want to show you. How you can make your own really cool fall colored tree using melted crayons...

First, I painted the sky, the ground and the trunk of a tree using acrylic paints.

I then took a lot of different red crayons from different restaurants and boxes and tested melting them to see what shade of red they made when melted.

Then I held a darker red crayon in my hand and heated it up with the embosser and I let the wax drip onto the canvas board.

I added layers of different shades of red, melted away parts where I thought it was too full and ended up with this.

Here's a close up. I like the way the wax would splatter when I held the crayons further away.

 The reds seemed a little too much and I needed some highlights, so I added a little orange to it.

Now my red tree is in a silent auction for missions. The money raised is helping some of our High School students go to Buenos Aires, Argentina on a mission trip at the end of June into July.

Here it is on the auction table. It is 16x20, acrylic and wax on canvas board. It has a nice wooden frame that really sets it off don't you think?

You can bid on this painting by calling Hilldale's Family Life Center. As of this writing today, the current bid is $150. The auction ends May 9.