You may find that artists have lots of thoughts. Even profound ones. Romantically imagined as shared with writers, poets and fellow artists at coffee houses; I think the pondering comes from standing long periods of time in front of an easel. This page is to present some of the things I've observed over the years, both artistic and spiritual. For better or worse, there's a strong connection between what an artist paints and what he believes.

I list them in bullet points so as not to overexplain. Plus I like to focus on one thing at a time. Feel free to pour yourself a cup and comment - email link is above.

Artistic

These are artistic conclusions I've come to in my work - principles that determine success or failure. Funny that I need to keep reminding myself of different ones. It's a continual discipline.

• There are many things that work together in a good painting: Composition, Values, Proportion, Saturation, Texture, Drawing, Color... and that's just to start. And because they all interact, the artist has to remember them all at once.

• Painting is a circus act of spinning plates on poles. But when a plate falls, it doesn't make a sound. And the artist only knows it when he sees the broken pieces on the floor the next morning.

• A work of art is produced with the skills of the artist, but is born of what an artist thinks. And what he's thinking while painting will determine the outcome.

• Art is communication. If it has to be explained, it hasn't communicated.

• A work of art starts with composition and ends with composition.

• Don't let the truth get in the way of a good composition.

• It's not about what the artist can do, but what he has done.

• I've learned if I can't paint it in five brushstrokes, 50 more won't help.

• A painter can share a studio with others. But even in a crowd, he always works alone.

• Don't paint what you see. Understand what you see. Then paint what you understand.

• Found a painting on good drawing, but paint shapes. Compose color and value.

• If it doesn't look right, it isn't.

• If it doesn't look right, and it's not obvious as to why, it's probably the values.

• Beware when adjusting values. The problem may not be the object, but its surroundings.

• The richest, warmest, most saturated color is at the break between light and shadow.

• Halftones are magic.

• To paint a straight line, keep your eyes on the brush's destination, not the brush.*

• The late Dr. Furman Finck, accomplished portrait painter, endearing gentleman and artistic scholar taught us to think outside the box. "2 + 2 =5", he once said.  I'm no good at math either.

• I've learned that there are a number of ways to produce a desired resullt in painting. And doing the "wrong" thing is often just the right thing. Like putting down a color that isn't there, or throwing off perspective. 2+2=5 isn't about the answer, but the equation. Thank you Dr. Finck.

• Concept inspires every composition. But I once saw a conceptual painting in a modern art museum: a plain white primed canvas. Like a trumpet player on stage for a recital not making a sound.

• Only buy art that appeals to you. But remember, a blank canvas is cheaper at a craft store. Conceptual art is way overrated.

• I carefully struggle toward mediocrity. Better to be deliberate and simple.

• Obey the laws of composition, color, value and the like, and the painting will be without struggle. They do all the work.

• Do it right the first time. Paintings are hard to retrofit.

• Better to get the character of a subject than its accuracy.

The Gospel, the whole of the Bible - indeed the entire history of man - is a tale of two trees planted in a garden. It's told in an epic story about a bride, a bridegroom and a wedding feast; and summarized by a simple prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. In it, I dare say, is the answer to all the questions of the universe.



Spiritual 

As a child I was taught much in Sunday school. I don't remember learning any particular lesson. Just  the general story lines of the Bible and the kind attention of the teachers. My mother always told us: "God loves everyone". She lived by it, too. That lesson stuck.

I've since come to the conclusion that If God is real, he's not religion. And if God is real, he can be trusted. Religion is man proving himself to God. The whole of the Bible is God proving himself to man. And the lesson of every story and writing from Genesis through Revelation can be summed up in two simple words: Trust me. (Prov. 3: 5,6)

If man was made in the image of a Creator, it makes sense that he likes to make things. Much of what an artist does is about accomplishment and recognition. Much is also about failure and hard work. Getting through the good and bad of it needs more than hand skills.

• Everyone has a god. For some, it's themselves. For others, it may be money, legalism or their profession. Even the atheist bases his life on the tangible and measureable. My God is spiritual. Faith isn't dependent on the believing, but on the object of the belief.

• Belief will produce one of two things: Religion. Or faith. If I glory in my belief with reverence and ceremony, that would be religion. But if I go on my way counting on what I believe to actually be true, that's faith.

• There are only two choices in life. Live by faith. Or live by fear. We can have faith in anything we want. Best to put it in something trustworthy. Or someone.

• True faith may be blind, but it is never ignorant.

• Faith is the accepting as a child, not the understanding. Then as the child matures, he understands.  (Luke 18:17 - 1 Corinthians 13: 11,12)

• We Christians are overly concerned with our behaviors, as we assure ourselves of "who we are in Christ." That's not faith. Faith isn't introspective.

• The Bible isn't a book of instruction. It's a description.

• The book of Ecclesiastes, like life, is best understood from its last chapter.

• The books of Ecclesiastes and Job both have the same moral. One book is of a man who had everything, the other about a man who lost everything. And though the words God says to Job from the whirlwind may be words of fear to the flesh, they are absolute comfort and assurance to the spirit.

• Painting has taught me I can stare at the obvious but not see. There's something biblical about that. (Matt. 13: 12-15)

• Science would have me believe I'm just the sum total of my body parts. God says differently. John 6:63

• History shows that when man removes the truths of science and nature from the Word of God, he will justify the foolishness of a flat earth. But when man removes the Word of God from the truths of science and nature, he will justify any foolishness that comes to mind.

• Science cannot justify morality or ethics. It can only justify winners and losers.

• Our problem isn't so much that we don't know right from wrong. It's more that we don't know what to do with either of them. (John 16:8)

• Jesus spoke and did. He often offended, but never apologized. He appealed to reason but never to emotion. And he never said please. The Gospel is something to take or leave on its own merits.

• Jesus didn't spoon feed. Everything he said demanded a thoughtful response. Still does.

• Behavior is the symptom, not the problem. (Matt. 5:20-22; 15:19; Rom. 7: 21-25)

• Evil makes me miserable. Goodness is unsatisfying. And they both wear me out. (Matthew 11:29-30)

• *The Christian life isn't about doing good and avoiding evil. It's more like painting a straight line. (Luke 9:62; Gal. 5:16)

• Each of us stands desperately alone before a just and loving God. And truly, it's a wonderful place to be.

• Christianity is discipline, not effort. But it is also dynamic. (Rom. 12:2; Jas. 2:26; Is. 40:31)

• By nature, I love to boast in what I know of God. It's like name-dropping. But in truth, I will never go along with him. But the Christian life isn't about me. It's about Christ. (James 2:19, Gal 2:20)

• I've learned the things that I want most to preach to others are the very things I need most to know myself. (Luke 6:41-42)

• The only thing Jesus guaranteed us in this world is tribulation. But he didn't come to change anything. He overcame it all. (John 16:33, Rom. 8:28)

• An overall theme of Jesus' ministry may be summed up like this: Don't think of this life in terms of the world. Think of this world in terms of eternity.

• One could say that before Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that they did not know good, and they did not know evil. They just knew God. Jesus would define eternal life as this: "...that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (John 17:3)

• Anyone who lives by right and wrong, keeps himself under judgment. (Matt. 7:1, John 12:46,47)

• God is just, but does not judge. In fact, he has prevented justice. He has put it off by expulsion, flood, dispersion and conquest. He has even satisfied all justice by his own doing, for our sake. But one day, man will force his hand. And when that day comes, no one will be spared. (Mark 13:20)

• By nature, we want justice. But Christ came that we might have life. (Luke 18: 1-8, John 10:10)

• With his statements about "an eye for an eye," Jesus turned the whole notion of justice on its head. But it seems if anything, a lesson of Christ IS to give justice, but sacrificially. Matt. 5: 38-45

• I may judge anyone I want. But I can only judge myself. (Matt. 7: 1,2)

• Better to be reconciled than justified. (Matt. 5:25)

• Sin isn't evil, but waging the battle of good over it. To battle evil with good is to play by the rules of the world. To walk by the Spirit is to know that battle has been won. Long ago.

• Temptation is anything that obligates me to the rules of this world. I'm surrounded by temptation. But God doesn't tempt. He delivers. (1 Cor. 10: 13)

• We've been set up. It was God who established the parameters of the world. It was God who installed its prince. It was God who gave us all over to our lusts. None of us ate from that tree in the garden yet we have all inherited the sin that resulted in its wicked ways, certain hardship and death. And even though God acknowledges that we are inherently blind, ignorant and weak, he dares to convince us that we are also without excuse. Is. 1:18

• Being blind, I am ignorant. Seeing, I don't understand. Understanding, I am too weak to help myself. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:24, 25)

• A man doesn't know his liberty until he makes a choice.

• We all admit what the world needs most is love. But righteousness (our need to be right) trumps everything.

• "You set me up for failure and then judge me!" I cry.  But you don't condemn. (John 3:17)

• My pockets are full of stones. And you put a rock in my path.

• The apostles open and close their epistles with words like Peter's "grace and peace be multiplied to you... (2 Pet. 1:2), not "righteousness and justification to you." This world is all about chasing what's right and just. Jesus put that to rest.

• The biblical theme in colors: There's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (yellow and blue); and the tree of life (red). Now describe red in terms of yellow and blue. "Well... red is bright like yellow, but rich like a deep blue. Combining the two is green. But red is warmer—more huggable. Really, you'll just need to start all over to understand it." Jesus spoke in parables for a reason.

• God's name is "I am," not "he is." "He is" requires only belief. "I am" requires response. (Ex. 3:14)

• Faith is not hard. Error is. (Matt. 11: 29,30)

• Judgment-Mercy-Faith: A spiritual "Rock-Paper-Scissors" and the Gospel in three words, where the latter is weightier than the former. (Matt. 23:23)

• Sin-Righteousness-Judgment-Mercy-Faith-Hope-Love: The biblical theme in seven words where the latter is weightier than the former. This is a string of three groups of words combining: John 16:8-11; Matt. 23:23; 1 Cor. 13. The world gets the first three entirely wrong, but it doesn't matter. Just keep going and learn what they all mean.

• Can't learn God. Can only know him. (John 17:3)

• To know God is to rest in him.

Reflection on Romans 1:20

My Dad died in 2003. He'd had a couple of strokes that left him sitting most of the time in front of the TV. The strokes, along with the effects of aging gradually took away many of the things he had enjoyed the most. One of them was building and flying model planes. U-control, and later, radio-control. I have two of his large radio-control bi-planes hanging from the entry ceiling in my house. Fully equipped and able to fly - all that's needed is a little fuel and transmitter. Dad built them from scratch: blocks and planks of wood, fabric, paint, hardware and electronics. If you come to visit, I could show you a picture of my Dad and you'll know what he looked like. Or I could set one of those planes in front of you. Examine it carefully. That plane will tell you far more about him than any picture.

We relate to the world through our judgments.  We relate to God by trusting him, not through our judgments – so that we can relate to the world through him.

A STORY ON FORGIVENESS

Little did we know we were behind bars serving a life sentence. Suddenly all the cell doors clanked unlocked and flew open, never to be shut. Many didn't see or hear a thing. Others scoffed, or were too ashamed or afraid to leave. But the sentence had been fulfilled. And there was no reason to stay any longer. (Mark 15:37, 38; 2 Corinthians 5:19)

THOUGHTS ON FORGIVENESS AND SALVATION:

As a Presbyterian, I was taught all men were forgiven.

Later, as a Baptist, I was taught all men were sinners.

Which is right?

I thought of how Jesus approached the subject. He assumed evil in men, but never accused - and only forgave. Then I was reminded of John 16:8 & 9. Seems the job of discerning the difference between sin and righteousness belongs to the Holy Spirit. So the world already knows. And it's not the evil that we do, but the not believing in Jesus that is sin.

Then I thought of my salvation experience. I had a conscience and knew I did evil things. As a Presbyterian, I also knew I was forgiven so the guilt wasn't hanging over my head. But salvation wasn't believing that I was forgiven. I didn't know what salvation was, until I believed that Jesus was indeed the one who provided for it. It was only then that I confidently realized I didn't need to look any further. What a coincidence.

What is Sin?

Most think that sin is "bad" behavior. But while sin is made evident in it, behavior is only its works. It's been well argued in the Gospels and the letters of the Apostles, that sin is not behavior, but unbelief in God.

But to say that sin is unbelief, though true, only says what sin is not - not what it is. So for its definition, I go back to the original description in the book of Genesis.

Sin, then, is to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In a word, sin is judgment (Jesus talked a lot about this). More accurately, it is living by judgment. Judgment being the determining of what is good and what is evil - or what has value and what does not.

Ah, but we live in a world of judgment! Everywhere we turn are choices and decisions to be made. But this Judgment is not about making a right turn or left. It has to do with the heartfelt determining of value (and why money is its perfect picture). So having made a left turn in error, for instance, sin is dwelling on how worthless the wrong turn was, or how stupid I am for having made the wrong turn. Faith, on the other hand, is having realized the error, to turn around and proceed in the right direction. But unlike judgment, faith doesn't depend on me, but on God. Rom. 8:28

An Exceptional and Stubborn People

Exodus chapters 18 to 20 describe the beginnings of the law of Moses. Serving as judge to all Israel, Moses, at the suggestion of Jethro, his father-in-law, selected leaders to help handle disputes. Moses would take the difficult cases. It was afterwards that he ascended Mt Sinai for the written code from God. “We will do everything the Lord has said” the people assured him. Later, judges and the law would succeed Moses in the rule of Israel as the people claimed their new land.

Odd then, that the book of Judges in this new age of law (which made Israel an exceptional people being surrounded by monarchies) wasn't about the rote living by the law and court cases, but story after story of dependence by faith, on the living God. (The judges shall live by faith.) But instead of these episodes encouraging a general trust in God, the people would soon ask for a king.

Then if I follow the progress from Eden, with Israel as the appointed example to the rest of the world, mankind goes from walking with God to talking to him to talking about him to replacing him.

It wasn't a fall. It was a drift. 

Exodus 3:14

The only thing I believe is that God is.

If you tell me that the sun is shining, it might take belief on my part to go out the door. But once outside it doesn't take belief for the sun to light my way or to feel the comfort of its warmth.