Advent Artwork:The Weary World Rejoices

Recent work for my church's advent sermon series, (Highrock Northshore); My pastor asked for a “Dickensonian” feeling illustration of Christmas Carolers singing to a person clearly down on their luck, but who has a smile because they are uplifted by the music and hope that the season offers.

I did a couple of sketches. One was a literal interpretation of the subject, the second was a more symbolic representation of the spirit of the season.

Sketch 1

Sketch 2

Final Art Alternate

Final Chosen Art

 The second, more literal and complex composition
was the one chosen.

The sermon series description is here:
The Weary World Rejoices: stories and songs that remind us to sing
Oh how weary we can be at this time of year.
Weary of mounting bills, mounting debt, mounting inboxes, mounting anxiety about all manner
of things. Weary of the to-dos that never end and the holiday calendar that’s too full. Weary of
the friends who disappoint, the heroes who fall, the leaders who sacrifice principles for
power. Weary of the woes of aging bodies, troubled minds, restless souls—the fallenness of all
things. Oh how weary we often are.
But into all this comes Christ: the once and future Savior who resolves every tension and rights
every wrong. The One who brings justice at last, who makes all things new, and who brings a
light that overcomes all darkness.
For this thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.
It’s for good reason that during the weariest and dreariest days of the year, we would sing the
most memorable songs ever written — songs that dare us to hope, call us to love, invite us to
rejoice.
And so we invite you to join us this Advent as we take a close look at some of our most
cherished seasonal stories and songs — stories that remind us of the God who is with us and
songs that remind us to sing.

Friends

A gouache sketch of two good friends of mine, Levi and Grace Nelson. Levi is a graphic designer and painter in his own right. I did this as a kind of "thank you" to them for just being two of my favorite people.

Lent /Easter Sermon Series Art

It has been quite a while since I last posted. A good friend died suddenly in March , and then his brother, (another close friend) ended up having major heart surgery, and I've been acting as his medical proxy and power of attorney, so...my plate has been pretty full.
At any rate, the art must go on. Here are two paintings I did for the Lent/Easter sermon series at my church (Highrock Northshore in Salem).
Several artists in the church were given a choice of several bible passages that represented various "stations of the cross" and asked to do a painting for each one (or in my case, two). There were a total of seven paintings total.
I chose two consecutive passages in the series, Mark 14:42-52 (Jesus Arrested) and Mark 14: 53-65 (Jesus before the Sanhedrin).
The canvases were all the same size ( 10" x 20") and orientation (vertical), and were to be used on large banners for the front of the church, as well as bookmarks.
I did some rough thumbnail sketches, including one that I dropped (Jesus in Gethsemane).

Arrest Thumbnail

 

 

Sanhedrin Thumbnail

Gethsemane Thumbnail

I painted the final versions both in one day, working much faster and looser than I usually do.
I wanted to convey the emotional feeling of the scenes and not "refine" all the life and energy out of it. These are closer to the way I draw naturally.
Below are the finished paintings.

Salem Halloween Mugboard Design

Several years ago, the owner of a local theater hired me to produce designs for a mugboard.
For those of you unfamiliar with what a mugboard is, it is usually a plywood board painted with lifesized images of figures with the faces cutout, so you can put your own face through the hole and look like you are dressed like that particular character, usually for a photograph. They are an old, old attraction and have been used at carnivals, circuses and other attractions for many years.
The client in question runs a witchcraft-themed Halloween attraction and thought it might be fun to have a mugboard outside the theater to attract attention and therefore customers. They wanted something light, humorous and possibly sexy. They definitely wanted it to contain a witch and a Puritan in some composition that would lend itself to a mugboard.
I worked up rough thumbnail sketches and then developed (3) different designs with a sexy witch and a hapless, bible-hugging Puritan.
A final design was selected and taken all the way up to a final, color study before the client pulled the plug on the whole idea. This is the first time I have shared the work.

Thumbnail Sketches

Mugboard Sketch-01

Mugboard Sketch -02

Witch figure

Sketch 03

Final selected b&w design

Final color-study

Native Woman

A quick, (45-minute) 4.5" x 7" acrylic study on paper done from a blurry photograph I took years ago of an exhibit at the Plymouth Plantation Mayflower II kiosk.

The Bunghole

Finally got around to finishing a painting of the well-known Salem landmark  "The Bunghole" liquor store on Derby Street, that I started 3 years ago as a companion piece to the "Steve's Market" painting I did almost 11 years ago. (I move pretty slow sometimes). They are both notable for their antique neon lighting. This is acrylic on a 12" x 16" x 1.5" wooden panel.

Falstaff Painting

An old painting from college days. Oil on a 9" x 12" canvas panel. It's funny that I have ended looking more like Falstaff than I ever would have imagined.

Le Chat Bleu

A small 4.75" x 8" acrylic study 0n paper. It's of my cat Pyewackett. A Russian Blue.