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.