Painting a vision

There is much to tell but I will wait a bit to get my thoughts together before attempting to blog it.  But while I am doing that, a couple weeks ago I had a facebook friend contact me.  A year  or so ago a young family member had a traumatic experience with abuse.  It is not my place to go into detail but this woman really had to struggle with her faith after this.  She said that she had a vision that has helped her overcome her struggle with faith and wanted someone to paint it.  So she explained it all to me and so i painted it for her as best I could interpret it.  In the end, she was very happy with it which is good and what i aim for.  I'll post the photo of the painting below, but again, it is not my place to explain its meaning.  :)

Untitled 9"x12" Oil on Masonite Board

There is still a bit of wet paint glare on this photo

Cool Snowburst!

I just had to share this cool photo I took tonight while walking Finnie at the Elementry School in my neighborhood.  I thought the snow was pretty cool illuminated by the spot lights on the Flag, but was amazed when I captured a "snowburst" I love how amazing God's world is :)

Snowmageddon in the Smokys 2014

So we are in the midst of snowmageddon 2014 here in the Smoky Mountains and so I'm not planning on leaving the house for the next day or two.  I'll be spending the time reorganizing my work area (today) and painting tomorrow.  They are calling for 5 to 10 inches although there has been a great deal of uncertainty with this forecast. 

Uncertainty can be frustrating and scary.  Most people like a safe and predictable course and when something upsets that they can become discontented, stressed out and can make some hasty bad decisions.  Been there, done that.  But uncertainty is all a part of life, and it is in uncertain times that we need to rely and trust in God more then ever. No one can know what will happen tomorrow, only God knows that.

Matthew 6:25-34 ESV
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Right now I can honestly tell you I am in one of the most uncertain times of my life.   I worry more then I should and I know I need to trust God more and worry less... or rather, trust God COMPLETELY and worry NOT AT ALL. but I am human... and I do trust God completely.. but I still have to deal with the consequences of my decisions and actions. Trusting God does not mean all our problems go away.  Anyway, I am making an effort to worry less, to not let uncertainty rule my thoughts or decisions.  Whatever happens, God's got this.

So.. In honor of Snowmageddon

Winter cabin
12" x 6"
Pastel

Ground Hogs Day and Distractions... with a side of Superbowl

Well happy Ground Hogs day.. that silly ground hog saw his shadow so its 6 more weeks of winter ... but then again... its still 6 weeks and 5 days till Spring.. so.. duh!  :)

I was born in the 60's, raised in the 70's and went to high school in the 80's.. and well, lets not even talk about the 90's...  but as time marches on, and most especially in the last 3 decades, the amount of things, gadgets, and technologies has us more distracted then ever!  We are distracted from our families, from our friends, our jobs, and most importantly from God with things like video games, on-demand movies  and tv shows, and particularly social media.  More often then not when a group of people get together, at some point at least half the group will be staring down at their phones, facebooking or tweeting, checking emails or playing angry birds or fruit ninja insteadof just enjoying the company.

Thats the world we live in where technology has us hooked to the point that most people feel they couldn't live without it,. I'm totally guilty.  I allow so many distractions to keep me from creating artwork,  Facebook is my biggest weakness. I love to read all the facebook post, I love to watch all my artist friend create and post new art to their timelines and to groups, so much so that the 10 minutes i figured I would give myself to "check" my facebook turns into an hour or two.  By the time I finish its time to start dinner or I just feel I havent left myself enough time to get started on a new project.

I also have let Facebook and other technologies distract me from spending time with God, in his word and just simple time with him.  Going back to the artwork, when I'm painting I feel like I'm spending time with God, as it was God who gave me the talent to paint, and God who created the world around me that i paint. So His hands are all over it and when I allow other things from keeping me from enjoying my time painting, Im also allowing myself to be distracted from God.

Friday night on Facebook I announced I was taking the weekend off of Facebook and wouldn't be back on till Sunday night.  I was going to use that time to create art.  That lasted til about 2 pm Saturday... sigh. The good news, is that I did create some art.... and I will be making a conscience effort to avoid the distractions.

Oh and there is a Superbowl on tonight.....

One Last Ride
9" x 12"
Pastel

As an artist and a Christian, I sometimes struggle with pride and humility.  I think I am a rather humble person but others may disagree. In this day and age of Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, ect... artist (including myself) are putting their artwork out there for the world to view, often in hopes of feedback, critique or compliments.  The compliments feel best and where pride can rear its ugly head.  I am often proud of the work I do but I try not to ever be prideful.  But whats the difference? Thats a tricky question and one I have given a lot of thought to.

To be proud of something I think, is to be content with it, or unashamed of it, without the need to obtain praise from others or to praise yourself to others.

To be prideful I think, is when you are proud of something and desire others to praise your efforts.  Also when you feel the need to praise your own efforts to others is being prideful.

Proverbs 29:23 ESV  One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

Proverbs 27:2 ESV Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.

1 John 2:16 ESV For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

I'm certainly not saying we shouldn't, as artist, share our works.  After all, many of us need to make a living selling our art and to sell we must put it out there for the world to see.   The ability to create art is a God given talent, whether you believe in God or not.  That's something I try and keep in the forefront of my mind with every painting I do.  My art does not need to be "Christian" in nature, so long as what I do paint I paint to glorify God. Humbly and to the best of my abilities.

Lotus
9" x 12" Pastel
SOLD

This was one painting I proud of, it was also one of my first sales.

Seems it has been awhile since I have updated this blog, so I am giving it a facelift and changing the focus a bit.  It will definitely still be about my art, but I also want to explore how my art and my faith shape my life, how they effect each other and how they might effect other people.  Sharing my faith is not my strong suite but I enjoy sharing my art. So... expect to see more art and some pondering.

Now my art is not "Christian Art" but it is about trying to capture a glimpse of the amazing and beautiful world God created using the talent that He gave me.  I do not claim to be a great artist, or even a good artist.  I know I still have much growing and learning to do in both my faith and my art so that I do not become stagnant in either.  For now, I will leave you with a recent painting I did a couple weeks ago of the field of wildflowers in my backyard.

Summer Wildflowers
9" x 12"
Pastel

a couple new paintings

I have a couple new paintings to deliver to the gallery.  The first is based on a photo by photographer Bill Glenn and is used with his permission.  I have changed several elements from the original photo.

Cades Cove

Pastel 9"x12"

This second one is from a photo I took recently.  This is Meigs Falls in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  Easy to miss if your not looking for it.

Meigs Falls

Pastel 9"x12"

I hope that you enjoy, this is beautiful country I live n now and hope to have alot more coming soon.  Thanks for looking!

Finished Taffy and a few more paintings

I been very busy with several paintings.  First I finished Taffy

 

And then I did a couple local scene paintings

First is Smoky Mountain Sky

This is a pastel that measures 12"x18"

And this one is Mountain Creek

It is a Pastel and measure 13"x10.5"

 This next one is Fog in the Smokies

It is a Pastel and Measures 9"x12"

And thats what i have for you at this point, I hope you enjoy and thank you for looking!

More progress on taffy WIP

Almost there with Taffy, about 75% done, hopefully I will be finishing her up tomorrow.  Nothing like painting a big fluffy black dog in snow LOL this one has been quite a challenge for me and I am struggling a bit with the reference and the painting but it is coming along.

taffy, pastel, 18"x24" WIP

Miss Kitty Portrait and Taffy WIP

I just finished a cat portrait and I am starting a new dog portrait.  The cat is Miss Kitty and it was painted in Pastels.  The painting measures 9"x12" and the client loved it :)

The dog I just started is still in that proverbial ugly stage but it is a big painting, 18"x24".  It is still a work in progress and hopefully will be completed by the end of the week.

Trying to keep busy!

the pot of gold at the end of the rollercoaster ...

Its been an emotional roller coaster week for me.  Extreme sadness as my sweet Sienna passed away in my arms last Tuesday to being asked to be in a gallery in Gatlinburg today that is opening in June (and a possible job offer).  There has been alot going on this week and I have fallen behind on my daily painting but try as I might real life gets in the way and sometimes that is not such a bad thing.  God is good and this has been a boost when I needed one most.  Now back to the easel tomorrow!

New Daily painting Blog

Its been a sad few days for me, having lost my 5 year old cat the other day to a short illness, but I am going to try now and do a painting a day so I have created a daily painting blog.  I have started it off with my first cow painting and I invite you to follow it at http://artbyjoni-dailypaintings.blogspot.com/

I will of course still post work here but i thought it better to have a separate blog just for the dailies.  Here is my first offering to the daily blog:

"You Lookin' at Me?"
Pastel 5"x7"
Available

Rest in Peace Sweet Sienna

Today I lost my sweet beautiful Sienna.  She passed away in my arms this morning.  She was a constant companion when working in the studio, in fact I once painted her for kicks as she lay under my easel once.

She will be dearly missed.

A month into my journey

So I find myself still looking for the day job, I was expecting it to take about a month but now it has been abit over that.  So I am trying very hard to market my artwork so I can keep myself in gas and food money at least, but it has been as big a challenge as the job hunt itself.

Since arriving in Tennessee I have cleared out my Art Fire shop and replaced all prints with original paintings which I have priced rather moderately as I would rather sell them then wait around for a big money ticket that may never come.  I also joined Fine Art America which produces prints to order, even on canvas.  I thought about restarting my Etsy shop or even my eBay shop but Etsy has been having issues that sellers and not happy with and eBay has just gotten very expensive.

Fortunately I do have a commission that will pay next months car insurance, but other sales have been fugitive at best.  So to my facebook friends and those on twitter who feel I have been spamming you with links to either site, I apologize.  I appreciate those that share and RT them for me getting them out to a broader audience.

In the meantime, while i continue to search for a job, I thank those who have supported my efforts at marketing my artwork and cheered me on in all I do.  Thank you :)

More artwork updates coming in a day or two!  Back to the easel!
Art Fire shop
Fine Art America

Getting it together

Starting over can be rough and the unpacking never ending.  All that time i thought I would have to paint has been taken up with unpacking, reorganizing, job hunting, exploring my new surroundings and some plain laziness.  And a bit too much time on facebook and twitter.  :)

I did however get a couple paintings done so far which I will post below.  I am hoping to get more involved in plein air painting (painting outdoors) as there is an abundance of beautiful scenes, farms, cows, rivers, creeks, mountains and general outdoorsyness :). Right now, the few plein air paintings i have done have been .... rather um.. awful LOL.  I know it takes practice.  For now though here are a couple studio pieces, I am still rusty after being away from creating art for a bit over a year.

 Morning Daffodil
9"x12" Pastel
SOLD

 Smoky Mountain Creek
8"x10" Oil

Available

 Newfound Gap
8"x10" Oil on Board
Available

I also reopened my artfire store and restocked it with just original paintings and it might be worth taking a look at as they are pretty affordable i think.  I created a new fan page on facebook as well which you can find here, i invite you to check it out here.

Till next time :)

The move is over, time to start anew

The move is over.  Thank God! Moving is sooo exhausting, I am reminded of that every time I do it.  So now I am in Tennessee, and it is so pretty here.  I am still unpacking and have only begun with the studio but I hope to have that squared away in a day or two.  Then the painting can begin anew.  In the meantime, I have a few photos you may enjoy!

 Smokey Mountains

 View from my backyard

Another view from my backyard

time for a BIG change

As always, I have neglected my blog, I can swear I will not do that anymore but we all know the truth LOL.  Anyway, this past year has been rather dry artwise.  My living situation has not been very conductive to creativity and has left me very little physical space to actually work.  I did do a big push on some small paintings for Christmas and a few over the summer, but its been a lack luster year.

Things are about to change for me, and I pray for the better.  I have been given an opportunity to move to Tennessee and stay for a time in a house that will give me alot of space for creating and painting.  The area is beautiful and will hopefully be inspiring. It will certainly be more affordable :).

So anyway, all this is happening in 2 weeks, on or around Feb 17. I will try and make a point to blog it, but i know better then to make that promise.

As this is an art blog, and i have neglected it so long, I will post a few of the small paintings I did over Christmas, each 6"x8", thank for looking!

Finally finished those doggies.. on to the next..

Life has been busy with work, physical therapy (cant wait till thats over) and chiropractor appointments.  I try and find time to paint when I can and I can happily say I finally finished the Weinaraners.  Now to move on to the next one... the pressure is on as I need enough for a show by the end of the month.. procrastination is bad.

16 x 20 oil on Canvas

now to move on to the next...

It's been awhile...

It has been a year and 4 months since I have posted to my blog and it was a tough year for me, both emotionally and physically.  Fortunately things are getting better, slowly but surely.and I have gotten back to painting, of which very little was done in the last year.

For the time being, I have gone back to using oils although I expect to go back to pastels in the next couple weeks for a few projects.  I am currently working on a series of dog paintings that have been inspired by trips to the dog beach this past summer.  Here is one completed painting, and one WIP

9x12 oil on board

16x20 oil on canvas

Hoping to have an update very soon and will strive to not allow life to keep me from my art, or my blog again :) Thanks for looking!

Tree at the Bend

I got a photo from a friend in Canada of a big sky and rainbow but i liked this small part of the picture much better. I also liked the format I choose for it. What attracted me to it most was the light and shadow that falls across it. I hope that it works.

Tree at the Bend
12"x4.5" pastel