NT Wright on Art and Mission

We have lived for too long with the arts as the pretty bit around the edge, with the reality as the non-artistic thing in the middle. But the world is charged with the grandeur of God! Why should we not celebrate and rejoice in that?

Genuine art takes seriously the fact that the world is full of the glory of God, and that it will be full "as the waters cover the sea," and at present (Rom. 8) it is groaning in travail. ...Genuine art responds to that triple awareness...and holds them together as the Psalms do, and asks why and what and where are we. You can do that in music and you can do that in painting, and our generation needs us to do that not simply to decorate the gospel but to announce the gospel.

Still life painting of a red Christmas ball. 6" x 6"

Still life oil painting of brown and orange jug with some granny smith apples and red grapes from George Ceffalio's July 2011 class at the DuPage Art League. 8" x 10" on canvas.

Chiaroscuro...

"Chiaroscuro reflects hope and illuminates truth for the viewer; the light opens the way before us." Dr. Christine Kepner, Professor, Wheaton College

Chiaroscuro uses a single source of light to shine into the darkness of a still life bringing certain objects into the light or into focus. It is by the light that we see or know what those objects are and how they relate to one another. Those objects also reflect the light back to the source as well as onto the other objects. It actually seems to be a very sacred action…

John 1:4,5
"In him [Jesus] was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

Small still life oil painting of a glass jar and some tangerines. 5" x 7" on a panel.

Importance of Art for Christians

"We need the sensitivity of the artist to bring to light what has gone unnoticed in our humdrum everyday experience, so that we notice things for the first time.

There are three reasons why I believe art is important for us as Christians and why many of us should be engaged in it ourselves, while others appreciate it and encourage Christian artists. The first has to do with the essence of our humanity and our relationship to God as humans; second is the ability of art to reveal truth and to transform; third is the way beauty causes people to long for the good, for justice, and ultimately for God."

From: God’s Design: The Arts as a Way of Being Human, Learning Truth, and Doing Justice by Rosie Perera

Francis Schaeffer on Creativity

“Being in the image of the Creator, we are called upon to have creativity.”

Francis Schaeffer
Art and the Bible

Dr. Francis Schaeffer  was an American Evangelical theologian, author and pastor. He established the L'Abri community in Switzerland.

“Beauty is a testimony to the presence of God."

“Flowers are a good place to see the kingdom of God,” Willard said. “Beauty is a testimony to the presence of God. It is good made present to senses.”

Dallas Willard - Seeking the Kingdom of God from Trinity blog, 10/27/2010

"God's masterpiece"

"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

Ephesians 2:10
New Living Translation (©2007)

Still life oil painting of peacock vase and three peaches painted in George Ceffalio's class at the DuPage Art League.

Painting in process...

This is a painting I began in George Ceffalio's class at the DuPage Art League. It is a 9" x 12" oil painting of three peaches and a white vase that is decorated with a peacock and flowers -- I'll work on the vase next.

10" x 20" still life oil painting of fuji apples on a dark wooden shelf.

Quote from Marc Chagall

When I am finishing a picture, I hold some God-made object up to it - a rock, a flower, the branch of a tree or my hand - as a final test. If the painting stands up beside a thing man cannot make, the painting is authentic. If there's a clash between the two, it's bad art."

Marc Chagall was a Russian-French Jewish artist of the 20th century. He was an early modernist, and created works in painting, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramic, tapestries and fine art prints.

Quote from Giotto di Bondone

"Every painting is a voyage into a sacred harbour."

Known simply as Giotto, an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages, considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Italian Renaissance.

"enjoyably dissatisfied"

David Brooks in his book, The Social Animal, wonderfully captures my feelings about painting in these words:
"she found herself enjoyably dissatisfied by her work. She got a glimpse of some ideal thing she would want to create, and then she would tinker and tinker with it, never quite eliminating the tension between the reality and the perfection she felt inside. But still she chased it."

Small oil painting of two tangelos. 

N.T. Wright on Art

“Art, music, literature, dance, theater, and many other expressions of human delight and wisdom, can all be explored in new ways.

The point is this. The arts are not the pretty but irrelevant bits around the border of reality. They are highways into the center of a reality which cannot be glimpsed, let alone grasped, any other way. The present world is good, but broken and in any case incomplete; art of all kinds enables us to understand that paradox in its many dimensions. But the present world is also designed for something which has not yet happened. It is like a violin waiting to be played: beautiful to look at, graceful to hold--yet if you'd never heard one in the hands of a musician, you wouldn't believe the new dimensions of beauty yet to be revealed. Perhaps art can show something of that, can glimpse the future possibilities pregnant within the present time. It is like a chalice: again, beautiful to look at, pleasing to hold, but waiting to be filled with the wine which, itself full of sacramental possibilities, give the chalice its fullest meaning.”
N. T. Wright in Simply Christian

N.T. Wright is a New Testament scholar and the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England

Still life oil painting of a brown vase with lemons and limes. This was done in a class with George Ceffalio.

Creativity as a response to Beauty...

Paul Burkhart in an article based on his manuscript: "Eternity in Our Hearts: the God of Beauty, the Beauty of God" says: " 'Theology' is the contemplation of the Beauty of God; and as the study of this God, it is also the study of Beauty Itself."

Paul says we are called to respond in two ways:

"God, in His love for us, calls us to respond to beauty not only by proclaiming beauty in word, but also producing beauty in deed. This is shown in two ways. First, this shows itself in holiness. Seeing the Beauty of God should inspire us to holy living and loving of others. .. The second way we produce beauty in response to God's revelation in theology is by, well, producing beautiful things. We are built in the Image of a God who doesn't just desire, delight in, and display Beauty, but a God who also makes Beauty. The longer I live, the more I am convinced that everyone has some creative ability in them."

Oil Painting on a mahogany panel. Still life of old black pot, vase and minneolas.

Still life of tangerines, clay pot and green vase painted in oil.

Painting with George Ceffalio at DuPage Art League 2010

This is a painting that I did during a class with George Ceffalio at the Dupage Art League last summer. This is how George describes his painting style:"I have found that by uniting elements of realism, elements of abstract painting and the chiaroscuro style, which is the contrast between light and dark, I can create paintings that capture the essence of the subject." George has studied with David Leffel. He is teaching this summer at the DuPage Art League.

Fruit and blue vase still life - oil painting on canvas

A looser treatment...

This is not a very good photograph of this oil painting of tangerines...I did this painting from a photo of another artist's painting to try a looser style.

Dallas Willard on Art...

“I believe that art is a process of making a vision of goodness present to the viewer as well as the creator. Of course, not everyone shares that view but I believe that is what you are doing. Now if that were right, then what you would be doing as a creative artist, would be doing your work in dependence on the movement of God to show you things that you never dreamed of in your creative process. So as you bring the material of your particular art together with the vision you are going to make available to people without them having to be told what it is, which is to me a standard for excellence in art – is you don’t have to tell people what it is, the vision. One of the great things about art, is that God is in this work for good. And one of the things that makes people, including the church, very uneasy about art is, when it is living, you cannot nail it down, you cannot specify what will happen. And that is why all dictatorships come down on art, because they know this is something you cannot control. And it isn’t just because of obstreperous artists, but because there is something in the nature of art that is living and moving. [And especially] if you are interested in suppressing the truth or goodness you can’t do it in the face of art.”  From Dallas Willard Conference, Bible Society, Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon

Dallas Willard is a Professor in the School of Philosophy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Dallas Willard on Wisdom..

“Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you know and what you don’t know.”

“Wisdom has to do with how you live.”

Dallas Willard is a Professor in the School of Philosophy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Oil Painting...how it started

I began painting several years ago when I couldn't find any artwork that was the right size and color for my bedroom. I had purchased 2 framed prints several years earlier because I liked the frames and thought I could find some oil paintings to go in them. That was harder than it sounded... So, being creative with a background in graphic design, I decided I would try painting. DIY projects are always more challenging than they sound!

I began by painting flowers in a photo realistic style. My first attempt wasn't horrible and with lots of patience, by trial and error I ended up with 2 paintings to fill those frames... This began my journey into painting.

I continued to paint flowers but really wanted to try still life painting using the chiaroscuro treatment.

Chiaroscuro originated during the Renaissance. I became most familiar with it in college  studying the work of Caravaggio and Rembrandt's early works that used a single-candle light source. Finally, I heard about an artist teaching at the Dupage Art League who employed chiaroscuro, George Ceffalio.