Rob Bell...the Heretic

Love Wins. That's what they say, and that's what they hate.I haven't actually read the book, yet. Though, I had attended Mars Hill for nearly a year when I lived in the great state of Michigan.

I hated Mars, and I loved Mars. I was challenged, and I grew. I was offended, and I found truth.

This is my response to the 'controversy' surrounding Rob Bell, especially with the advent of his new book "Love Wins."

Playing on the great iconography of older traditions of christianity, I have begun a new iconography. Hopefully this will be read as a play on the tradition, and a play on the controversy.' Rob Bell as saint, and his objectors as saints.

I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that Rob Bell hasn't performed any miracles, that he has his short-comings, and that he even makes mistakes. But dang it, what makes him worthy of being hated so much?

Anyway... the fire represents condemnation, not of God, but of man. The Gold Leaf represents holiness- not of righteousness, but of the Love of God. The halos are the sanctification of man through the nature of the Love of the Creator. The blue skies are the 'gateway' to heaven. It is narrow, but as God's love is infinite, the gateway to heaven is certainly large enough to accept the whole of humanity. The earth, as seen in the imagery, is of a size that fits through the gates of heaven. The Love of God is big enough for the world, the world just has to accept it.

Robot Soul...Finished

Here, it is finally finished. Well, in fact, it was finished a while back (I still need to apply the finishing varnish).Painting with oils is turning out to be a joy, though the pains of oils are evident. There is just so much that goes with it!! Turp, mediums, poison! Anyway, it has its advantages, such as ease of blending and color mixing. The final product turned out to be a fantastic vision come to life.

For information on prints visit my facebook page The grisaille can be found here.

Robot Soul...

What is a soul? Who has a soul? What in a life is a reflection of the soul? Another question, could a robot have a soul?

If Artificial Intelligence brings about self-aware robots, then do those robots have souls? If a robot can begin to contemplate her own life and the life of those around her, then what does that mean for man?

Above is the grisaille of a 'self-aware-praying-robot.' The acrylic 16"x20" painting is on hard-wood.

It will be finished with glazes of oil colors.

I began with a base coat acrylic mixture of red, blue, and yellow, then filled in the values with ivory black.

Below are the references...

Gungor...

Below is school art, and in some fashion that makes me cringe at its qualification as 'good art.' While this is school art, it is art that is inspired and joyful. The assignment was to create a Rolling Stones Review Page illustration. Any artist was up for grabs. Almost immediately I envisioned a painting of the band Gungor. I had been turned on to their new album Beautiful Things by my roommate Andrew. The music carries with it the breath of New Life in the midst of Death and Confusion. Gut wrenching honesty and Passionate lyrics along with fresh, Beautiful music are the art of Beautiful Things.

Michael Gungor is the lead singer and artist of the band Gungor, formerly known as the Michael Gungor band.

The original concepts were of Michael and his wife Lisa. Unfortunately the compositions were too complicated for the time. In the end the simplicity created a beautiful image.

The Graduation

The Graduation is the assimilation of octopuses into human culture. Well, actually it is my solution to a class project. The assignment was to incorporate an octopus into an illustration. The parameters were vast- simply place and octopus in the image.

After researching octopuses for a while there was a constant theme. Octopuses are smart- opening jar, carrying coconut.

I went the easy route in conveying this. An octopus is graduating Harvard.

Kadamaian Stream Toad

This is a rendering of the 'Near Threatened' Kadamaian Stream Toad.The resource was taken from ARKive.

This is another project from school. The parameters were as follows: On illustration board Use Watercolor Use Colored Pencil Blend the colored pencil over the watercolor with some sort of solvent. Render with perfect precision without success (this part I made up for effect)

I like how it turned out mostly. For the duration of the project I was freaking out about how bad it was, which it still is, but there was no need to fret as I did. I overreact very well. The toad himself is absolutely dashing- a specimen of pure delight. The leaves on the other hand are almost as if someone took a crayon to the board.

Also, I should mention, the composition is a bust, which no one-not even my professor- had mentioned to me before hand. Jay loves to critique, but the most I get out of him is, 'Yeah, sounds good, just work on it and it should be fine.' That's what he says, then my grade comes around, and that's a story in and of itself. There is also a component of my openness to critique. This goes back to a revelation I had in grade school.

I had very few friends before my junior and senior years, and I always wondered what it was about me that was so different. Without too much consideration I could name many several things that set me apart from my peers. Still, my wonder lingered, until it hit me. After I realized that there were people who were willing to be my friends, and that they truly did accept me as a person, my stand-off-ishness was queerly apparent.

Teasing was never a part of my daily experience, but neither was friendship, and that confused me to no end. Finally it had come to me, the reason wasn't my difference, it was my seeming arrogance. I didn't talk to people, so they didn't know how to talk to me- part of that is an awful social awkwardness that has slowly been dying.

So here is to the Kadamaian Stream Toad- the metaphor to my 'near threatened' social awkwardness. Hopefully, the soon extinct social awkwardness, but perhaps it would be best to have a resurrection of the Toad, and to see the beauty in what it is.

A Visual Commentary...

I sat down in church today, not in a seat but, on the floor. There was an obtuse corner that begged for my attention. The light shining from the tall window was directly on my lap, in a fashion that yearned for creation. Ruth and I have been creating a booklet throughout this quarter, and I hadn't constructed a page all week. Last week I did my page while running slides for the service, and it seemed fitting for me to create again this day.

I sat on the floor in the wide corner and set my things all around me. The worship music began, and my worship painting followed. My worship this morning was more of a confession, a pouring out of my heart to God.

Below is my attempt at concept...tell me what you think.

Here we have the visual and the editorial. Yes! I do believe that I am a fan of this work after all. John Hendrix, SooJin Buzelli, and Chris Buzelli were special guests at the Atlanta campus of Savannah College of Art and Design, and they all did their part in inspiring me.

Chris said that 'Concept is King,' which is a phrase that is now covering my sketch-book. They sunk in because I am somewhat of a literal thinker. I draw what I see and hear. Little for me is conceptual.

Portfolio

Here's a sample of what I want to include in my portfolio for SCAD. Yes I should have had this done about 2 months ago. But here we are, and this needs to get done, sooo, I was wondering if anyone wanted to help me out and tell me which ones you like best.

Some I am for sure using and others are kind of just a toss up.

The portfolio is supposed to be between 10 and 20 images, but I want to limit it to 15. I also have one last drawing that I am currently working on, which will be added to the final portfolio.