So this is the last painting that I've done. It's been such a busy time for me planning a wedding and all. the downfall of being an artist is that the perfectionism in you makes you want to do everything yourself. now i realize that i must of been crazy thinking i was superwoman or something. My husband-to-be will be very happy when we are are in Italy where i can finally relax for a change and i imagine i will be glad with everything in the end. So this painting is my wedding invite. I was happy with the way it turned out. We will have to keep this one forever. less than 3 weeks now........i'm getting excited!!!!

I'm ENGAGED!!!!!

this incredible man that i'm kissing has asked me to spend the rest of my life with him! it was the most romantic day ever. too long of a story to write here and very memorable to say the least. He's the most incredible man of God that i've ever met. my true hero who displays more honor and bravery than any other. thank you Lord for your faithfulness!!!

the knots

i finally finished this painting. it stretched out over quite a few weeks. i'm not really satisfied with the way it turned out. although viewing it all together, i think that it's a much stronger piece than each one individually. but i love the meaning behind these pieces. they are 3 square paintings of Celtic knots. i have always been attracted to Celtic design and specifically their knots. there's something really romantic about the intertwining of the lines and the symmetry. the first knot on the left is a friendship knot, then the next one represents Christ, and the third is the love knot. i chose these 3 meanings because without Christ i have neither true love or deep friendships. as a follower of Jesus for many years, i have realized that there's nothing like having kindred spirits amongst other believers. all with the same focus and common goal; making Jesus famous.

a good distraction

so i wanted to explain why i haven't posted any new paintings in a few weeks. i've had a few distractions. i've been teaching a short class to the interns about how art and God are closely intertwined. and the other distraction is this a-dor-able man above, who has also been consuming quite a bit of time from me. here we are painting together at the cafe.... how fun....he paints with me and i do latte art with him....a perfect match! anyway, in the picture i'm working on a series of three celtic knots........ which i'm hoping will be finished soon and posted here!

dragonfly flight

this painting was a fun one. years ago i was given a bunch of these long pieces of plywood to paint on and this is the last of them. i'm sad because i have grown rather attached to this shape. anyway, as usual, i am attracted to the complexity of the patterns in the dragonfly wings. i really think they are one of the most beautiful insects out there. i'm not sure what i was thinking on the right side of the painting, i may end up changing that at some point.... i have this habit of using acrylic paint for the underpainting and then oil paint on top. since i am pretty much a self taught painter(code for clueless), i don't follow the rules, or know which ones even exist. so if anyone out there happens to know if this is a big faux pas, please feel free to enlighten me.

so there seems to be this buzzing all around me about latte art. up until a few months ago, i didn't even realize it existed. however with the people i seem to surround myself with, coffee is a popular subject. so i thought, just how hard can it be? i mean, i work with my hands all the time, right? well, i was proved wrong and in fact, there seems to be an exact science to the whole process. the picture on the right is my first try at making rosettas. to the novice, this may look pretty good, however to the professionals, it's definitely a first grade try. speaking of professionals.... the other picture above was my trainer (aka boyfriend), who is the notorious east coast barista champion, chris deferio. he has been a professional barista since 2001 and competes, trains, and judges latte art all over the world.... talk about learning from the best. i wouldn't dare post a picture of his rosetta next to mine, but maybe soon, if he keeps teaching me, i'll give him a run for his money!!!!

tony, the owl

this is the first painting that i've attempted to do a symetrical design. i have to say that there is something quite beautiful about symmetry; almost regal, actually. i particulary found this tree fun to paint. it's like my eyes get lost in it's design and keep trying to figure out where the line begins and ends. the owl is tony. he doesn't show up very well here, as in the actual painting. but he's quite cute, not scary as some people seem to think! although he is a little cross-eyed.

bow down thine ear to me

since i have a 3 week break from painting at the cafe's, i decided to post an old painting. this actually happens to be the smallest painting i think i've done yet; no bigger than my hand. it was inspired from psalm 31:2. i like this verse best in the kjv version. it reads, "bow down thine ear to me, deliver me speedily". i was struck by the fact that a mere mortal is asking the Lord of the universe to come down to his level to hear him. of course we all know that our God can hear us at all times, yet the boldness of david is inspiring to me. we all will have times in our life when we feel desperate for God's deliverance. this painting is from about 6 years ago during my 'dark hour'. and my Lord did indeed deliver me!

walking illuminations

this piece is called walking illuminations. it came about from a conversation that i had with my good friend, chris, about sunsets. we talked about how we both love when the sun is so low and vivid that the trees are jet black giving the appearance of a silhouette. then i started thinking about the concept of contrast and how the world is full of them. like in the fall, the bark actually turns darker so that the bright leaves will stand out more. in the spiritual realm, there also is contrast between people that know Jesus and people that don't walk with him. there is an inner glow that those people possess, making them stand out in a world full of darkness...

12 years

this is my latest creation. this one is growing on me the more i look at it. this is 12 cardboard squares attached on top of the canvas. for some reason i have this fascination with simple shapes, like circles and squares. i'm easy to please, i guess. the colors are my favorites. i really think blue and orange work together the best out of all the complimentary colors. i mean red and green look great together if i were doing a christmas painting, but it wouldn't work for a painting like this. anyway, this painting has a double meaning. first it is a painting representing the last 12 years of my life and all the seasons that God has allowed me to go through. in addition, the painting is just representing all 4 seasons that we experience each year. either way, God is into change. whether it be physically, mentally or spiritually, growth always means that we go through seasons of change.

trees

trees have been my fascination since last summer. i seriously can't get enough of them. this is just a fun painting, not necessarily any deep meaning behind it. i wanted to do something a little different, that's why the village scene is inside the tree instead of the other way around. i was given a bunch of colored felt, so i have glued a bunch of it into this painting. some people thought that that was funny to use felt because it reminded them of the church felt boards that they used as a kid in sunday school.

the stones would cry out

This was a painting that i did awhile back. the title comes from luke 19:40, when the pharisees wanted to disciples to shut up, but Jesus says 'that even if the disciples keep quiet, the stones would cry out.' meaning that even though God wants us to share with others, if we did not, everything in nature would scream out his glory. i can no longer look at tree or watch a sunset without thinking about it's creator. which is exactly why the bible also says that people are without excuse because of what has been seen by what has been made around us.

Majesty

the word 'Majesty' is such an enigma to me. every time we sing the song 'majesty' at church, i have this strong sense that i need to paint something representing that. yet, how do you do that? it's a description of God that is so much bigger for me to wrap my mind around. so this painting is a small attempt at interpreting that word. i'm sure when we get to heaven, the array of colors that we will see will blow our minds away. at least that's what i'm hoping for.

Friday Night Cafe

this painting was such a great idea in theory. i mean i have spent most of my friday nights for the past year at these cafe's. so i thought it would be great to do a painting of that. i'm painting in the middle, guy is the bald guy on the left sipping coffee, and my friend ryan is on the right throwing pottery. yet, this is one of those paintings that doesn't make the jump from my mind to canvas very well. the color choices are all wrong and i so bad want to learn how to paint abstract people well, but this just misfired. this happens somewhat frequently, it's just usually in the privacy of my own home and i just paint over it. so the fact that this was in public is humbling and serves as a reminder that i have so far to go to becoming great at this. but, i have discovered that it's healthy and necessary to have those moments in life.

The Testing

here is another recent painting from the friday night cafe that is probably one of the most personal paintings i've done yet. it's funny, because guy pfanz always says that he can tell where i'm at in life by what i paint. so this is where i'm at in life today. if you don't know the story of abraham and isaac from genesis, it's worth your read. God has used their lives to speak to me more than any other story in the bible. it's way too much to write here, but the Lord has allowed a time of testing to happen in my life. which i trust i will be all the better for having endured it.

Purple butterfly

i know that it's really girlie to be in love with butterflies, but i just can't help it. God has used them in my life several times to show me his goodness and beauty. this cafe painting actually turned out much better than i had hoped. i don't always like the paintings that i do there since i'm on a time restraint and it's hard to be social and focused at the same time. i mean no other time do i use both sides of my brain as much as i do there. but this one seemed to come very naturally. you can't tell in the photo, but i'm using more and more found objects to add. like this has yarn and shoestrings for the swirls and torn up cardboard along with my usual paint chips. it sure is cheaper than buying fillers to create texture.

Redemption

so, i'm back to my painting at the cafe's and here's a new one. it's funny how people tend to gravitate toward some over others. this one seemed to be a lot of people's favorite. maybe because it's very different from most of my work. the japanese writing says redemption. this is a theme that i've been thinking about for years now and happens to be my most favorite concept in life. If you read the bible at all, you'll learn that God's main purpose for us is to reconcile us back to him. God cares about that more than anything. so, i've been wrestling with that in my own life, wondering how he can redeem the ugly places in my life and turn it around for good. so the japanese influence comes from my parents. they have always been into japanese art, so i grew up around it. and then in college i had a lot of japenese friends as well. there's something really calming about their art that brings a sense of peace to me. hope this painting displays a little of that as well.

Timeless

here is a photo i took at the beginning of the summer at a friends incredible backyard. by no means do i claim to be a photographer, but for some reason i really liked this one. i call it 'timeless' because it seems that as you look into the distance, it goes on forever. kind of like life sometimes. anyway, this summer i have developed a fascination for trees. normally, i usually stay away from painting them, due to their complexity. yet, lately, it's like i can't stop looking at them. i've passed down the same road everyday for years and suddenly it's like all these trees are grabbing my attention that i've never seen before. i hope to paint more of them in the future.

Tree of Life

this painting is one that surprised me. i had no idea what i was going to paint at the cafe and was feeling the pressure to perform in front of people. after very little planning, i did some praying and i just went and decided to wing it and actually this turned out to be one of my favorites of all the cafe paintings. . maybe i should do more praying and less planning in the future.....

The Italian Biker

this is a new painting from one of my italy pictures. i went back in 2004 to turin, which is where they just had the last winter olympics. it was a life-changing experience, and of course i fell in love with the country instantly. i have done a couple of paintings similar to this and i have found it much easier to paint architecture compared to some of my more abstract paintings. i am transitioning more and more from a paint brush to a palette knife, which gives it that textured/weathered look that i like so much. unfortunately muncie doesn't have a lot of buildings begging my attention, but hopefully i can do some more traveling in the future. in this painting, i loved the old man on the bike. i know that he just looks like a red blob, but i wanted him to stand out the most because him riding past at just the right time for my click of the camera, made the photo just perfect.

blast from the past

here's a picture of me back in collage when i first learned how to throw pottery. (gosh, this picture makes me miss my long hair)-this was one of my favorite classes. so, this weekend, at my usual coffeehouse, i decided to give the wheel another chance. it has been well over a decade since i've done this so you've got to give me credit for trying, for all eyes were on me expecting me to throw a masterpiece since i know how to paint. people say that it's like riding a bike and it comes right back to you. however it's more like riding a unicycle. you don't forget how to pedal, but it's still a very shaky ride. nonetheless, i still was able to make a mug the size of a huge soup bowl. so i was happy with that.

The Dragonfly

here's the color version of the black and white picture on the right. it reads well in both color and black and white, which is cool. i've never painted a dragonfly before and actually i've never paid attention to them. but i highly recommend looking up photographs of close-ups on their wings. it is absolutely amazing. the intricate detail is breathtaking. yet again, evidence of a great designer and we are not just here by chance. anyway, this is a design i did as a commission piece for this random guy that came across my website, (which, that alone is a miracle because you feel like your website is a needle in a haystack.) anyway, he said that he liked it and that the check's in the mail........we will see........

Faith

my paintings are like having my journal entries all over the walls. this one, is an important one. the words are too hard to see but they say 'the evidence of things not seen'. it's the later half of hebrews 11:1, which reads, "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". this verse is being tested in my life, like no other time. i guess that's what happens when you ask the Lord to teach you how to be more dependant on him. anyway, her eyes are covered because what she hears God speak is the opposite of what she sees with her eyes. which i know is the essence of faith. but, it's just not easy and it's sooooooo stretching me. my hope is that in the end, i will see God. i think this painting will be a keeper.

12 months

ok, so the more i look at this the more i like it. i don't usually work in subdued colors like this, but it gives me a very warm, safe feeling. i have been playing around with oil paints again and i just love how versatile they are. it makes a better painting in my opinion. so each square represents the last 12 months of my life. of which, i have been going through something that i have never experienced before, and probably will never so again. so i wanted to paint something as a reminder of this season in my life.

Sunset (study 2)

here's sunset (study 2). i had this idea in my head and it looked way cooler than when i actually worked it out. but i like the collage work in it. somebody told me that it reminded them of candy. and i thought, sarcastically, 'boy, have i arrived as an artist'. anyway, i think i need to explore more with subdued colors, i'm getting tired of the 'look at me, i'm a rainbow' colors........although when i cut out the sun and silly butterflies, it's a much stronger composition, don't you agree?

Surrender

so here is my latest painting. i have the tendency to work in bright colors a lot. usually the sun shows up in my paintings, but this time it's the moon. this painting is about the book of Job from the bible. if your familiar with it, the very end, God asks Job a series of rhetorical questions. like......"have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place?" and God goes on and on until it's obvious that God is God and Job is not. and so it is with me. that's where i'm at, this daily surrendering to the sovereignty of God.

the sunset (study 1)

here is another new painting. i've been painting like crazy lately at these coffee houses for people to watch me. which is a new thing for me. i'm used to doing this in private and not have to answer a ton of questions why i'm using this or that color. but, it's been a fun challenge for me. but a funny thing occurred to me the other day when i was talking to my neighbor. i look at this painting and it seems obvious that it's a sunset. however, my friend didn't realize that at first. so it made me wonder how often do i think something is coming across when in actuality, a completely different thought or image is what people have in their minds. which, i guess that's what art is all about. but my work usually has a very specific meaning behind it.........so what does it look like to you?
anyway, back to the painting. as a child my dad always made me watch sunsets. as i grew up i began to really appreciate them and now as an adult, i often crave them. to me, they always remind me of God and his presence in my life. i think that's why the sun show's up in the majority of my paintings.