Received a bit of criticism for my painting today. Making some alterations to this piece that I'll post soon. My professor (who also instructs my drawing studio) mentioned the difference between my tedious realism ability with the pencil verses the fluidity of my watercolor painting. He suggested buying watercolor pencils so that I can intricately draw my painting, then actually paint over it with water when I'm finished illustrating it. I immediately regretted the freehand text and watercolor banner...I will paint over the banner in gouache opaque paint to make it pop out more from the lion and find a more anciently accurate text, maybe Hebrew. For this series, I am painting the four Saint apostles in their traditional animal symbols, Saint Mark as a lion, Saint Luke as an ox, Saint John as an eagle, and Saint Matthew as an angel.
He also asked my motivation behind implementing my faith into my work. I replied with the fact that I'm required to take a heavy load of Art History while pursing my Fine Arts degree. After taking a variety of classes spanning from ancient art to present day architecture, I found that a massive chunk of 2,000 years was completely consumed by Christian art. Classical, Gothic, Renaissance, New Age... The church invested in the vision that was gifted to artists. The gift of being able to accurately render God's creation was viewed as a phenomena, a miracle. These artists were generally deemed as Saints themselves, for they prayed for and received breathtaking images of parables and Christ himself. These images were painted as frescos on walls, ceilings, and laid as mosaics in the floors. Sculptors took on decade long casting processes to portrait Madonna and Child in such a way that it still makes people speechless in the Vatican today.
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| Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel |
As an art student, they teach us to be mindful of our audience, as all people do not share my faith. I told my professor that as a Christian, I don't understand why the Church stopped investing into these visions. This type of talent STILL EXISTS. Why most churches you walk into today are beautiful, but consist mainly of seating, blank walls, and plain flooring. The life-changing stories and lessons we hear in these walls, I know for a fact I have envisioned them as they're being spoken to me.
The amount of classmates that have approached me, sharing their own faith as I paint or draw these images was unexpected and surprising. My professor responded that he too, is a Christian- and that there was a shift when science and technology took over. Instead of the fascination of images and crafted talents, things became more instantaneous, as people now get impatient if a hired art piece takes longer than a year. He is excited that I plan on a major Christian installation for my senior show because in his 35 years, no one has done it. Scared, timid, unsure of how people will react is not the artists He called me to be...
