The featured image is a painting that FINALLY told me what she wanted this week to be finished. Check out the whole story on my instagram at https://www.instagram.com/estherljonesdotcom/
This Week in the Studio
I’m putting this first this week because SO MUCH IS GOING ON of which you might want to keep track.
I would apologize for this blog post being late, but life happens and sometimes we have to accept that our schedule will need to be flexible. Besides, I’m thinking about changing my posting schedule anyway…I don’t know if my anecdotal evidence is conclusive, but I believe that my internet is less reliable on Friday mornings than any other day or time during the week. We shall see.
This week in the studio has been less active creativity wise and more active in admin and other life responsibilities. Spring break gave me a lot of time to work in the studio, but students are back, and I delight in giving them my time and attention.
I can proudly announce that I have had pieces of art accepted into The Gallery at Salon Mystique in Dripping Springs, TX. This venue is beautiful; I wasn’t sure what to expect of a gallery in a hair salon, but I was very pleased when I delivered my paintings.
My contact there is Jennifer Freidman, an eclectic artist in her own right who has many works displayed in the gallery. The owners, Michael and Misty Uzuanis, have created a unique environment in the salon: a small cafe, individual private rooms for the cosmotologists and estheticians, and a roomy, open lobby appointed with a few areas for selling product, exclusive jewelry and clothing items.
Art appreciators are welcome to walk in just to view the art, or discover their services and enjoy some pampering while having a nutritious beverage.
There will be a reception on April 2nd beginning at 3 pm, complete with refreshments, champagne, and door prizes.
Here is the link to the event on Salon Mystique Facebook page: https://fb.me/e/3Xv95cLYY
There’s so much going on this coming month! There are two more items I want to be sure to share.
First of all, I will be GOING LIVE ON FACEBOOK on Sunday, March 26th, at 8 pm Central, I will be going live to talk about my new Bible Cluster Spin-Off which will begin on May 7th, and hopefully take place monthly.
Link: https://fb.me/e/3vGL2YrOT
CALL FOR ARTISTS: I’m looking for artists (that includes both 2D artists as well as writers, poets, spoken word artists, musicians and song writers, sculptors–you name it, we’re open to it) that would want to share your art during a Bible Cluster! If you’d like to be one, please contact me immediately–ask all your questions and I’ll happily explain everything. It’s actually pretty easy, and very fun to be able to communicate your art in a biblical context.
And if you’d like to see a Bible Cluster in action before you commit–or if you are curious and just want to see what it’s like to share about art in a biblical context–please attend the Bible Cluster on Tuesday, March 28th, at 8 pm Central over on the Engage Art page. Here’s the link to the event.https://fb.me/e/H7W4dw69
LAST BUT NOT LEAST: SPRING FLING! Is next week, Quail Point, Horseshoe Bay, TX, 3-7.
I’ll be there with bells on. Ok, no bells. Just paintings and pots, as usual. Come see me!
Ok. That’s all for this week. I have more, I just can’t spend any more time on this post! Haha.
Tolkien Reading Day 2023
I’ve known about Tolkien Reading Day for a few years, but it was always kind of off the radar for me. This year is different, and it’s because of The Prancing Pony Podcast. If you love Tolkien, you’ll love The PPP (link https://theprancingponypodcast.com/). This year they recorded their annual TRD episode, and it was such a delight.
Each year, whoever it is that decides these things chooses a “theme” for TRD. You don’t have to stick with it, but it’s quite fun to do so if you’ve read several of the books many times (as I have) and aren’t planning to just read one of them from start to finish.
If I understand it right, the goal is not only to read but to read Tolkien out loud. Tolkien out loud is a completely different experience. The man is/was a master of alliteration…you don’t know it’s happening but it makes everything better when it does…and the best way to experience that is by hearing it.
This year, the last section of reading that was chosen to read out loud was the very last part of Return of the King. It is a very poignant, tearful ending, full of joyful, bittersweet grief. But the part that caught my attention was this:
“And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed on into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.”
Just take a minute, right now. After taking a deep breath and imagining that you have just inhaled a sweet fragrance, read that paragraph out loud to yourself. I’ll wait.
For me that excerpt married with the concept of paradise or heaven or more accurately the New Earth as it will be when Christ returns and recreates the world. This happened instantaneously and permeated my heart and mind in that brief instant.
If you’ve ever had something like that happen, you know it can affect you for days or even weeks. Your world is different now, if only slightly and from your inner perspective.
In that moment a desire to paint something to respond to it was born, and so I began working on it. It is what you will see in the video that accompanies this blog post.
How to Try Out a Painting Idea
Technology is wonderful, and as a tool can help artists to make the art we envision.
I knew that this would be an abstract, and could see a portion of it in my mind’s eye. I needed to try this idea out, however, to become more confident about it and give existence to some of the concepts in my inner vision.
I work on a Surface Pro 7 tablet, and have for three years or so. It’s a handy hybrid between a tablet and a laptop, and allows me to also create art as well as type blog posts. It’s a PC machine, and I use Sketchbook Pro software for drawing and doodling and trying out concepts.
If you have an Apple machine, you have access to ProCreate, which I believe is quite a bit better than Sketchbook Pro.
So I opened up my Surface Pro, engaged the Sketchbook Pro software, and started working out my idea there.
I’ll be putting up a tutorial on YouTube about how this works for me, and you can get a taste of it in this week’s Vlog below.
The point is: you don’t have to “waste” (I shall not go into my usual rant about that word in connection with art supplies. You’re welcome.) art supplies to try out your ideas and gain confidence!
Do it on your tablet. Do it on scrap paper with cheap paints. But DO IT.
Be aware that your concept results will not be good. That’s fine. All you are looking for is the chance to puzzle out your full thought before meeting the blank canvas for the first time. You just want to mess about with concepts and ideas, and inspirations that might come in the moment!
As always, I hope this helps you to see more of the music, hear more of the colors, touch more of the magic, and awaken wonder and worship in your heart and most importantly respond to it in a real and tangible way. Please comment and let me know how that excerpt affected you, if at all.
Godspeed, my lovely creative unicorns. Go forth and look, listen, touch, wonder, and worship.