progress is slow but progress is good.

Two erasers died by the hand of my perfectionism today, and the dust of them are all that's left. :D I had some time this weekend to make some progress on the mural and found that I'm going to take longer the more I go back and re-do my initial sketches. This is something I've always struggled with, but I've been told that it will make me better (but also more frustrated).

..."put in me, O' God, what I cannot buy with gold" This song by 100 portraits and Waterdeep plays with the rain outside, and I think about how powerful God is....

Mural

Since we aren't very good about keeping this page updated (darn Facebook), I will use this to document the progress of one of my current art projects. This will have a lot of my thought and explanation behind what is used in the mural ...I won't feel bad if you just want to skip to the pictures :)

"For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down," 1 John 5:3

I have been doing some reading about the Craftsman Movement which gained some momentum in architecture in Pasadena, CA and other places around the country. The original drivers of this movement were of differing political opinion, but the unifying thought was the idea of simplifying things, going back to the old ways, and making things that last in an age of disposable everything. I can really get behind a lot of this thought, and I also remember when I would consider Pasadena to be my stomping grounds as a kid. Recently I purchased a new home in Colorado which was built in the style of the Craftsman homes I remember, the problem was...it's all new! Not really a problem, but rather a blank page, to make into something that lasts, or is of quality.

So I'm starting with a mural inspired by a mural above a fireplace in one of those historical houses in Pasadena. This house is the Ernest Batchelder bungalow built in 1909, now the home of writer Robert Winter, Pasadena, California.

The mural will be a Lion stepping on a snake or serpent. A banner will read a line from a favorite hymn:

O love of God our shield and stay, through all the perils of our way! Eternal love in thee we rest, forever safe forever blest.

There will be other Christian symbols pointing to the persons of the Trinity throughout the mural.

I will attempt to have some pictures up shortly, although right now it is a wall that has been plastered smooth, painted white again, and marked with a grid. I have completed the measurements and the rough draft. I think I'm about ready to start plowing away and get the pencil sketch up. I think today would be a good day to mark as the start date. (This is going to take me a while). May God be glorified by the work of my hands.