Wow, that back fired

I did a canvas and gave it to the church. It was about not trusting in money and they put it next to the donation box for the new building. I feel like my work was just perverted. I meant to say "Forget about money... in God we trust! The west has replaced it's dependency on God with it's dependency on money. Do you see how empty our trust is?" Now my message seems like "Remember money? You don't need it, give it to the church so they can buy a huge building". I have nothing against the church or the pastor (really funny last week). I have seen so many people turned away from the church over money and I've had to spend a lot of time trying to convince many people that "the church is not interested in your money". I have a thing against big buildings unless homeless people get to sleep in them. When I think of big churches I think of the cathedrals brimming with light, art, luxury and the peasants freezing to death outside the doors. I look at the architecture of the Gothic period and feel sick with shame on behalf of my christian heritage. I pray that the building is used for good things and that no one receives a negative message through my art. Recently God has been teaching me how to better love christians. I'm trying not to hate on christian things just because they don't exactly fit with my view because, there is usually some validity to everyones view. I'm glad the money isn't going to pay salaries of people who make more money than I do or to convince through funding people to do what they already know they should do but needed an extra financial push. I wish I wasn't so sinical... I don't know... maybe I should be more sinical. I love the church but sometimes it's difficult to endure lowering your expectations of God's people and to have a group of utterly flawed people represent a perfect God. All I can say is that our imperfection to me seems like the hugest detriment to God but it just speaks of his amazing un-contingent love.

Fair - oh! / Piece #29

I've been talking to a writer named Fair from hamilton for a month trying to get together to do something. It was really last minute but we got together and did a couple walls in grimsby. He picked me up and he sketched something out real quick (which he didn't stick to), I freestyled my piece and the whole event fit together in a gloriously unplanned and hap-hazard way.

He was a really nice guy he started painting like 5 years ago and also started the peoples crew with a friend of his. He started going to church and hasn't done any illegal painting in like 3 years. His strongest influence was from a writer from Gospel Graffiti Crew named Sonz. Fair had alot of good things to say about sonz. The night before Sonz had sent me an email wanting to paint with me and I talked to him a few hours before I hooked up with Fair to paint.

The whole thing came off nicely and he drove me around Hamilton showing me some walls, his house, his family, the yards, and some tight murals he had done before dropping me off at the bus station. The top one is Fair's the bottom one is mine.

At the bus station I checked when the next bus home was and as it turned out I had missed it by 15 minutes and the next bus wasn't till 11pm. I met a guy who had also missed the bus by 5 minutes. We talked and then he got picked up. A few minutes later he came back and asked if I wanted a ride back to London.

Piece #28

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 john 4:7

Art and the Bible

I read "Art and the Bible" by Francis A. Schaeffer. In this book he says that art is good and God likes and encourages creativity. Art reflects the artists world view. Thus, I should encorperate the major and minor themes of the bible within my body of art. Art adds strength to an artists world view but, an artists world view should be judged outside of his art. Good art is technically excellent, honest, has an intellectual content and integrates with the style.

"Man by the Fall fell at the same time from his state of innocence and from his dominion over nature. Both of these losses, however, can even in this life be in some part repaired; the former by religion and faith, the latter by the arts and sciences." - Francis Bacon

More on Canvas

I talked to Mike Perks (the guy at the church who's selling my paintings). He's does work in acrilic and although I haven't seen it many people say it's very good and he's very talented. I asked him why he chooses the subject matter he does and he said he'd been kinda unfocused in painting that he felt unmotivated and nervous when painting. I told him about my painting experience the day before when I went to the alley how the butterflies in my stomac were buzzing and although I knew what I was going to paint I still felt unsure if it would turn out. He felt the same way. I told him about what I do and why I do it. I said when I paint I think of the people who are going to be looking at it. A canvas I'm donating to the church is for a christian to look at and be encouraged but a mural at the bar has a very salvitic element.

The down-trodden look melted from Mike's face and an uplifting smile peeked out. "of course, of course! How could I have missed it? What do I want my art to say!? You don't know how much of a difference this makes. It's so simple, how could I have missed it?" I could see it in his face now, power, leadership, focus. He had changed his whole outlook on art and, for an artist that's big.

Conversation with Phais 3

Phais- hey i read your blog, and how you wouldnt turn me over to the cops, and for that i say thankyou, and im sorry for all the mean words, maybe you arent that bad of a guy
and i wont go over any of your stuff anymore
peace

Battle- You're welcome. Sean Travis said that he knew he had your name in the system but they just didn't know which name went with which tag name. So you might be fortunate cuz they still haven't connected the two. I appriciate what you said. I got alot of respect for you for saying that. If you're ever in trouble or anything let me know and I'll try and help you out. Thanks man.

Canvas again

I guess the four canvases I gave to the church sold out really quickly and some people still want some more. I was bored one day so I went to the art supply place and picked up some canvases then painted them. I figure it's a good thing cuz the canvases I donate to the church get sold and all the proceeds go to mission trips in foreign countries. Plus I hope that the canvases are going to good homes I think one will be hanging in a youth room in missasauga. Over the last few days I've been really delving into the mindset of an artist. What makes an artist an artist? what does a great artist do? What does thier work look like? What is success for an artist? Then my Dad handed me a book on art history. It goes through all the different significant periods in art and explains what the different movements focused on. It was very intersting to see my art in the grand scheme of art history and examine some of my art's values.

My work has it's roots in monumantalism, allegoricism, Pietism, futurism, social realism and incorperates: perspectivism, gesturalism, emotionalism, symbolism, neo-impressionism, expessionism and abstract expessionalism. In the future I hope to incorperate impressionism, illusionism and fauvism.