BIRDS MIGRATING and other Things, SUNDAY PART 3

On a Wednesday in July, still in the middle of moving boxes, an email came that the head of the music department had voiced, "Why not painting every time we play music, instead of only at conferences?"
I was excited, so I signed up for the first Sunday.

How do you Know What to Paint?

The rest of that week, whenever a quiet moment came, I saw birds in my mind, flying in migrating patterns. This didn't seem  a particularly spiritual subject to me, but I have learned to go with whatever keeps coming to my mind, because that is often the inspiration I should go with.

When starting  I painted  in big letters Supernatural Turn. I had never done that  before. When the pastor came by to look, he said, "Supernatural turn, huh? I like it already." I painted at this location before, but he had never looked at what I painted. So, I politely thanked him.

It turns out that he was so taken with the concept of the supernatural turn, 
for it applied to 60% or more to his congregation. 
This is in one of the posh beach cities in California. According to the news California is one of the 10 states shortest on cash.
This painting gave him an image to refer to (in advertisement they call it "branding". 
When one sees the box with the detergent "Tide". every American knows what it means.)


Since August the painting has been used as a visual image 
in the meeting for business people. He talked about it at other times, 
let me come to the front to talk about it. 
Not that I talked that much, because there were so many who gave their own 
version how that image applied to them, that at times I was a bit 
uncomfortable with all that attention. As you can see I changed,  placing the words on the right as part of the cloud pattern. It's not quite finished yet, but I'll do that later.

© 24 x 30, Oil, St.Germain

Is the Effect always so Dramatic?

This painting of the birds is actually the first one that has been
so widely recognized and used so many occasions as an illustration. Half of the time it speaks only to a few people.
One time I painted a diamond, and the painting was mainly blue. Someone came in and her jaw dropped, because she had a blue diamond which she had inherited,
and she had been wondering if she should sell it,
because she was in a real jam at the time.

Does it Always come this Easy?

One time my musings about what to paint were finally answered on Sunday morning while packing up my painting gear. I had the strange feeling I should paint a bride.
A bride?? I muttered under my breath that I didn't like to paint that mushy stuff.
But then, a bride would be a symbol of the bride of Christ - the church. Even though I was still cringing at the thought, an assurance came over me
that I would make someone's day with it.

No time to make a sketch, so I went purely on my intuition and  included the Bridegroom
(for the Protestants it is a symbol of Jesus Christ).

© 24 x 30 Oil, St.Germain

After painting this almost iconic looking painting, while I'm cleaning up my things,
someone comes running up the steps to the platform, asking me if she can take a pic of the painting with her cell phone. I do not know her, but I nod. It seemed important to her.
This is part of her paraphrased email a week later (I have her permission).
It really touched me.

The painting effected her greatly, because she was a twenty-something woman who had a shady past. At times she imagines that in heaven God's son would want to dance with her.
Because she had been addicted to porn and other immorality, she feels awkward and unclean, even though she knows that the bride is a symbol for the bride of Christ,
and he has forgiven her what she did in the past.
When she sees me painting the bride, suddenly all her doubts about being forgiven
vanish, and could see herself as washed clean, and being able to dance with the bridegroom.

This painting was never finished, because the next time I painted
something else.  Maybe this unusual subject was only for this one young woman, but thoroughly worth the effort.
Most of the  time I finish a painting at home, and put them on my art website http://www.stgermainart.com/  -  click here*) or on one of my blogs.
Up till now, I have received feedback on every  Sunday painting (since 2004).
Now you can imagine why I love to paint on Sunday.


* NB - website is NOT updated, so my new paintings are not on there and prices on web site are negotiable for my followers on this site