Monday, November 3, 2008

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

I was recently asked where I get my ideas for my art and for teaching art lessons. I had to honestly say that I don't know. They just kind of come to me, and when they come I try to write the ideas down or quickly sketch them so I don't forget them.

I think it was Boris Vallejo (whom I admired when I was a teen) that once said that creativity is like a muscle that needs to be continually exercised, or else it is lost. I think that is how it is for me. When I have a lot of creative stimulation, I tend to look at things differently, and as a result, I come up with all kinds of ideas.

So one of the latest ideas that I am working on is making more refined works based on my designs that I use in my lessons. The purpose of this (besides simply challenging myself and having fun) is to propose that my colleagues do the same with their designs and that we all have an art display at our annual meeting in the summer. We could keep the display up for a while to help promote the arts in education.

Here is a "storyboard" of 8 weeks of lesson designs and a study for my gorilla piece:








Another idea that I am working on is to create another "sermon painting" at my church, where my minister picks a topic, and I paint it on a huge canvas in front of the congregation during his sermon. He has recently asked me to illustrate something from the Sermon on the Mount. That gives me a lot to consider and narrow down. So as I was reading this morning, I narrowed the subject down to a few possibilities.
The first is focusing on prayer and how Jesus teaches his disciples that prayer is between the one praying and God, and should not be an exercise of self righteousness. I was thinking of somehow depicting a person in prayer with a prayer tallis draped over him (or her). I am thinking of the point of view being underneath the shawl. This symbolizes intimate prayer with God.
The second idea is simply painting a landscape of a field with lilies. In Matthew 6:28-29, Jesus teaches not to worry about things such as clothing, and to look at the lilies of the field; not even Solomon was as finely clothed as the fields.
Finally, I was thinking about making a painting of a wide road and a straight and narrow road side by side. The wide road has a wide gate and is easy to enter, but in the horizon destruction can be seen. The narrow road and gate are more difficult to enter, however, in the horizon paradise can be seen. I am seriously considering the first idea because I think I can pull it off better in front of an audience than the other two.

4 comments:

Timaree said...

You are a braver person than I am. Good luck on whatever you choose. Does you wife videotape you?

David R. Vallejo said...

For one who prefers to create art in private, this is a bit out of my comfort zone. But I do it because it encourages people and I feel like it would be wrong to hide my light under a bushel, so to say.

She hasn't vidoed me, but I was thinking she could take some stills of the process so I can share them on this blog. I think that would be neat.

joanieART said...

LOVE this storyboard....fabulous little sketches. Hide it under a bushel, NO! : )

Monette Satterfield said...

Wow! A sermon painting - that is so brave. It's hard to imagine doing that in front of a church full of people :)

I agree with you about exercising your creativity. It really is use it or lose it.