What Happened at Art Fusion

Art Fusion was Great!

It was at Back to the Grind Coffee shop in Downtown Riverside. There was live music while Abe and I painted on both sides of the stage. It was a fun, casual atmosphere with lots of friends coming to hang out.

This was one of the more relaxing live painting  events I have done. I could walk away and examine my work at anytime while chating with people and enjoying a delicious latte. Painting in front of Sandals church a few years ago was fun, but also nerve racking because thousands of eyes were silently watching me and I was on what seemed like a little island separated from the audience. I enjoyed that whole experience, however it is nice to be free to saunter away from painting, talk to people, and not have so much attention on me.

Justin Kowalski did a great job putting this event together. He was the director of the show and kept things running smoothly. He also made many... many references to purchasing great coffee from this fine community coffee shop :)

This is Abe painting on the other side of the stage. We were both interpreting the concept of "The Fall of Man". His painting was beautifully detailed with black/ white and colored sections.

These are some of my awesome friends who came to check out the scene.

This is the finished product. I troweled purple up and cream down into the purple. Troweling is my favorite. It is so beautiful.

I was inspired by Romans 1:25. "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator..." To me, the fall of man means a broken relationship with God. I used the contrast of the cream and purple to show the separation between God and man. 

The image of the wings comes from another section in Romans 1:22 that says, "Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." The bird wings symbolize us worshiping the things on earth rather than the one who created those things on earth. All of us know what it's like to put God in the background while placing his creation in high position in our lives. It's seems so silly that we do this because all things on earth are temporary and God is forever. This verse is a great reminder that we need to put the right things in first priority in our lives. 

This is a detail shot of  the lower half. I added the curve of the earth and a dead twiggy tree coming up from it. This symbolizes how the things of the earth have no life when it is separated from God. 

I usually don't write words on my paintings that give away all of it's metaphorical secrets, but I decided to add the words "Broken Relationship" to the side. The word "Broken" sits on the purple side of the world. This shows that the broken part of our relationship with God is because of us and something that we caused. The word "Relationship" sits on God's side, which shows that God invented and is a master of relationship.

This painting makes me very happy and I am glad I was able to be a part of this cool event.