On Saturday I'm launching my new BIG LIVE ART. Taking a huge piece of canvas roll (2x1.6m), my trolley of art supplies, recording and sound equip and a big 'dollup of CRAZY', I'm planning to find a busy busking spot in Cambridge city centre and paint to music with everyone watching!

So on Monday I did a trial run through, aiming to iron out any technical issues, creating a video blog so I could share with you my set up and preparations. I call these large pictures my 'part of the art' pieces as I create them from within the picture. In the past I've worked on these over a number of days and this was the first time painting one in just a single sitting.
Here's my vlog.

Here is the finished painting called 'I AM ME'

On Monday I created LIVE ART 'on the streets' of Cambridge for the first time. It was stretching, scary, rather tiring, took me RIGHT out of my comfortzone and I LOVED IT! I made a video blog of my experience as I knew you'd be interested to join me on my little adventure and to see how it went!

I went with the amazing Chris Duffett (do check out his website, he's been doing this sort of thing a lot more than me and has lots of inspiring and helpful stuff to share) and we painted what we called 'Prayer paintings' for the people of Cambridge. Telling people visually and verbally about God's love for them and interest in their lives.
We had numerous wonderful conversations with people about all sorts of things, everyone was lovely and fascinated by what we were up to. And of course, being opposite King's College Chapel, Cambridge we got to speak with folks from all over the world.

This is a 10 minute video blog. If you want something without the talky bits, here's a link to my 1 minute version!
Here is Chris's blog post about the day.

If you are interesting in learning more about this sort of thing, Chris and I are running a couple of training days in June and July: Painting Good News - using prophetic art in evangelism.

I want to share with you an approach to art that is becoming increasingly important to me. Combining movement with mark making, and getting a little messy! It's big, it's bold, it's visceral, it's expressive, rooted in movement and rhythm. Taking inspiration from abstract expressionist action painters such as Pollock, Kline & Rosenburg, alongside current work by kinesthetic artists like Tony Orrico & Heather Hansen, I've been having fun experimenting with a combination of dance gestures and mark making.

I clear the floor, lay out extra large paper or canvas (1 ½ x 2 metres), switch on worship music and begin to dance. After a time of physically engaging in worship and prayer I sit or kneel in the centre and start to repeat these movements using my art materials, beginning with a focus on mark making and then bringing in colours that reflect my heart. I work in layers over several days allowing for drying time but each time using the same songs to remind me of the heart behind the piece and beginning each session by dancing on the picture. In the last layer I consider how to bring the piece to a conclusion as a whole.

It's a whole body, mind & spirit experience! Dancing as a starting point, following on to large repeated, rhythmical, visceral mark making gestures. By being actually on the work and usually getting covered in the art medium I feel intrinsically part of the piece.

There is an energy and freedom, confidence and childlike quality to this way of working. It's whole hearted, from the gut, spontaneous and raw, feeling simultaneously scary and safe. I love it! When I've finished a piece I photograph the details of the picture, discovering the intricacies of what's been created, exploring the numerous paintings within the painting.

I completed my 4th 'Part of the Art' piece last week and this time have recorded it's creation from start to finish. It was done across 5 days in about 8 sessions but with the wonders of timelapse is condensed down to 3 minutes.
The soundtrack is Heartbeats by Lucy Grimble (used with permission) and was the song I had playing on repeat throughout.
"You put your spirit inside me and what else can I do but worship you?!
With heaven and earth I'll declare you're amazing God, with all I have I'll be devoted...
Show me the rhythm of your heart, I want to beat in time with you."
This movie is posted on my YouTube Channel (why not subscribe so you don't miss future videos!)

In some ways, in these pieces, I'm making quite a private moment public! However, the timelapse element takes away from any feeling that you're watching me worship, and as I heard in a sermon about worship this Sunday “Worship is a choice, and it's a choice to let others see”. This in fact sums up my mission as an artist really. Painting is me worshipping in colour, my visual song, engaging with God's heart and goodness. Actually I don't want to keep this to myself but to stir others to join me with their own songs, their own dance, their own colours.

On Sunday (2/4/17) I painted live at City Church Cambridge (UK) as part of the worship team, and thought I'd make a timelapse video sharing the progress of my picture from start to finish. Showing how the piece developed in public through our two morning services, and then what happened beyond, in the private space of my garden studio.

Firstly let me introduce you to my painting:

We long for heaven here
To show heaven here
To tell of heaven here

We bring heaven here
We see heaven here
And sing with heaven here
Your kingdom come
Your will be done

Here on earth as it is in heaven
AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

I've been contemplating the connection between heaven and earth, and our role in increasing this connection which led to the poem/song I've written above. My painting represents this with the blue of the heavens and the green of the earth reaching out to each other. The white glow and the red flecks symbolise Jesus, the biggest connection between heaven and earth.

The 5 hours at church on Sunday morning and the 3 hours in my studio on Monday afternoon are condensed through timelapse into 2 minutes. This includes ~1.5 hr of actual painting time broken into 4 sections across the 2 church services, interspersed with a little dancing and me singing the song above to the congregation.

I created this little movie for those in my church family. As few are there for both services to see my painting develop, and none have seen my painting process beyond. I always share the completed picture on social media with an explanation, but not everyone sees this, and there is usually quite a jump from how it looks at the end of a Sunday morning and how it looks once finished.

I have also created this movie for those who have never seen someone painting live and are interested in how it works in our context. Please feel free to share this with others that would find it helpful.

The music I have used in this video is 'Atmospheres' by Lucy Grimble and is used with permission. She is my favourite worship leader and song writer at David's Tent, which is where I first painted on canvas live in worship in 2015. I'll finish this post with some of her lyrics:

“Let's fill the city with the songs of heaven...
Let's join the angels as we come to worship...
Our worship changes atmospheres...
So I won't hold back, no I won't hold back from You.
Cause you never hold back, no You don't hold back from me”

 This painting summarises and symbolises 2017 for me so far. It's more of a new years REVELATION than resolution.

I have a high achievement drive, high standards, high expectations of myself, I'm tenacious, ambitious, plan every minute of every day and push the boundaries of reality on a regular basis! It means I get a lot done, don't give up without a fight, am used to facing the impossible and love a challenge. It's who God's made me to be and has it's blessings but can be exhausting if done in my own strength... God is gradually teaching me how peace hand in hand with productivity can flow from RESTING and TRUSTING in him. To be like Mary rather than Martha.

“Are you tired? Burned out on striving? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the UNFORCED RHYTHMS OF GRACE. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Jesus speaking in Matthew 11:28

I'm learning to be less driven, to rest, to be, to breathe, to have fun!

Continuing the ongoing assignment from my painting coach - daily doodling (see part one, two & three). The next chapter has plunged me into the world of PIXELS.
More through necessity than intention this started over the Christmas holidays. With a head full of presents, food and decorations when I wanted my heart to be full of praise and celebration of the real stuff of Christmas, I needed something to focus me, even just for 10 minutes a day, in the midst of the busyness of family life. I set myself the challenge of seeking to engage with God in some type of creative way each day during the break – I decided to set up a Facebook group (Drawing Closer to God) inviting people to join me & keep me going. I tried to mix things up as much as possible - felt pen sketches, poetry, photographs, I even sketched in the sand one day on the beach, and I also thought I'd try digital art on the scribble bit in 'Notes' on my iphone.

My first attempts were very basic but there were things about this media that immediately appealed. I loved the luminosity of the colours when backlit, the immediacy, the simplicity, and of course the 'undo' button! So once Christmas was over and I had a bit more space, I researched how I might use this tool in my art.

I googled 'best sketching apps' (or something like that) and found out what the best ones offered. I downloaded a few free ones and played with them. Obviously it's partly a subjective thing, it depends what you're after and what you want to use it for, but for my needs I finally opted for Autodesk Sketchbook and decided to purchase the Pro Tools for £4.99.

1. It works OK with a fingertip but I decided to purchased one of those cheap stylus pens which makes my marks feel more controlled
2. When trying out apps I found a lot of them crashed (often just as I was reaching the end of something) and I frustratingly lost hours of work. This was partly due to rubbish apps and partly due to me not saving enough. I've now cleared as much off my phone, ipad and icloud as I can to create storage, which I think was a problem before. I've also been in touch with Autodesk Sketchbook who advised me the best ways to save regularly and thoroughly.
   
3. My early work was made on my iphone and once I saw it on my computer screen I was often really disappointed with the lack of sharpness of the image. I've learnt to create pieces on larger 'canvases' ie 2500x2500 pixels as this way it transfers to a larger setting. I am hoping to be able to print and sell some of my better pieces, so they have to be able to cope with being enlarged from the original 2” square.
   
4. This week I've started having a go with the timelapse function and my daughter has shown me how the iMovie app works so I can add music, take bits out as needed and add titles etc.
   

So here are some examples of how I create a sketch from start to finish.

Working digitally has helped me in a number of ways. It's so easy, it's immediate, there's no cost of materials, there's an 'undo' button. I find it really freeing and fun. It's helping my style develop and it's something I can do anywhere. In fact my digital sketchbook has currently almost replaced my physical sketchbook.
I've used it to import an image of an unfinished paintings so that I can try some ideas digitally before I do it for real. I've also used it for playing around with preparatory ideas for paintings. Here are a couple of preparatory digital sketches next to the finished pieces.

What started as playful digital doodles I am now using as ideas for my paintings on canvas. For this first one below my painting coach challenged me to try a direct copy from pixel to paint. Since then I have looked to copy the essence of a few more.

I know that there is a whole wealth of tools and techniques that I've not tried yet, and I've only been doing this since Christmas but I'm so glad I came across this new way of creating art and I thought you guys would be interested to hear about it. If you haven't tried it yet – why not give it a go?