I have been meaning to post this link to an article I read in the Daily Mail about Peter Hitchens, the brother of the famous atheist writer Christopher Hitchens. It is fascinating on so many levels. But the reason I am posting it here is because in it he talks about how when himself was an atheist it was viewing a painting of the last judgement by 15th century artist Roger van der Weyden which lead him on the road back to God. What is even more interesting is that in viewing this 500 year old work he said that he came to understand religion as being something very much of the "present day" - not simply something from a distant and archaic past. This shows that traditional Christian imagery - even if hundreds of years old - can still speak to peoples' souls, and be used of God to bring about conversion in peoples' lives.
I have really been enjoying getting back into landscape painting. It is a quite a challenge for someone who has for so long painted in a rigid, geometric style. I've been doing a bunch a small studies in oil on canvas board to get back into practice. I've also been experimenting with landscape in egg tempera and doing some work that I think is good. Once again edge tempera proves itself to be a versatile and beautiful medium... no wonder Wyeth used it so much! The goal is to do a number of small egg tempera landscapes, and some in watercolor as I did about 12 years ago, and then to do some larger landscape paintings in oil on canvas. For some reason when I paint in oil I need to work larger. I am still working on my older stuff. Just recently I completed a very small icon commission of the Virgin and Child (picture below - sorry for the glare in the photo), and I am currently working on a largish icon of the Descent of Christ from the Cross. The Sunday school kids are fas...
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