J. Gordon Anderson - Contemporary Art

I found this great video on YouTube from the Getty Museum that shows how a medieval polychrome (painted wood) statue was made. Very interesting, with computer graphics and all!

So I have begun a series of Stations of the Cross for the church. This is a major undertaking for a "part time" artist, as there are fourteen of them to do. While working on these I also have a few other projects going, such as painting icons to sell to raise money for church and other needs. So far I am about 3/4 of the way through the first one. The stations that I am doing are executed in egg tempera and will have 24K gold gilding in the background. The work involved in a project like this is massive for the "part timer", and is why it takes so long to do projects like this): - finding existing "stations" to base my design ideas on - doing preliminary sketches and studies until satisfied - buying wood panels, cutting them to size, sanding them, and painting the backs - mixing the traditional gesso, and gessoing the panels several times, sanding between coats - doing the final drawing on paper then transferring it to the panel - scoring the image into th...

Here is the nave of St. Francis Anglican Church , the parish where I serve as vicar. When I first laid eyes on this place it struck me as being very stately and ordered, but also very plain and dull. Much of this was due to the plans of the original architect - a prominent church architect who was also a Benedictine priest. Benedictine churches and abbeys tend to be minimalist and austere. When St. Francis bought the building in the late 70's few changes were made. The main changes were the colors. As St. Mary's Catholic Church it had a pastel color scheme. St. Francis stained the wood dark and put in red carpeting. A modernistic building, erected in the late 40's, was made to look like a Victorian church in terms of color. I am not quite sure it worked; or it didn't work as well as it could. I am hoping, over the next few years, to do a huge redesign of the church to make it more suitable for Catholic worship. Plans include Stations of the Cross (which I am currently w...

The past few years I've taken up painting in egg tempera, mainly because I've been trying to learn to paint ("write") icons - which are traditionally done in that medium. For those who do not know, egg tempera is using pure powdered pigment and egg yolk as the vehicle, or stuff that makes the pigment viscous. Oil painting uses oil as the vehicle, watercolor water , and so on. Egg tempera fell out of favor with artists by and large when painting on rigid substrates (boards) gave way to painting on canvas. But still many artists use this medium, and some are quite known for it, including the late Andrew Wyeth. I actually am finding that I like working in egg tempera more than painting in oils these days. It is much more suitable when painting small pictures as it is easier to control and makes less of a mess. The subtlety and layers you can get with it are amazing. Also one of the things that an artist has to take into consideration is storing and selling his work. S...

Here is my art studio. It is awesome - as big as a two-car garage. I have never had this much space with this much lighting, nice views (not evident in these night time photos), climate control, etc. It is still a work in process. I'll be building a storage space for my paintings and have various stations set up for chemicals, hot plates, etc. Elsewhere on the property I have an area for a wood/mosaic shop, a place to throw pottery if I ever decide to get back into that, and places to store all of this stuff. This is a real blessing from God. An artist, if he is serious, needs dedicated space in which to work and store all of his supplies... a place that is both functional and comfortable. Thanks be to God for this space! My current "long-range" art projects include a set of the Stations of the Cross, a large crucifix for use in a church, and a picture of St. Francis to be raffled off to raise money for the church. Otherwise I am finishing up a Madonna and Child enthroned...

Please go to my website ( www.jgordonanderson.com ) and click on "New Paintings" to see several icons that I have for sale. Like all of my icons and other art, these are my own original drawings, and are not based on traced templates. Proceeds from those icons will go to help my parish, St. Francis Anglican Church . We are a small, struggling mission parish. And besides needing money to pay our regular bills, we need money to do long overdue renovations on our facility, restore some of our appointments, and buy new appointments. I also have other works of art available on the site for sale in each category, and I will donate a portion of those sales to the church as well. If you have any questions, or want more detailed information on any of the works (size, medium, better photo, etc.), please e-mail me.

I've got to get to London to see this show...