On Being a Christian Artist?

 Several years ago , a friend was listening to some music of mine powering ... or should I say thundering out of the mighty woofers of my Bose System. If you like music , it is pure joy having a good system which translates media to sound waves. Any way , before I digress, my friend is an unbeliever and we were talking about our musical tastes and I mentioned that the artist he was listening to and liking was a " Christian Artist". It was an innocent remark but I was taken a little aback at how a friendly conversation had promptly turned semi-confrontational and semi-hostile. Semi-Hostile being defined as no punches were ever thrown. "What do you mean by a " Christian Artist" he roared as I felt the hairs on the back of my neck raise as I felt the first verbal punch of a philosophical jab. Its amazing how you can be relaxed one minute and then all the synapses of your brain are put on high alert. Well, I said , it has to do with World View. The artist has a view of what qualifies as good and bad from , dare I say , a biblical perspective. And in essence , there is a creative spark in them that ultimately wants to glorify God above all else. That's essentially it ...I said.

 "Does that make it better?" he said.

"So much of it sounds light weight" he criticized.

 Well , I said... Welcome to the fallen world! So much of " secular " music sounds light weight and frankly , neither Christian nor Secular music is immune. THAT seemed to satisfy him , but it seemed that the fact that he had actually liked what I had played for him bothered him. That was the end of the conversation and we all had desert.

 That memory hauntedly came back as I read Manuel Luz'  insightful book called " Imagine That .... Discovering Your Unique Role as a Christian Artist ". As I started to read this book , I felt that Manuel had tapped into something really relevant to all artists. He was telling the truth of what lies beneath the motives of our art making. He was in a unique position to illustrate his points as he was an accomplished musician who had performed and recorded music for a living with almost 50 albums to his credit. And frankly , he admitted falling into all the Vanity pitfalls that await the artist trying to " make it" in the marketplace of other artists competing for attention and glory and fame.

 What you will read in this absorbingly well written and thoroughly thought out book on being an artist is not a theoretical treatise or overly intellectual account of what Art is. Heck... there are enough of those all ready written. In fact, some writers go out of their way to sound profound and erudite.But rather, Manuel , with a BS in aeronautical engineering and an MBA in management , plainly writes a guide for artists who want a deeper understanding of the challenges that await the artist and some good advice from a man who has made his share of mistakes and is man enough to expose himself and his shortfalls.

 One example will give you a sampling of his heart. He mentions that whenever he listened to other musicians that he had 3 criteria to judge them...
1. I am better than them
2. They are as good as me
3. With some practice I can be as good as them

 Although for a time this satisfied his ego, he realized that this exercise proved fruitless and self defeating.

 My favorite chapter is " The Calling of the Artist". In it he has a parable of the possibility that is worth the price of the book. With out giving too much away , it speaks of the importance of community and the role of the artist to be a part of and not separate of. We get into trouble when we think we are so special and different.

 Manuel and I have been believers about the same time and frankly so much of his mistakes have been also committed by me. I felt that I could have written this book although Manuel is leaps ahead in the writing department. By being transparent, Manuel has given us an account that is far more readable than Francis Shaeffer's book on Art and the Bible. He is one of the few artists that addresses what I have been saying about Art. Art is so much more than Beauty. If you have read Oscar Wilde's book " The Picture of Dorian Gray " you will know what I mean. In fact , GK Chesterton had a marvelous insight about the Christian worldview . The christian he says is the most pessimistic and the most optimistic person at once. This paradox is forever inbedded in the psyche of the Believer. One should be free to tell the awful truth , warts and all , but one should be just as quick to share the Good News and the story of redemption. Both are present. Life is paradoxical without being self negating. It is the grand mystery woven into the fabric of this thing called being human. Saints and sinners we. How can our Art produce anything different?

Imagine That  by Manuel Luz. Moody Publishers

ISBN-978-0-8024-2450-1

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Next upcoming posts ..... On Speaking in front of a Crowd  and a review of Oscar Wilde's " The Picture of Dorian Gray"

On Winning BoldBrush

 I was informed by several well wishers over the weekend that I had one the Best of Show in the BoldBrush online competition. However , I was so focused on my Jim's Memorial on Saturday I did not check until Monday morning. It was hard to celebrate as my Father In Laws passing was a very emotional ordeal. I think I got too close by producing a 14 minute iMovie Documentary of his Life. It struck me how much he had accomplished in 87 years and that he was a very faithful man. His wife Letti was sick with cancer for 14 years and Chaplain Jim was a model man of God who stood by his wife and went to the ends of the earth to get her well. I do plan to paint a portrait of him although I did do a magazine cover with him and his wife Letti years ago.

 Years ago , winning would probably have gone to my head. In fact , I know without a doubt it would have. The years have rounded the jagged bristly edges of my pride. There are so many good artists and paintings produced that I find it amazing how one can chose one over the other. Often times at the end of the competition I look at paintings that I thought were excellent not even make the top %15. The jurors taste plays a big role in the decision making process. In fact , this is one of the portraits that I have painted where the sitter does not like it. He has not told me so but I could tell when he looked at it he was not delighted.

 I want to thank all of you who  sent me emails to congratulate me. I am moved and honored that you all would take the time to let me know. What a blessing.

 I guess one of the benefits is making new friends and I want to thank those who are reaching out to me now. I called Rich Nelson , who congratulated me by email , yesterday and talked for awhile. I've admired his portraits and the skilled color nuances he achieves in the flesh color. He encouraged me to keep on entering shows and if possible to attend the Gala Event sponsored by the Portrait Society of America in Atlanta this spring. I hope to attend if possible. But what struck me is how the Internet has changed everything and how competitions  allow artists to compete and see the entries and how  there are opportunities to many outside the localities of the event. Also , meeting other artists via the internet is such an exciting thing. I don't have to produce art in the solitary confines of my cave. Our lives can be revealed to any level of inspection that we feel comfortable. I mean , in FaceBook you can either let your friends only look at your pics or can let everybody look.

 But my point in writing today is really about not giving up. My mother once told me as a child that " Frank Ordaz does not give up!" and that motto has stuck with me to this day. Even when I feel that its no use and there is no point to entering ONE MORE TIME , my mothers voice can be heard ... Frank Ordaz does not quit.... Frank Ordaz does not Quit ....

 Competing sharpens the sword. Sporting events all collide on competition. Whoever finishes the race first  wins. Quiters can't win. They have bowed out. There was a stretch in the BoldBrush competition where 3 months in a row I had failed to gain the attention of the judges in the top %15, even those that I had admired....... and I felt hurt and dismayed. But heck ... Frank Ordaz does not quit. I keep entering and I plan on keeping in the race to my last breadth.

 At the end of the day , the winner gets some attention until the next winner is chosen. But winning feels that you are on the right track and getting recognition from your peers is a very gratifying thing. Oh ... and the money ain't bad either. Thanks Clint Watson for creating an opportunity for artists to show what they are up to!

blessings

On Funeral Art

My Father in Laws Memorial service was held this past Saturday. It was a dignified solemn affair complete with Military honors. I did not take any pictures as I wanted to experience this important time as an active participant as opposed to a photo journalist.

 But I remember looking at some paintings of Russian Art and I had noticed the amount of detail and attention given to the documentation of this communal event. As I searched the internet I did not find a whole lot written on the topic of Art and Funerals. Probably the most painted images of a Death is Christ on a cross painted from Catacomb times to the present , although not as much these days. Probably Dali is the last major artist to paint Christ on the cross. But this is not a funeral which is a communal event. In fact , Christ was rushed into the tomb so that a funeral was really never held per se in the custom of the time.

 I remember seeing El Greco's painting of the Funeral of the Count of Orgaz. Funerals back then , if they involved someone important brought not only the whole community but dignitaries and local leaders to honor the deceased in a public show of respect and pomp. Count Orgaz was not simply going to be worm food but was to pass on to the heavenly hosts painted above the portraits of the local
noblemen. He was to join Mary and Jesus and the host of Saints and Angels into the next Life as real and dimensional as the one he had just left. One is struck by the respect given to the deceased as the clothing and reverence is apparent in El Grecos powerful portrayal.

 Any painting involving so many figures takes the artist a good deal of time to lay out a strong composition and then arrange and paint the towns people. It is a monumental effort worthy of any treck up to a Himylayan Mountain.

 As I scouted the internet I started to notice the evolution of the funeral down through the centuries.

 This painting is of the funeral of Jerome. The rigidity of the attendees and the straight ahead perspective gives this painting a very strict monastic feel.

 The Roman Church is prominent in many paintings before Darwinism shook the confidence in the power of a literal interpretation of the Bible and a sense of ritual and liturgy is always present if not fully evident in funeral paintings.

 I like this painting of a Viking funeral. You would expect that these seafaring souls would give last rites at sea and introduce the body back to its Mother Ocean where so much of this culture had its identity.

 This painting has a more Protestant feel and the clothing is still respectful and austere . The focus is on the Father as he holds the young girls hand. The mourners trail. Had he lost a wife? We see in this painting a glimpse of the pastoral cemetary marked by the tombstones. Dust you were and to dust you shall return.

 

 This is a painting by Manet. It seems that the focus is more on the landscape behind the funeral procession than on the service. Could it be that a sense of the hereafter was starting to lose its power and the sense that Heaven or Hell were really only imagined fairy lands?

 This painting is called a Highland Funeral. My guess it either Irish or Scottish. Here again we see a Protestant ceremony and one cannot help but feel that these men all work the land. Life is hard and the deceased has died during Winter. A hard time indeed. We see an old man close to the right. Had he lost a good wife ?

 Here we see a funeral where it seems that a loved one has been buried in someones back yard possibly near another grave site. Infant mortality was very high and death was ever present when communities were settling the earth. There is a quiet stoicism in this portrayal. Death was all too common. A form of resignation has entered the picture. But here , a pastor reads the Word to comfort his people.

 This painting sets a trend for what Modern Funerals would become. It is a painting of Victor Hugo's Funeral procession. He wrote Les Miserables and the Hunch Back of Notre Dame among others. There is a carnival sense to this event and one could almost here someone selling pictures or books by Victor Hugo. Celebrity is larger than Jesus here and the common people get on ladders to look at the casket that moves across in the background. I am reminded of Michael Jackson's funeral which came across to me more as an excuse to feature rock stars and their talents. In fact , Michael Jackson seems to replace Jesus.

 I am amazed that artists have taken the time and patience to paint a sacred moment. Hopefully , some of these images will give you a sense that somethings should remain sacred and solemn. Not necessarily maudlin and sad events but ceremonies that convey Hope. This World is not my Home... I'm just a passing through.

On entering competitions

 I started this painting about 4 years ago. Somehow I felt I had lost the energy and passion after I had started it and I have been just looking at it and tinkering around the edges for awhile... okay ... for the past 3 years. Since the Portrait Competition deadline is March 1 I felt I should at least make an attempt to finish it and submit it. I submitted the portrait on the left last year . I was told that one of my entries made it to the final round. That really encouraged me ... but as Life happens ... other deadlines and my Father In Laws passing has really pressed me for time. Is that not the way of this amazing world? Nothing like a competition to bring out the creative juices.

 My wife Jana and I were having some kind of luvi duvi conversation and she looked at me with those adoring puppy eyes. As is my custom these days... I told her to hold that pose as I ran to get my dangerous Nikon digitalcamera. She has a bad neck and could not hold a pose long even if she wanted too. I really go for those moments that have an iconic feel and her pose was something very natural for the mother of my two grown brats. I kinda reel away from  the overly posed look... although at the end of the day we all strike a pose. I felt that this view really captured her quiet strength and character.

 Those hands are going to be hard .... but I will treat them as a sculptured unit and work with the planes.

On looking at old photos

Jana's dad Jim H Eastland passed on to Glory at the rip old age of 87. He had led a very Wonderful Life. So much so , that it is all being revealed to me in photos that Jana's 3 other sisters are sending me. Jim Eastland was part of a generational culture that was big on doing and not big on talking about it. It was like pulling teeth to get him to talk about his past. But after looking at some vintage black and white photos , his world is opening up to me and there is now so much I would have liked to have known about and talked about.

 He was an Air Force chaplain for 22 years and traveled all over the world and must have surely had a lot of adventures.

 I'm gathering all these photos and making an iMovie presentation that will be played at his Memorial on February 19 at Crossroads Church in Grass Valley. Put in a good word for me with the big guy Jim!

 

Jim holds my Jana .... don't drop her!

 Here I am posing with Jim at our wedding. You wish you had hair like that!

 Jim was surely telling my bride Jana ... You can still say " I do not".....

On the Second Pass

 This has been a difficult week as Jana's father went to be with the Lord this passed Sunday. Jim was 87.

 Deb asked a question about how I achieve character and that is a good question. I plan to think about that and add something intelligent to the conversation that has not already been said by so many good portrait artists. I mean .... there are a lot of good portrait artists around.

 I do plan on submitting something to the National Portrait Competition but I believe to win you have to not only paint a good portrait but have compelling accessories to enhance the overall painting. So far , I have not been able to plot out anything substantial in that area ... but I plan to...

Frank