This is a recent watercolor and ink piece of mine that can be acquired here at a sale price. Also, I completed another nude linocut that is available here.
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- I have several original 2009 paintings on sale. Want them gone. 50% off!
- Makoto Fujimura inspires me.
- People can’t resist delicious rumors. I hear delicious rumors about me almost daily.
- I’ve become a Cormac McCarthy fan.
- Started writing music again.
- Why do so many people want to see me and my church fail?
- René Girard is important.
- Received lots of flack last year for nakedpastor and got intimidated. Not again.
- I love chorale music, especially from Russia and Estonia.
- The z-theory (type it in my search box) continues to draw attention.
This is one of my paintings for sale, “Birch Row with Stars” (watercolor on Arches 140lb cp., approximately 10″x22″ (25cm x 55cm). I’ll sell it for $80 USD.
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I just read something from Huston Smith’s fairly recent book, The Soul of Christianity. He suggests that:
there is a new mood in Christendom, a more conscious, general recognition that though for Christians God is defined by Jesus, he is not confined to Jesus.
I like this. However, I’m not sure it is complete enough. I agree with the first part that God is defined by Jesus, that Jesus as represented in the scriptures is an analogy of what God is like. The second part, that God is not confined to Jesus, is less satisfactory to me. I know what he means… that the revelation of the divine encompasses Jesus, but that revelation is more than that and can be received through many kinds of means. I think we can all agree that the revelation of the divine is not only in Jesus, but also in nature, philosophical truth, science, etc. Some Christians might argue that the one and only revelation of God is in Jesus, that God is confined to Jesus, but I wouldn’t find that sustainable.
Rather, may I suggest that the Mysterious and Unknown is willingly confined to the incarnational and revelational, which Jesus embodies? Is it possible that the incarnational, revelational movement of the Mysterious and Unknown may be defined by Jesus but not confined to Jesus? To say that God is not confined to Jesus implies a pluralism I’m not ready to embrace. So, I ask myself if it is possible that all revelation is part of one unfolding movement? We know things according to time and according to space. But is it possible that this unfolding movement is not time specific or spatially specific? Although we might know that there have been different revelations down through history, is it possible that what look like isolated instances of revelation are really a grand, unfolding, incarnational movement? I think it is worthwhile asking these questions.
The painting is one my watercolors called Cold Winter River (6″x10″; 15cm x 25cm).
Check out my t-shirts HERE. I’m growing my inventory all the time. And check out my contemplative art here.
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This is a watercolor and ink on Arches paper, mounted on board, 8″x10″ (20cm x 25cm) . I’ve entered it in this week’s Illustration Friday submission theme, “Impossibility”. I glued the finished paper painting to a masonite board and kept it pressed for many hours until it was completely dried. Then, I thickly coated it with a water-based sealer. The result was a watercolor painting that didn’t need matting or glass covering. Someone snapped it up as soon as I put it up for sale. I intend to perfect this method because I love and even prefer to work with paper. But I sometimes find the matting, framing and glass that necessarily goes with paper a little cumbersome, costly, and sometimes separates the viewer from the tactile virtues of the piece.
Check out my tees HERE. I’m growing my inventory all the time. And check out my art HERE.
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This is my entry into this week’s Illustration Friday competition. The theme is “Fleeting”. It is ink and watercolor on paper (2.5″x3.5″). Check out my tees HERE. I’m growing my inventory all the time. And check out my art HERE.
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I never expected this, but I won last week’s competition on Illustration Friday for the submission theme, “Poise”. You can check out the Illustration Friday page here. My friend Alli Magee suggested over a year ago that I enter my pieces in the competition and I never thought I would actually win. I guess perseverance pays off. I’m thrilled and want to thank the Illustration Friday team. And thanks Alli!
Check out my tees HERE and my art HERE.
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This is a painting I worked on all this morning. It is a large watercolor, 20″x30″ (51cm x 76cm). I’m entering it in this week’s Illustration Friday submission, “Poise”. If you want it, it’s available here in my online art gallery, my etsy store!
Also, my tees are available HERE.
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I’m always surprised and thrilled when someone out of the blue approaches me to use my artwork on one of their products. In January I was approached by the Mountain Gazette Magazine in Colorado to use this piece of the Northern Lights. Recently one of my winter scenes was used for a Christmas greeting card. Sometimes I think I should take the initiative and approach companies that could use my artwork. It’s nice and easy money to make on the side. I know of some illustrators who make a decent living doing things like this. I find it attractive, and gets me thinking about ways to pursue that. I love painting. But I also love the art of business. Even though the business end of things can be very frustrating, there’s also a thrill to it. As an art gallery owner once told me, 95% of the art business is marketing. I’ve experienced that principle in my own art business. However, I want my art to have quality. I ran into someone in a local coffee shop this morning . I don’t really know her but I see her at the art shows in town. She told me she was admiring my artwork in the gallery this morning. She said, “Your work as an minimalist kind of simplicity to it, but it is so full of emotion!” I liked that. She didn’t buy though. But the observation made my day. Artists know what I’m talking about.
Last night I had a dream:
I’m preaching in a large older church. I’m telling them that what I fear when I wake up on a Sunday morning is not the preaching, that I’ll preach a poor sermon or get the words wrong and embarrass myself. What I fear is that I will not be serving Jesus Christ, but instead the organization, giving it what it wants to hear rather than the truth. What I fear is compromising in order to keep my job. This is my greatest fear.
Then, this older, well known, rich and established preacher challenges me and tries to interrupt me. He gets in my face. I try to keep going but he gets more and more aggressive, trying to correct me until he finally grapples with me, forcing us to the ground. He karate chops me on the neck. I’m trying to ask for help from those around but no one helps. He finally gets up and starts to leave. I ask why he did that to me. He does not answer me.
Tonight our church is having our mortgage burning celebration. This is a big deal! Ever since the devastating church split we suffered in 1997, we’ve carried the weight of a huge and debilitating mortgage. There have been more times than I care to remember feeling that we weren’t going to make it. All it would’ve taken was one bad Sunday to shut us down. I really wondered if God simply brought me here to crash this church safely into the ground. We’ve been riding the razor’s edge for so long that we’ve become rather accustomed to it. Now, with no mortgage, we’re like calves let out of the stalls in springtime. We really don’t know how to handle the wide open space before us. But we’re happy to give it a try!
Many people have been invited to come, including other Vineyard leaders. I feel awkward. Ever since I was a child I’ve felt I thought differently. I was different. I kept this to myself. I was the most obedient and compliant child. I never challenged my father outwardly or any other authority. Inwardly, I knew I had my own thoughts… my own way of thinking and being and doing. I’ve always feared that I would be rejected because of my uniqueness. I’ve always feared that if I came out I would be discarded. I’m still that way. I know I think differently. I know I behave differently. I know I am different. In fact, I’ve been called defiant in my uniqueness. But at the same time I have this fear of rejection because of it. I am this strange mixture of defiance and compliance. I feel this way with the other leaders that are coming tonight. I want to be myself. But I want them to accept me.
So I’m nervous. I’m nervous for me and for our church community. I feel protective of our uniqueness. But at the same time I feel the temptation to be ashamed of it. I feel defiant that we have the right to be unique, independent and autonomous. But at the same time I feel the need to be accepted, endorsed and loved. I realize this is my issue. It’s my stuff. This is an awesome community. I’m deeply proud of them. They are my crown. I love them. I know other communities are coming to share in our celebration and rejoice with us. So I’m trying to relax and enjoy this fantastic day in the life of our community. I’m going to try to frolic in this new freedom that’s been suddenly and surprisingly handed to us.
The picture is of a large watercolor painting of mine, a self-portrait. It took me forever to paint and is now in the private collection of a local collector. Notice the three trees are actually crosses. I call it “Self-Portrait: Cross Stream”. Prints are available here.
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I’m finding these days a struggle. We are going through quite a difficult time. I have to admit to you: God’s silence and apparent absence is profound right now. I really don’t understand what’s happening, how things are being orchestrated, or which direction to take. If only God were predictable! If only I could understand his ways! If only I could read his thoughts! But this, I’ve come to the conclusion after Paul, is impossible. His thoughts and his ways are beyond finding out. They are inscrutable. Period.
When it comes down to it, I have to learn to rest in this persistent reality. That’s number one. I cannot see. I cannot feel. I cannot hear. But somehow, I have to learn to trust from within this silent, numb darkness. Number two is that I can enjoy the company of my wife, my family and my friends. My community. I can see them. I can feel them. I can hear them. This is a gift to me. To love and be loved. And to actually physically, emotionally and spiritually take pleasure in them. And this is my greatest joy.
I think this is about the Spirit. I’m thinking this deafening silence and profound absence, but firmly rooted in a real local community is somehow the presence of the Spirit.
The image is a painting of mine titled, “The Wooded Lane”.
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David Hayward is an artist trapped in a pastor's body, stripping to the essential.
