Consumption of My Time

Over the last few months and especially the last few weeks I have been spending most of my free time making this - a baptismal font for our church. After believing for many years in what most would think of as "Believer's Baptism," we changed our view to "Infant Baptism." This was a two and a half year process of internal debate. This is a whole other post though. I had a great time making the base. The pottery was made by someone else, but I designed the base around the bowl. The goal was to go with something that was organic much like the pottery. I am pretty pleased with it.

It is made from hard maple and it is three pieces of wood. If you want the best view then make sure to click on each picture. It highlights the grain better. You can also see more photos on my facebook page.

Lego Artist: Yeah, this was probably the job I was supposed to have.

I can't say it any better than the article. Check it out here.

The gems you can find when you least expect it...

Buried in the Netflix queue for awhile was Robert Altman's The Company, kind of a semi-fictional insider's look into the life of the Joffrey Ballet company of Chicago and its dancers.  The DVD finally made it's way to the top of the list and into my mailbox this week, so I gave it a peek this evening.  I'm not sure I really would recommend watching this film--it's feather light on plot, and unless you're really a ballet connoisseur, I'm not sure there's much else in this to keep you entertained.  I actually almost stopped it midway, but felt compelled to keep going.  I can't say I ever really got bored--it's just that sort of film that you almost have to be in the mood to watch.  And luckily I didn't hit stop because I would have missed what I think is one of the most beautiful and graceful scenes I've ever seen in a movie.  I'm not sure the YouTube version does it justice.  I'd almost recommend renting it just to watch this dance sequence, "White Widow":

View of the Sea at Scheveningen

Back in 2001 I spent about six weeks in Eastern Europe living there teaching English with a local church. My connecting flight (both ways) was Amsterdam, and I decided that I would make my layover a little longer in Amsterdam so I could experience a little more of Europe than just the eastern part.

I got to see the red light district and all of the infamous coffee shops whose menus boast more than just coffee. While there I also toured the Van Gogh museum. I saw many of his famous works, but there were a few that stood out to me that were not famous at all. One was the painting seen above with the same title as this post. This one really drew me into the world of art in a way that I had not been drawn in before. Van Gogh painted this on the beach and the weather was rather windy as you can see in the painting itself. It was so windy that the fresh paint was catching sand and some of it can still be seen in the painting. As Firecracker said in another post below, it was like having communion with the artist. This drew me into the world of art in a special way.

It obviously drew someone else in a special way. It turns out that someone had stolen this painting from the museum about a year after I had been there. (Before anyone gets any crazy ideas, I have only been to Europe once.) I feel special for having been able to see it before it was stolen. And while it is a shame that others will not get to see the painting because it is still missing, I feel even more special for having liked a painting that was stolen. Somebody else must have liked it as much as me - actually much more than me - because to steal it from the museum probably took a high tech career criminal.


Or so one would think. It turns out that as I have been writing this post I decided to do a little more research, and all it took was two guys and a ladder. How boring is that? Well, not as boring as one would think if it makes the FBI's top ten art crimes list.

What would life have been had we all became comic book artists?

Marvel Girl by Matt Kindt

Last night, the wife and I went to the opening of an art exhibit at the Mad Art Gallery here in St. Louis. Called Famous Fictional: Portraits from Comics and Fiction, a number of artists were asked to submit a character from literature and one from comic books in painted, illustrated, or sculpted form.

I've never actually attended an exhibition opening, but was glad to have caught this one, especially with it's interest in comics. My favorite piece (shown above) was actually not shown in the gallery, but rather was commissioned as an advertisement for the exhibition printed in St. Louis Magazine. At my wife's coaxing, I actually was able to meet the artist, Matt Kindt, who explained that he actually drew the picture while on a book signing tour in Paris. The scene is from his vantage point sitting in the bookstore, if I'm not mistaken. He couldn't decide on a comic book character to incorporate into the picture, but decided on Marvel Girl upon the suggestion of the Mad Art Gallery owner. The image is small, but notice the levitating book she's reading, as well as Cyclops pushing Professor X in his wheelchair in the background--very cool! Cyclops and Marvel Girl basically got me started on comics after I picked up my first copy of X-Factor at the local Safeway (or was it already a Homeland by then) with Scootypuff back in the day. Needless to say, I had to get a signed copy of this picture which is now hanging on my wall.

Give Matt Kindt's website a perusal in your free time. He seemed like a friendly guy (which I sometimes find unusual in this city) and he's got a nice free online comic called Super Spy that's worth a read. I've never really given alternative comics a shot--perhaps I'll try reading some now.

And my thanks to my beautiful and thoughtful wife who told me about this exhibit in the first place!