Brenda Stichter, artist

Zephaniah; please excuse the chair arm in the corner! "I have been thinking about painting over that one," I said to my Beloved Husband.  "I don't think you should. That one is iconic of your earlier style," was part of his response. As I looked at it, I realized that there is a lot of truth in that statement, and probably it would not be good to cover over the evidence. ;) It was painted in 2014, and here is the original blog post.  24" x 30" Painted with the finest quality acrylic heavy-body paint on hand-made, prepared wood panel Framed Comment or contact me to purchase.  My kids introduced me to learning about the study of personality types called the Enneagram. (I am fairly sure I have expressed that poorly, and it is partly because I have only scratched the surface of understanding what they have studied more in depth than I have.) One thing I think I have learned about 'my number' is that clutter invades my need for space, an...

Benediction Now this one was fun to paint! As you might remember me saying, studio work has been, well, WORK lately. It has been quite a while since the hours just melted away while I painted, but today it happened. I really loved painting this!  SOLD 😊 30" x 40" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Click here to view on my website. Benediction is an expression of the blessing, hope and joy found in Jesus Christ in the midst of suffering and sorrow. It has been painted during some recent family heartaches, but in spite of these heartaches, GOD has brought about beauty from the bitterness. I started this painting with my favorite composition, the cruciform. I try to work with a lot of different compositions for different purposes, but the cruciform is a go to for me. I like to use it as a basis for my paintings in part because the cross-like structure represents the importance in my life of the cross of Jesus ...

I have started this blog post two other times already, and both times I have deleted everything that I had written to start over again. I guess I have another painting that is difficult to express with words.  My thoughts have been on the complexity of life in general.  Travel.  Health.  Society.  Business.  Relationships.  Communications.  Responsibility. Weather.  Finance. Nature. Beauty.  Peace. Especially peace. And peace in the midst of the complexity.  This morning I read in  Philippians 4:6-8 " Be anxious for nothing , but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God , which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellen...

"Somehow I didn't realize that picking you up at 10:30 meant getting home at 2:30, and 3 hours' sleep until time to get up!" I said to my Beloved Husband. We had such a late night last night. Today seemed a little rough, as you might imagine. But while on the road yesterday, I was listening to a favorite podcast, Art and Faith Conversations . One of the artists who was interviewed spoke of working very early in the morning while his brain was still tired. He said he thought it allowed for more intuitive work.  I didn't start particularly early today, but BOY was my brain tired! And all of me! I started working on a painting on my table, but it would not behave. At all. So I just grabbed a small piece of paper that I have been embellishing, and started painting. Sold 2.5" x 3" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper Ready to frame   Click here to view on my website.  ...

Wait My Soul "My soul, wait in silence for God only..." This first phrase from Psalm 62 has been going through my head almost constantly for months. Wait. Wait in silence. In some respects, that concept brings peace, and in some it brings a certain restlessness. "But Father," I think, "have you noticed all those THINGS happening around me?" And this painting has been on my easel for months. If you follow me on Instagram, ( brendakaypaintings ) you have probably seen an unfinished version of it before. It has been waiting for me to figure out the next step.    24" x 24" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Click here to purchase via my website A combination of a couple of compositions, and a lot of colors, and a fairly busy look overall - these things are all reminders to me of the complexity of things that our family has faced in the last months, and actually, just life in gen...

Road Trip Study "Sorry Canada, your vista is boring," was the title on one of the Instagram photos my daughter posted while we were driving to Alaska in May. To tell the truth, the highway we drove in Saskatchewan didn't have a lot of features that stopped the traffic. (Well... we were the only traffic, so...) But I LOVED Saskatchewan! The mile after mile after mile of dormant fields, the long, straight road (another IG post of my daughter's showed our GPS telling us to go 963 miles, then turn right), and especially the occasional abandoned building in the long grasses. I really wanted to get photos of that, but I missed it.  I am not really sure what caught me about that landscape, but I think I felt rest. It was quiet, stark, maybe lonely, but I loved it.  SOLD 4" x 6" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper Ready to frame Click here to view on my website.  It made me think ...

New Every Morning #22 You would probably be very surprised to learn how much work this little painting has taken, and how many, many layers are on it! Once again I am working on a wood panel that has been prepared with textured modeling paste. It has been fun practice to learn how the surface reacts with the different kinds of paints I am using.  NLA While I don't expect this little work to have a huge fan following, I love it and love seeing how the textures are showing up. (I am pretty sure it will not be popular based on the opinion of our cat, who batted it out of my hand a couple of times and then turned her back in utter disdain...)  Lamentations 3:22-23 "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." Tique turns her back Tique bats the painting out of my hand

Wellspring What a dramatic week this has been! The weather has suddenly gotten quite hot at our house, and we have actually been able to mow the whole yard because it has not rained much for about 3 days in a row. I saw no standing water anywhere in our yard for a change.  (We still have standing water in our pasture and covering the trail that goes to our woods. I am waiting not-very-patiently for the trail to be clear enough to go back there. I love walking in the woods.)  Not only has the yard returned to a more normal state, but daily life in the Stichter house seems to be slowly regulating too. I have been able to be in the studio painting and also working on my computer and paperwork more than I have for a long time. I am thankful!  40" x 30" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Click here to purchase via my website. Titling paintings can sure be tricky. On this one, I even asked my kids for suggestion...