Brenda Stichter, artist

Painting based on Leaf by Niggle I have recently started following a gallery on line who is planning an exhibit based on the Inklings, a group of writers including J. R. R. Tolkien.  As I read more about the Inklings, I found that they were especially interested in works of fiction as a means to communicate truth. Armed with that thought, I chose to begin several paintings based on works of fiction by Inklings authors.  J. R. R. Tolkien is the second of the Inklings whose work I have chosen to represent with an abstract painting. I chose a short story, Leaf by Niggle , which I think EVERYONE should read. It is particularly poignant for people who work in the arts, but all could enjoy it! Niggle is a man who will be going on a journey that he should prepare for. He also wants to paint a great picture, and he tries to work on it regularly, but is interrupted by many things. The struggle to prioritize is something that connects with each of us. For this work on paper, I c...

Painting based on The Great Divorce I have recently started following a gallery on line who is planning an exhibit based on the Inklings, a group of writers including C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. I have been excited about this project because I am a reader, and I love some of the works by these authors. As I read more about them, I found that they were especially interested in works of fiction as a means to communicate truth. Armed with that thought, I chose to begin several paintings based on works of fiction by Inklings authors. The first work I chose to consider is The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis.  One of Lewis' more popular books, The Great Divorce is an allegorical tale in which people from The Gray Town ride a bus to a bright, solid world in which they are exposed as ghosts without much substance. They are offered the opportunity to stay (and change) if they choose. This book has been a favorite of mine since college years, if not longer.  Each of th...

The Garden Gate Hoosier Women Artists 2020 Last week, I received an email that made my day! (You may have seen this announcement on Facebook or Instagram.) "Thank you for submitting a piece for Hoosier Women Artists and congratulations - your piece has been selected..."  Yep, I have a painting that will be exhibited in the Indiana Statehouse for the next year!  And another thing that has me excited - for my birthday last November and for this past Christmas, my Beloved Husband gave me an amazing gift - a new window for my studio! It is much larger than I have had, and I really look forward to having a bigger view of the outdoors while I work in the studio. However , that fabulous gift means that my studio is being emptied, covered, taped, torn apart, and rearranged... My tools and supplies are being moved to our family room until this fabulous project is finished, and I am feeling a bit displaced, and even less organized than usual! I do hope to be able to continue pain...

New Every Morning #37 It is a splendidly sunny day again here in Indiana! I am not at all sure how to behave when we have so much sunshine. Do I go outside and soak up some vitamin D, or do I get back in the studio and paint (or on the computer and blog)? On days like this, everything I see is beautiful...  I have been working on a project in the studio that I plan to share next week. I have finished two of the three paintings in the group, and so far, I am happy with them!  My Beloved Husband is improving daily from his shoulder surgery, though it is still a painful and long ordeal ahead. He is out of his sling for the most part and starting to stretch and strengthen his arm and shoulder.  6" x 6" Painted with the finest quality acrylic heavy-body paint on hand-made, prepared wood panel Ready to frame Click here to purchase via my website. On bright days like today, I am so thankful that my Heavenly Father offers his lovingkindness "new every morning...

Do you hear the music when you are looking at this painting? As I have been looking at it (for days now) trying to decide how to blog about it, the one thing that keeps interrupting me is the music! The first song I "heard" when I was looking at this painting to blog about it has a line that says " I ran out of that grave ", and that is the heart of what is expressed in this work.  Another one (completely different sort of song, by the way) swells to HUGE organ music in the third verse, and my inside just seems to swell with the music. I feel that immensity. And I want you to feel that when you look at this painting too.  12" x 12" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Click here to purchase via my website. I feel the same thing when the sunrise (or sunset) is unspeakably beautiful, when I feel relief from pain, when I realize I am deeply loved.  Here is a passage from the New Testament that f...

New Every Morning #36 Though this painting is actually a study for a larger work (that I will hope to finish sometime soon), I have chosen to add it to my New Every Morning collection. I am excited about the possibilities for the larger work, and will blog much more about meaning and composition when I finish it, but I don't want to steal my own thunder, so to speak! Today has been a day with a few good "art things", and also several cheerful family things happening. It has also had several responsibilities that have pulled me from my studio. (Ok, it seems I cannot blog about this painting without some hint of the work for which it is a study!) When I shared this one with a friend, she said that it drew her eyes all around the painting, and that really is part of what I have been hoping to express! The composition is intended to have things "pulling" in many directions.  6" x 6" Painted with the finest quality acrylic heavy-body paint on Art Bi...

New Every Morning #35 Today we have had a fairly heavy snowfall, and once again I am so glad that snow is white and not some other color! It was breathtaking this morning to see the snow covering every single object outside. Nothing was left uncovered that was open to the snow. (I feel like that would preach!) 6" 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 purchase via my website. The snowy, gray-white mornings are beautiful, but the other morning, as the clouds started to roll in, I got a text from my Beloved Husband, who was on his way to work. "Sun." That is all he said. (And honestly, since he was DRIVING with one arm completely immobilized in a sling, I am not even sure how he did that!) The sky was mostly shades of deep blue, but the sun was a bright orange ball peeking through, with maybe a thin line of orange along the horizon. Dazzling.  Especial...

Hesed "Did I spell it right?" I asked my seminarian daughter. She has been studying both Greek and Hebrew, the ancient languages in which the Bible was written, and she can help me out when I attempt to form the letters of these words. She helps me with understanding other parts of these languages, too. ("Is 'will' a noun or a verb in 'will we have been' in this passage?") She has chuckled at me when I got a Greek lexicon, which I am not educated enough to use, and has directed me to an app that helps me in ways I CAN understand.  Last year, she gave me a book that I have enjoyed so much, though it took me a  l  o  n  g  time to finish reading it. The book is Inexpressible , by Michael Card . The description of this book begins with this sentence. "Hesed is a concept so rich in meaning that it doesn't translate well into any single English word or phrase." It goes on to mention that often "steadfast love" or "lovin...

New Every Morning #34 What I think I need is a 30 day challenge to get me painting! When I was actively participating in a "30 paintings in 30 days" on a more regular basis, I could definitely find "the muse" more easily, and I felt more comfortable in the studio. It is amazing how much it helps to try to finish a painting each day.  6" x 6" Painted with the finest quality acrylic heavy-body paint on Art Bite panel Ready to frame Click here to purchase via my website. I hope to have an Open House again this April, if at all possible. (Would you come?) One thing I would like to do is have a wall of New Every Morning paintings  - maybe all new ones - on exhibit. I have a wall where I have hung twenty-one 6" x 6" paintings for each of my last Open Houses, and I love how it looks! And this year, I would love to have it all paintings from the same series.  I barely remember why I chose this verse and theme for my series, but I am so glad ...

More Friendly With Two Today  am reposting a little heart painting from 2018. It is titled from a quote that is attributed to A. A. Milne.  4" x 4" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free watercolor paper Ready to frame Click here to purchase via my website. “It's so much more friendly with two.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh As you probably very well know by now, my Beloved Husband and I have had a LOT more time being "friendly with two" lately as he has been recovering from shoulder surgery. Neither of us is used to him being home during the day, and both of our routines are completely gone! But it is so nice to be able to report that we still like each other, even when we are together non-stop.  We have had a grand total of about one and a half days of sunshine here in northern Indiana in the last long while, and it somehow seems to make everything more difficult to not see much sun. I am so glad to not ha...