Brenda Stichter, artist

Psalm 23 Conversation Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. Today I have been taking art to an actual, real live exhibit! It is the third real life exhibit since March, and it is so nice to see paintings "in the wild" again.  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 chose to start the Psalm 23 series with a cruciform composition painting in order to express my personal connection with Psalm 23. I was considering how to express the idea of lacking nothing with an abstract composition, and I realized that through the price paid for me by Jesus Christ on the cross, (cruciform indicates a cross shape composition) I am fully cared for by this Great Shepherd. I feel that this is a great way to start the 'conversation' this series offers.  One more painting (and I saved my favorite for last) and then I will share the whole group in a single pictu...

Rod and Staff I am continuing my daily painting project for at least a few more days. I love completing daily paintings, and I might try to continue indefinitely, but I have work to do on some bigger paintings! I think it ought to be possible to do both, don't you? Today's post is a continuation of the Psalm 23 series of paintings. I am excited with this collection of paintings. I have done my group of nine, but I think one or two still need some tweaking before I release the whole group as a finished series. But I am pleased with this one, representing Psalm 23:4b "... Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." 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 read a little bit from an older book about the rod and staff of a shepherd, and found these tools of the trade are specifically chosen and carved to fit the individual shepherd's hand. They are used for protec...

Surely Goodness and Mercy Well, have you been following me this past week? I spent the last several days with my precious mother and daughter! I was able to work ahead on my daily painting project and had a few of my Psalm 23 painting series ready to post from the road. Today I am home, and am posting my last reserve painting before I go back into my studio to paint. I am so excited to continue this project! Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. This painting was the first that I finished for this Psalm 23 series, (and is painted on wood panel instead of the Art Bite panels that the rest are painted on), and I think it pushed me to continue with the series because I like how it turned out so much. I was surprised at how much I like the colors and the way they work together, and wanted to keep working with them. And as a matter of fact, I think I titled the painting even before I was sure I was g...

I can hardly believe how time has flown while I have been visiting my Mom! In some ways, it feels like I haven't even gotten here yet, and it is already time to go. The weather has been spectacular, the lake and surrounding country is beautiful, and I am thankful for the time I have had with my family.  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. Returning to my series on Psalm 23, I noticed that this composition made me think of safety in the presence of a threat. The large, dark shape seems to overhang the quieter ground. At first, I indicated some sheep at the point of the large purple shape, but I did not like how it worked together with the rest of the painting. Still, I like how the concept from this verse seems to speak for itself in this work. Psalm 23:5a  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: I pray for you and for me that we will be very aware...

Let Me Catch My Breath As an introverted person, there are times when I just want to hide away to restore equilibrium, so to speak. I have often mentioned my time in my chair, reading my Bible and spending time in prayer, and that is my most cherished place for this renewal on a daily basis. But when I travel or life happenings interrupt my normal rhythms, there is a felt need to find that 'place' away from my chair.  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 have told you recently that I am visiting my dear mother, and my daughter is with me! Each morning, I have been posting from my motel before I walk to see them for the day. This morning is the third morning in this motel, and this routine, and it is beginning to have the feeling of rhythm. I have been able to seek the face of my Father in Heaven, and really, He holds the renewal I need. So though I feel awkward seekin...

He Leads Me Another day of posting from the road brings another in my series of paintings from Psalm 23. This series employs a split complement color scheme in a very limited palette so that all of the individual paintings will work together in a group, and each one will also be able to stand alone. I am using only three colors plus white.  Also, as is frequently the case, the color changes dramatically in different lighting (not to mention on different screens! The differences between my phone and computer screens are striking!) 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. Psalm 23:3  He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness     for his name's sake. I have been working to choose specific compositions for each work, with no two in the series being the same. Today's composition choice (as I hope is obvious) is a vertical composition. I am also doing "lands...

Beside Quiet Waters This week my FAVORITE daughter and I have driven to visit my dear mom. I also have some paintings with me here...  4 paintings with me 3 here on approval 2 different potential venues for the paintings  1 already sold Kinda fun.  Today I am releasing the second of a series I started last week on Psalm 23. It was my Beloved Husband's idea again. He always has great ideas for my series. (I did work ahead last week so that I would be able to continue posting from the road this week. I hope to also do some fresh work while I am here, but at least I have some to share with you!) 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. Today's blog will be short, but I hope to tell you more about this series as I go. For now, here is the verse I worked from: Psalm 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.

My View From Here Every morning - or almost every morning at least - I sit in 'my' spot to read my Bible and pray. The windows by my chair face our pasture and woods, and I absolutely love the shapes, colors, changes, weather, animals, and so many other things I see while I am in this spot. It has inspired so many of my paintings, in all colors and styles.  This is a playful example of a painting of the view from this place. I really enjoyed playing with color, shape, line, texture, and composition and focal point in such a lively way.  SOLD 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 view on my website. I hope you can begin to feel the peace and complete acceptance I find in this place. Not really because it is our home and our pasture, but because this spot - in this chair - I meet with my Heavenly Father Who loves me enough to rescue me from my lost, sinful state ...

A Gift to Be Simple The other day, I worked from Psalm 131 where the writer talks about not involving himself in things that are too difficult for him, and today's painting has a similar theme. My Bible reading this morning was in 1 Corinthians and these verses seemed to be my focus.  1 Corinthians 2:1-3 When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. For I didn’t think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. I don't know for sure whether the link is clear, but somehow it spoke to me of my own weaknesses, especially as I share my work with so many people (many of whom I have never met!) I wanted to paint something that shows simplicity, but maybe still communicates joy.  11" x 14" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper Read...

Today I listened to Psalm 23 read in the King James Version of the Bible by a man with a deep voice and a delicious British accent. The King James Version has such lovely, poetic language, and when I listen to it, I find that the beauty reaches deep into my soul and is a comfort to me. And what is more poetic than David, the shepherd king, writing about GOD as his own Shepherd? I feel like I can breathe more deeply just hearing it. (By the way, I use the YouVersion Bible app on my phone and have access to many versions and several different readers on that app.) Sold 6" x 6" Painted with the finest quality acrylic heavy-body paint on Art Bite panel Ready to frame Click here to view via my website. I worked on a companion piece today too, and will share it soon, so watch for it!  Psalm 23 (KJV) The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteo...

I Have Quieted My Soul "It should have some gold in it," I thought as I looked at my nearly finished painting for today. I love to put iridescence, and sometimes my little symbol of three circles where I feel GOD is working in my painting. Not in the painting itself, but in the meaning of the painting. After adding the gold interference paint, I had to wash my hands again, because the iridescent interference paint is sticky and gets on everything I touch. SOLD 11" x 14" 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. A few days ago, I started out to walk to our woods. The path is finally dry enough, and I no longer have to try to go through the pasture (which was quite a workout for me) to get to my 'happy place'. The temperature was perfect, the sun was shining, and there was a gentle breeze - perfect conditions for my time to walk in creation...

Speak for Yourself  You may or may not remember me saying recently that I was trying out a technique called grisaille for my underpaintings. I am aware of this technique being used in other types of painting, but not often in abstract painting. It is a big learning curve for me as I try to discover how much detail to put into the first layer, how much shading works while still allowing the color to communicate, and how to bring out the composition and focal point of a painting when it is more muted, or sometimes more rich than many of my paintings.  This painting is both rich in color, and also muted in tone. I actually had a lot of fun working on the black and white underpainting; seeing how much detail and feeling I could get into that early layer before adding the color. I loved the foundational layer, so I thought it had a good chance of making a final work that I would like.  11" x 14" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weigh...

 No Tears in Heaven. I woke up with this old country style song on my mind. (Click the link to hear a choral version of the song.) This painting reminds me of a dear friend who is now in Heaven, and it is a celebration of no more tears! SOLD 6" x 5.875" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper Ready to frame (fits in most 6" x 6" frames) Click here to view on my website. Over the weekend, we learned of the sudden, unexpected death of a friend of ours. Sara was half of the couple that my Beloved Husband and I used to hang out with before kids. We would head to their farm after work, and my BH would go straight to the barn and I went to the house, and we would be with these friends until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Oh the stories we could (and do) tell of our time together!  When I first met her, Sara loved to sing. Several years ago, Sara had a stroke, shocking everyone! After long...

Mesmerizing Mesmerizing is related to the work I released yesterday. They share a similar technique that I have been practicing, and a similar composition that is heavily influenced by curves or circles. Also, the creative idea is almost the same for both. This painting alludes to the shadows on our shed wall yesterday. As I was watching last evening, the setting sun was casting its beams through the leaves of the trees lining our driveway and onto the shed wall (which is now receiving full sun). There were overlapping, moving bright circles and it was difficult to turn my eyes away from the sight.  11" x 14" 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. I have been noticing again lately how it seems clear to me that the beauties and mysteries of creation point to the Creator. For example, on every tree there are thousands of leaves, all shaped the same, but n...

The Flow   This morning I went for a walk with my friend ELH. I met her at 7:00 and our walk was delightful. Some of the things we discussed were botany, ornithology, psychology, theology, etymology, onomatology, poetry, beauty, history, inspiration in the creative process, authors Sayers, Lewis, Chesterton, poets Donne and Eliot ... and we only walked for an hour! True, we just barely touched on a lot of these things, but I find it so invigorating to see the scope of her interests.  11" x 14" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper Ready to frame Click here to view or purchase via my website. As usual, I came away from my walk this morning with a lot to think about and a lot that I want to read again. (WHEN do people read, I wonder!? I do read, but I always feel like I am playing hooky when I am reading.) Our discussion about a degree of disagreement between Dorothy Sayers and C. S. Lewis had me wantin...

In the Morning   I worked on a lot of paintings today in my studio, and made progress on some, and not much progress on others. This one was the one I wanted to work on for today's release, though, and I just could not see how to finish it! I had worked on the underneath layers for several days, and liked it pretty well, but I knew that it just wasn't done.  The last couple of days have felt extraordinarily busy, though I think it is really just getting back into a somewhat normal flow of events. Yesterday I took paintings to enter an exhibit* in a town an hour away, and I have had more than my usual amount of computer work, though I cannot quite figure out why. Maybe it just takes longer because I am out of practice.  On these busier than normal mornings of late, I just want to get to "my spot", the chair where I read my Bible and pray. When I see that typed out, it looks so churchy and goody-two-shoes (do people still use that expression?), but it is absolutely tru...

My mother-in-law raised the most gorgeous, aromatic old-fashioned roses I have ever seen. Or smelled. They were fabulous. And many years ago she gave me some starts from her bushes, so I have some growing in my back yard. There are many flowers I love, but these - surely these must be my favorite! Sadly, I cannot ever seem to keep mine as healthy as hers always were. She has a green thumb, and I, well, I paint.  This weird year has brought about the best crop of roses I have ever had! My bush is burgeoning, and I have been loving it, but today, storms are blowing in. Even as we speak, the wind is starting to beat them up. I just find this so sad. This beauty is short-lived enough without being damaged by storms.  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 have heard many people say that 2020 started out as "the best year we have had" in business or other ventures, but the...

Yes, I stole this title. I am reading the C. S. Lewis book Surprised by Joy , and I realized as I prepared to title my painting and write my blog post that this quote from the first chapter of the book is a good explanation of part of what I am painting about. "...it is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and from Pleasure ... anyone who has experienced it will want it again." In the beginning of this book, Lewis is narrating part of his early life, and tells of this sense of longing that he later terms Joy. He describes it in words that draw the memory of the same feeling to the surface of my heart.  12" x 12" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Click here to view on my website . The concept is closely tied for me with the idea of 'streams in the desert'...

"Our house is a very, very, very fine house..." Somehow that is what this painting reminded me of today, even though I really had never listened to the words of the song. I looked it up, and it seems to not really fit at all with my thoughts as I painted, but the melody is cheerful, like the painting.  Sold 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 view on my website. I enjoyed my studio time today, and painting was a joy. Sometimes, even though I love to paint, it is hard work to go to my studio and work on producing a painting that I am willing to release. I am grateful for a job that I love, even when it is difficult, and especially when it is joyful, like it has been today! For me, gladness has been lacking lately. I felt glad today, and I hope maybe this cheerful painting, and hope-filled Psalm bring you gladness too.  Psalm 33:20 - 22  Our soul waits for th...

Before I went into the studio, I was hoping for a small, well-behaved thunderstorm. I really wanted to watch and listen to the rain and the thunder and lightning, but only if it didn't cause damage, and didn't rain too much. (It is pretty wet here, and we really do not need the rain. I just kinda wanted it.) We didn't get a storm this afternoon, but I decided I wanted to paint rain, somehow or other.  11" x 14" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper Ready to frame Click here to view or purchase via my website. I want to use this time of doing daily paintings to brush up on skills and techniques along with sharing hope and beauty, so I chose to start out with a composition that I seldom work with. The composition in the background is sometimes called "overlapping squares" or "overlapping frames", and can be quite complex, but I have not played with it enough to get the most o...

Today it was (already) difficult to get into my studio and get a completed work done. How will I ever keep it up for the whole month!? But I do love the process, so I will keep at it if I can.  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. After a lot of thought, I chose to paint with red (which I don't use a lot) and with a composition that is very heavy in one area, overhanging the smaller focus where more and different things are happening. Having told you that, I want the painting to speak with its own voice today, and you to try to hear what it is saying. I hope you find that fun, and that it makes the painting your own, in some sense! I think this little painting is another one that would look good as a huge painting. Maybe I will work on that at some point, though smaller paintings are needed in order to finish them in a single day. My Bible reading today took...

Today there was a movement on social media . It was dealing with the inequality issues and civil unrest that our nation is facing. I spent quite a bit of time in prayer about my part in all of it, partly because yesterday I took some steps BEFORE I prayed, and I don't think I did well with that. There is no doubt that there are big problems, and that prayer is needed to find our way through, both personally, and nationally.  Because of the time spent in this way, and because of my convictions concerning what I personally am called to, I did not post this daily painting on social media. (I will do it tomorrow, and it will give me a one day cushion as I try to finish a painting and post every weekday in June.) NFS 9" x 11.75" 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 . My Bible reading this morning, as I read and prayed, was in 1 Peter 1 and 2, and I found a l...

As I worked on this painting today, I kept hearing "Joy comes in the morning..." in my spirit. Joy comes in the morning. Oh my, how desperately we need that!  9" x 12" Painted with the finest quality acrylic heavy-body paint on cradled panel Click here to purchase via my website. I looked up the passage in the Old Testament where this phrase occurs, and found Psalm 30. This whole chapter is very apt for my mind to chew on today. The particular verse where the phrase appears is  Psalm 30:5b "... Weeping may tarry for the night,  but joy comes with the morning." Or as I saw in another translation, " Weeping may endure for a night,  But a shout of joy comes in the morning." As a nation, and as a global population, we need healing and peace. I need healing and peace. I need GOD to change and heal my own heart. When my heart is right, my interactions with others are right. When we all treat each other well, our nation and culture can be heale...