Brenda Stichter, artist

Click here for video  I am pleased to be able to share this link to the video of my presentation at the Fort Wayne Artists Guild! I watched it this evening as soon as I got the link, and I am not too embarrassed to share it with you (ha ha!) I hope you enjoy watching as much as I enjoyed presenting.  Coram Deo.

Communication (completed demo painting)   Painting Purposeful Abstracts , Demonstration for the Fort Wayne Artists Guild; Brenda will be presenting and demonstrating her methods and techniques for painting abstract paintings with meaning. She will focus on ideas to help traditional painters produce successful abstract paintings using tools and concepts they already use.  Last week was my opportunity to give a demonstration and talk about doing abstract paintings for my fellow artists in Fort Wayne. I really enjoyed it! I loved seeing the smiling, engaged faces in the audience and fielding the questions. It had been a while since I had done any public speaking as such.  The moderator introduced me as an artist who "paints in poetry", which I thought was a lovely expression!  Interestingly, the concept I painted for my demo fits right in with the way I was presenting my work. I had asked the audience to help me decide what I would be painting by choosing a word or phrase that w

Mystery  Dense fog advisory. That is the notice on my weather app the last few days, and that fog brings its own unique beauty. Especially in early morning, the air is a lovely pastel color - maybe pink or peach, or recently even lavender - and landscapes that are otherwise well known to me take on a whisper of the unknown.  6" x 6" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Edges painted black Click here to view or purchase on my website. Starting with a heavily textured 6" square canvas, I layered in the background colors of anthraquinone blue and quinacridone magenta. I then began to use a negative painting technique to pull out the trees from the background by painting the lighter colored "air" around the trees. It required a lot of concentration to leave the darkest darks in places where I wanted to keep the boldest part of the painting. I wanted to keep the mysterious landscape, yet show the coming sunrise thr

Courage, Dear Heart I have a large painting on the easel in my studio, and have been  slowly   working on it while I have been engaged in other projects. The meaning is so significant, but difficult to put into words. As of yet, the canvas doesn't begin to 'say' what I want it to say.  Oddly enough, though, I think this little work does say at least part of it. An unsatisfying way to put the thought into words looks like this: when all seems confusing and lost, my Hope and confidence are in the same place as when all seems to be flowing smoothly. My eyes turn toward the Creator, Who (incredibly) loves me.  12" x 12" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Edges painted black Click here to view or purchase on my website. Reading works by C.S. Lewis has made such a deep impact on my thinking. Often it surprises me to recognize how much of an impact! As I worked on framing my studio musings for this post, I found that

Simmer Down   I am excited about this new painting for today.  30" x 22" 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 on my website. As I worked on it, I kept telling myself that I needed to find a color to help the painting simmer down, and at one point, I just decided that would be a great title for it.  The sermon we listened to on Sunday was excellent. The series is called Fearless, and I think I need to look up all of the other sermons in the series and listen to them. At one point, the pastor referred to the world seeming like it has gone crazy. It sure does seem like a lot of people feel the same way, including me. It can be too easy to focus on all of the difficult and strange things that seem to be going on.  For the last several days, I have chosen to read the entire book of Ephesians each morning. It is only six chapters long, but I usually just read one c

 Last evening, my Beloved Husband and I left an event a little early and headed toward home from Indianapolis. Glancing back for traffic as we merged, I caught sight of his side mirror and gasped at the beauty reflected there! Several miles further around the loop, the sunset was to the side of us, and as I watched (this is why he drives - the sky distracts me!) we drove past this steeple. Wow. It was just beautiful. I knew for sure that I wanted to paint it, and also that a photo could not possibly catch even enough to help me paint. So I just watched. And I loved that. It felt almost like a benediction. Sold 6" x 6" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Edges painted black Click here to view or purchase on my website. Jude 24-25 Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be g