Brenda Stichter, artist

Deeper Still My return to 4" square paintings was accompanied by nervousness - it has been a while, can I still do this? Honestly, any time I am out of the studio for a while, or doing all one style of painting, I get hesitant to get back to work.  4" x 4" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on cradled wood panel Edges painted black Click here to view on my website. I had just finished this little one and was going through some emails at the end of this work day, when I saw an opportunity to enter a competition with no entry fee. It is hosted by an art supply company with a gift card as an award, and I can always appreciate new art supplies! So I thought I would enter.  Unfortunately, the theme is eerie paintings. (You would think it is October or something.) While I certainly don't think this painting is eerie, I thought that, if someone saw it with that already in mind, they might. But then I needed to assign it a title for the competition. Wel...

Unspoken I remember, and maybe you do too, when a musician chose a new name and became "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince". He was known that way because the symbol he chose as his new name was unpronounceable - unspoken, one might say.  6" x 6" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint with composition gold leaf on ArtBite panel Ready to frame Click here to view on my website. Romans 8:25 - 27 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.  In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings . And He who searches the hearts knows the Spirit’s mind-set, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. One of the artists who I met in 2018 at the Cape Cod workshop/retreat for artists of "serious art and serious faith" had recently moved from painting representational...

Extravagant Extravagant. It is a term that many of us these days would see as almost wrong, wouldn't w e? We should be frugal. Careful. Thrifty. Probably a minimalist. 30" x 22" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper, composition gold leaf Ready to frame Click here to view on my website. Recently I was moved to tears over and over in a church service we were attending. There was a group of men  there   from a rehabilitation facility - they come almost every week - and I could see them several rows ahead of me during the whole service. I was so struck with their beautiful, awkward, exuberant worship during the songs. Most of the congregation, like me, worshiped too, but our hands were at our sides or quietly lifted, and our bodies were not moving much. At the end of the service, the most expressive of the group of men chose to follow Jesus, and he broke down weeping. His brothers immediately surrounded ...

Swoop I can tell you all about the process of this painting, but you may have to tell me what meaning you see in it.  Maybe I was daydreaming, I am not sure, but I "saw" two birds swooping down behind tall grasses, and there was a cloud of colored blossoms in front of them. The birds actually were swooping around more like barn swallows do when they fly close to the ground when we are mowing. They were very, very fast, and they came close at very steep angles.  It is not at all obvious, but there are two birds here. One is just pretty much obliterated by the grasses.  There is an area of our back yard where my Beloved Husband planted a huge number of wildflowers for me this past spring, and they are growing tall and a little bit crazy on the edge between our mowed yard and our pasture. I think some of them are nearly 7' tall! I took some photos of that band of blossoms to help me with this painting.  It is not my usual process, but on this painting I painted from the...

Pink Mountains Yesterday I saw a quote on social media by an author whose work I enjoy. Sadly, I cannot remember which one! But the idea was something like this: When teaching someone to write, I tell them to write without planning or thinking it through, and with a time limit. The time limit gets them started, and often very good writing comes from this prompt.  (I know my words are clunky here - I sure wish I could find the original quote!) I used this idea to start this little painting. I decided to paint without a plan and to just start as if I had a time limit. It was a great starting point for me, and the resulting little work is a fun one.  4" x 4" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on cradled wood panel Edges painted black Click here to view on my website.

Color Swatches In preparation for an event, I am doing some paintings in different palettes than I usually do. I had color swatches to match, and it was a challenge that I don't often face trying to get my acrylic mix to disappear when I painted them on those little swatches! It was fun for me to work on it. Did you know that acrylic paint changes color (darkens) when it dries? So when you mix, it is important to make the mix lighter than you want the end result to be. I am really pleased with the way this particular piece has turned out.  12" x 12" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on canvas panel Ready to frame Click here to view on my website. The event that I am preparing for is a wedding and I have had my mind on weddings quite a bit, as a result. I recently started reading in the New Testament gospel of John, and one of Jesus' first public actions as recorded in John was to provide wine for a wedding. John 2:11 Jesus performed this first s...

Isn't She Lovely? This morning I went for a walk in the woods early, since it is supposed to get hot this afternoon. It is starting to show fall out there, and oh how I love it! I was intent on noticing beauty as I walked, and at least so far today, that pursuit is sticking with me. (As I type, I am watching a hummingbird at our feeder.) I saw intricate yellow and orange blossoms, sunlight hitting a tree trunk just so, and leaves starting to turn red (oak), and orange and yellow (sassafras). And then something more... I stopped because I felt the wind on my face, and I turned into it with my eyes closed to enjoy it. I stood in the sun, feeling the wind, and I heard  dry corn leaves rattling, and the gentle roar of wind high up in the leaves in the trees. As I neared the house, I thought of trying to find other beauty that was not primarily visual, and so I picked some leaves from a couple of varieties of mint plants to smell, and then I went to our lilac bushes and reached for the ...