Brenda Stichter, artist

Emerald Revelation "How many of these stones overlap in the two lists?" asked my husband. He has been helping me consider how I will frame and display my paintings that I have been working on during this painting challenge . Of all of the stones mentioned in the Bible, the two lists of stones in Exodus 28 & 39, and in Revelation 21 are the stones I want to feature in grouped frames. I was surprised to find that I hadn't made myself complete lists - I just kept going back to the passages each day... so today I made the lists. Well, it looks like I have 7 more paintings to complete (and find acceptable) before I finish! WHICH is fine with me, I might add. I have really enjoyed this challenge.  It has been so very interesting to research these stones (mostly gemstones) and learn about ancient language and usage and so on. I have just loved it. N/A 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame       I have been so aware of beauty this month.   ...

Second Sapphire Judging from the research I have done on the sapphire, it is a VERY clear stone - like blue glass. I think a person could look right through it. It seems to have a swirly texture to the fissures, and just a pure, deep blue color. It is beautiful, but tough to represent in an abstract painting!  Since I am now working through the gemstones that are listed as being in the foundation of the New Jerusalem, I thought I would like to represent the sapphire in a huge, eternal sort of way. I feel like in this little painting, I could look right through the blue sapphire and see the stars and nebulae and distant space.  Part of piece called  Foundation Stones 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame     I started my day with the privilege of meeting my friend Emma Lou for a visit. (You should meet her - she is a wonderful friend! She invited me to sit on her enclosed patio and watch the rain on the lake. No other friend has ever in...

Also Jasper Since this painting challenge  will soon be in the record books, so to speak, I have already been bemoaning not having the accountability, and not having the theme to work from. Yes, I am actually aware that I can do something about that, but up to this point, I have mostly just been whining about it. *silly girl* Part of piece called  Foundation Stones 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame     Well, my helpful friend Tim suggested I paint all my October paintings using only autumn colors. (So, is sky blue an autumn color? Because... How about sunset colors?) Actually, I really think it would be a fun challenge. My husband suggested I do all the ANIMALS in the Bible next time. Oh my goodness, do you have any idea how many animals are mentioned by name in the Bible? Today, as I read in my Bible, I came across a bear story ...  This challenge doing works inspired by stones or gems mentioned in the Bible has been (probably) my...

Jasper Day 26 already! I just can hardly believe the challenge to paint 30 paintings in 30 days has gone so quickly for me. I am sure I still have about 10 more paintings I want to do based on stones found in the Bible - most of the ones I have been painting have been gem stones, and there are so many others mentioned. Part of piece called  Foundation Stones 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame     As I suspect is the case with many of my fellow artists, I have noticed that the daily time in the studio is helping my creativity, my techniques, and my desire to paint more. I am finding that when I can imagine something, I usually know what to do to achieve that effect. NOT  that it is perfect, but more practice definitely helps - as we should all know.   To quote Arnold Palmer, the famous golfer who passed away yesterday, " It’s a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get." With this painting, my set of stones from ...

Beryl " Aquamarine is a light blue or bluish-green variety of beryl. Historians have likened it to “a thousand leagues of sunlit sea imprisoned in a cup.” It’s very name is descriptive of it’s color: aqua meaning water and marine meaning sea."  Doesn't that description just fire your imagination? It sure does mine! Once again, as I studied this stone, I was just overwhelmed with how beautiful it is. Part of piece called  Foundation Stones 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame     According to writings of Pliny the Elder (23-79 a.d.), it is likely that the beryl mentioned in Exodus 28 and Revelation 21 is the aquamarine colored beryl. I just get so excited studying about these ancient jewels, and I wish I could see some!  I just have one more stone to paint to finish out the 12 stones that were on the ephod of the high priest in the Old Testament (I keep getting distracted... ) and then I will move to the revelation passage of 12 stones. ...

Gold II "What shall we pray about this morning?" my husband asked, as he does almost every morning. We get up a little extra early each day to spend time together on the couch, drinking coffee, comparing calendars, waking up (!), and praying. It is our favorite time of the day. It is worth the getting up early (5:30 - not early to some!) even though I seldom am ready to get moving at that time of day! Today, during our time together, I suddenly knew WHICH painting I would do, and HOW I wanted to do it. I practically 'saw' Gold II in my head, and could hardly wait to get to the studio.  SOLD 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame     I did a quick internet search, and found 426 uses of the word gold in the New American Standard Bible. 426! The first appearance is in the second chapter of the Old Testament, and the last is in the second to last chapter of the New Testament. This actually really surprised me. I am not sure I actually understan...

Jacinth This morning I got up and got dressed in my painting clothes - orange t-shirt, (I look sickly in orange), black knit pants (WITH pockets) and mismatched socks (obviously). We got home very late last night after celebrating my daughter's birthday in Michigan, and so I was a bit foggy and sluggish to start out. Suddenly I realized that I had a deadline to meet - art to deliver to a contest/exhibition that is an hour away. I usually try to be a bit organized, but... I am becoming more and more creative, and less and less organized. (That's what I keep telling myself. Age has nothing to do with it.)  SO, I changed into a different 'artist costume', the looking decent if a bit creative in public costume, and ventured out to find this new-to-me locale. I have discovered that it would be a great idea to visit these places before I decide which pieces to enter, because sometimes my preconceived notions of what is 'good art' to them are completely mistaken!...

Crystal Since today is the 24th birthday of my beautiful daughter, and we are going to visit her this afternoon, this blog post will be short! NA 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame Crystal is mentioned a lot in the Bible. How do you respond to a clear, faceted stone? Yesterday reinforced the idea of design first, and representation second, and that is what steered my choices for today's painting.  Job 28:18 “Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned; And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls. Isaiah 54:12 “Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, And your gates of crystal , And your entire wall of precious stones. Ezekiel 1:22 [ Vision of Divine Glory ] Now over the heads of the living beings there was something like an expanse,  like the awesome gleam of crystal , spread out over their heads. Revelation 4:6 and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal ; and in the center and around the thron...

Peridot or Chrysolite " Peridot (or chrysolite) has been known since Biblical times with the earliest source being St. John’s Island in the Red Sea off the Egyptian Coast ," says a website I reviewed.  If this is the first time you have looked at my 30 paintings in 30 days blog posts, it might not be obvious to you that my theme has been the stones or gems mentioned in the Bible. It has definitely made for interesting ideas for painting.  Part of piece called  Foundation Stones 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame   One of the trickiest things for me is that I need to work on balancing a recognizable image with an abstract design. So far, my favorite paintings in this group are primarily the ones where design trumped representation.  Ezekiel 1:16 (Amplified Bible) Regarding the appearance of the wheels and their construction: they gleamed like  chrysolite (beryl, olivine); and the four were made alike. Their appearance and constr...

Agate Returning from a mini-vacation is, as usual, more work than I was prepared for. Don't mistake me, though - it was well worth it! My husband and I enjoyed just kicking back and exploring. We each found our 'treasure' in antique stores, and we found the most gorgeous country-side in southern Indiana! I found a leather electrical gadget case that I will transform into a purse, he found a new hood ornament and a guitar in sorry shape for our son, who has studied lutherie and will enjoy working on it. Part of piece called  Foundation Stones 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame   I am not sure that this painting expresses what I would like to express about the stone Agate. I remember looking for them when we were kids and we would go to lakes on the weekend. My dad (whose birthday is today) would help us identify our treasures, and veto any that were too heavy to carry back home. "Nothing that is too big to fit in your pocket," he would...

Heart to Heart "I will be home about 2:00. Can we be ready to go by then?" My husband and I are delivering a painting of mine to an Abstract Exhibit that I was juried into - and I am so excited about it! It is a couple of hours from our home, so we will leave and try our first Airbnb stay in the area near the exhibit. What a weekend! So I have painted early, and am attempting to get my blog ready to go.   9 x 12 acrylic on canvas panel In my quiet time yesterday, I read in 1 Kings 8 - 9. I was especially struck with these three verses: 1 Kings 8:57 (New American Standard Bible) "May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, 58 that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers." I Kings 8:61 "Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to k...

Sapphire Gemstones and stones mentioned in the Bible has been my theme for this 30 paintings in 30 days adventure , and I am learning a lot, and loving the process!  I am working on the group of stones listed in the Old Testament passage Exodus 28:17 - 20 , and I wanted to double check whether the sapphire appeared in the New Testament too. Recently I was discussing with my friend Dave (who works as a Bible translator for an English language Bible) the question of the order in which these stones should appear. He mentioned in that conversation that their newer edition had changed the Old Testament references from sapphire to lapis lazuli. Accuracy is not my primary concern with my paintings, but I do wish to do what I can to keep fairly close to the intent of each passage.  Well, the word sapphire does, in fact, appear in the New Testament. So when I group my paintings, I do not know which painting I will use in each instance, but I am enj...

Emerald "I am meeting you before the Artist Forum meeting at 5:15 at TSR, right?" texted my husband. Boy, I have been falling so far behind the last few days!  "Yes? I think, yes," I texted back.   I am glad he reminded me. We meet for supper on Forum nights, and I love it! My plan is to paint ahead for the next few days when we will be gone, as so many of the artists in the 30 in 30 challenge seem to be able to do. I want to keep up! Getting down to business today with this Emerald painting, I plan to finish all of the stones that are listed in the priests' clothing so that they can be displayed together. (I am hoping that enough of them turn out well to use them when I have my solo exhibit in December ! And of course, if I sell too many of them, I will have to paint more - rats anyway ! *wink*) Part of piece called  Foundation Stones 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame   Thinking of the stones in the ephod of the priest, and al...

Lapis Lazuli "Incidentally, when we revised our translation recently we changed 'sapphire' to 'lapis lazuli' throughout the OT," wrote Dave. Giving me an answer to my question about stones in the Bible, he added that tidbit of information which I really appreciated. Dave is a Bible translator and a friend of mine since college days. We got to visit him at work one time, and it was so fascinating to learn about words, origins, alphabets, language styling, and all that goes into an accurate translation.  "Changing the translation from "sapphire" to "lapis lazuli" was a tough call, since the Hebrew word is 'sappir'. But in Exod 24:10 there is a suggestion that the stone is blue, and in Job 28:6 it has gold (or pyrite) inclusions, which is common with lapis," he added.  Part of piece called  Over His Heart 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame   Now that is information I can work (play) with...

Diamond "Diamonds are made of carbon - the most common substance on earth - formed deep within the earth under extreme heat and pressure."  I have done a lot of study, looking at raw and cut stones, reading Scripture passages, and looking at miscellaneous websites as I have been studying my theme for the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. I actually love the research part of painting. (Yes, even though I paint abstracts, I study a LOT!)  Part of piece called  Over His Heart 6" x 6" acrylic on canvas panel  ready to frame   Most of the Scripture passages I have used in this series of 'Gem Stones Mentioned in the Bible' have been primarily descriptive. I found, to my surprise, that the diamond isn't mentioned all that often, and one of the places I found it referred to using the diamond as a tool. It also mentions the natural, deceived and sinful condition of the human heart. Ouch. Something so pure, beautiful, and hard is used ...

Chalcedony The only place I found this stone in the Bible is in Revelation 21 where the unbelievably beautiful New Jerusalem (part of the New Heavens and New Earth) is described. I have to say, did I not have a personal relationship with the Author of the Bible, GOD Himself, all of these stone studies would seem like fairy tales... they just don't seem to fit with our daily existence here on this planet. But then, maybe that is the point... they don't fit. I mean, as an artist, I just want a picture of this:  Rev. 21:10 - 21 (New Living Translation)  "10 So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city,  Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious  stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. 12 The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve  angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13 There were thre...