Brenda Stichter, artist

The Weary World Rejoices   These three Christmas paintings started out with a gold background and then words from Hebrews 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high . From the very beginning, I wanted to use color and the quality of the paint to communicate, so I chose my palette carefully and started slowly building layer after layer.  Of course, I chose a metallic, iridescent gold paint as the first layer, representing God, as I often do. Next, I really enjoyed manipulating the different letters in the verse layer to try to make the lettering "font" express meaning, even though this part of the painting is not seen. It is very easy to lose focus or direction in the midst of painting, but by building layer by layer with the concept at the forefront of my planning, I "trust the proce...

Long Lay the World Yesterday was unusual for a Monday. Usually I spend Mondays catching up after the flurry of weekend activities, organizing my painting time, entering contests, marketing, answering emails, and so on. This time, I had to plan, do paperwork for, and drive to a competition venue right away in the day. It turned out to be a good start to the day, since it got me back in the saddle, so to speak.  This year has been a different one, too. I would guess that almost every person reading this email can look back at this year and say the same - it's been an unusual year. One of the things that has had a big impact on me and mine is the cancer that my dear sister-in-law is fighting. She is a very important part of the work places where my Beloved Husband makes a living for us, and these places are really suffering with her absence. And because of that, the weight on my BH has been extra heavy, and it has been heavy to me too. (I would greatly appreciate your p...

A Thrill of Hope "Here come the French horns!" "Look at how fast the strings players are moving their fingers on those parts!"  Those are phrases that I suspect my longsuffering family has heard me say each time they have accompanied me to a concert.  Well, last night I attended a Christmas concert by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and I loved it! As is often the case, several of the pieces were songs that I had played in Christmas concerts when I played clarinet (including the bass and contrabass clarinets) in high school and college. I know and love every note in some of those compositions.   There was a vocalist in the concert, and she was a pleasure to hear, too. She was equally at home with pop and jazz styles, and with classical songs. Her performance of O Holy Night brought me to tears. I have never especially liked that piece, but the complexities of the melody really stood out to me at the concert, and then I also began to pay attention to the poetic turn of ...

Christmas Glory This morning I prepared and underpainted six substrates for new work. I don’t know why, but I feel an urgency to continue painting at a more intense pace than I have in the past year or so. Of course, in the last year I was sidelined for quite a while with an injury, and spent several months working on a large commission, the Hope Project, which I loved!  This small painting is my first new release since I finished the Hope Project. I am releasing it here on my blog and on my website, but it might not be available for long. This little work is what I call a progressive painting; a painting that I paint, release, and then, if it has not been purchased, paint a new layer, which usually completely changes it. This one has already been through two layers, and was released on social media only. Do you see how different it looks in different lighting? I think that is so beautiful. (By the way, if you would like to follow me on social media, my Facebook business page is Br...

the Hope Projec t  We finally have a date and time for the Parkview Health Warsaw hospital open house! We will be so excited to be able to show you, in person, how our paintings express hope.  Parkview Health open house will be held Saturday, December 16 from 11:00 - 3:00.  We don't have any further information about what to expect from the open house at this time, but we know that our paintings as well as the work of many local photographers will be on display in this new hospital space.  Hope to see many friends there.  Coram Deo. Brenda

Winter Sunrise   On Sunday, my Beloved Husband and I attended the delayed reception for the Autumn Member Show at Lakeland Art Association, which is the local-est art group that I attend. It had been postponed due to a failed furnace - brr! This painting, Winter Sunrise , was awarded third prize there, which seems fitting since it is a chilly scene. It does surprise me when my more representational paintings win awards.  6" x 6" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper Framed to 12" x 12" Click here to view or purchase on my website. The painting is currently available at the Lakeland Art Association gallery, through mid-December (though if you REALLY want to get it for a Christmas gift, you could contact me and I can try to work that out!) The photo reference that I painted from is from frigid Minnesota where I still have family living. I feel the cold just looking at it! Chronicles And just today...

Esperanza 1 For the last two paintings of The Hope Project*, I decided to use a verse about hope in Spanish.  Salmo 38:15 En ti, Señor, pongo mi esperanza,  atiéndeme tú, Señor y Dios mío.   (Note: my Spanish translation on my computer calls this verse 16, so I am not sure which it should be. In my English versions, it is verse 15.) I only have very elementary Spanish translation skills, but I found this to be beautiful! In my way of reading it, I see "On You, LORD, I place my hope; please pay attention to me, LORD and my God." Those who know what they are doing translate it this way.  Psalm 38:15  For I hope in You, O Lord; You will answer, O Lord my God. Each painting is 40" x 30" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Edges painted black Esperanza 2 When these two paintings were in progress, I got to one stage of the work and I did NOT want to continue! I thought the paintings were beautiful at that point, tho...