Starting a New Chapter, Part 2

Being married is not the only new thing in my life these days.

I graduated from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in December with a B.F.A. in Studio Art and a B.A. in Spanish.
Before that, however, I had to put on a senior art exhibition last April. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
The goal of the exhibition series was to capture the electricity, connection, and love between couples. (You can see photos by clicking here by looking at the "Couples" album). With that goal in mind, I painted six different couples in a graphic, modern realist style. For months...and months...and months I dedicated my life to that. I even planned on continuing that style and theme somewhat in graduate school. That's where the chapter ended.

I didn't get into graduate school.

I was discouraged and knew it was time to turn the page. I will always love painting couples. I am painting them on commission now, but I needed something new to try.

For a while my mind had been firing off ideas. My brain kinda felt like this:

You know, one of those toys that randomly shoots out electric currents. Idea after idea constantly floated around in my head.

Not getting into graduate school was the push I needed to take a break and experiment with something new: abstract.

It is so freeing to finally do something  totally different...and be satisfied with it!

Here are my first two attempts:

 

This is entitled "Hope 1" (20x16" oil on canvas) and is about having hope in the future through God and Christ Jesus by the forgiveness of sins despite current events and hardships of the world.

This one is titled "Blue" (24x18" oil on canvas) and was more for the experience and technique than the message.

I like this direction. I plan on developing it more in the coming days.
Stay tuned, my friends!