Dad's Paintings

My Dad grew up around painting - his Mum was a painter and a couple of Aunties also were very good painters. As a young boy he enjoyed drawing at school but never received any encouragement and as a result let that talent sit on the shelf for many years until...

At the age of 55 I attended an ‘Introduction to Water Colour’ series of painting classes. They ran only for 5 or 6 evenings, but I was delighted with the medium and after being encouraged by comments from the art teacher, including, “You have a real talent there. Why don’t you get some paints and a couple of brushes and see what you can do?”, I decided to buy some equipment and have a go.

Ariel

Wenderholm

Stillwater

Old Man

African Lady

Andubi's Father

This one is my favorite. There's a certain anonymity about the other portraits - the "Old Man", and the "African Lady", however this guy has a name (even though Dad couldn't remember it, he remembered his son's name Andubi.) [Update: his name is Ugumako]. It was someone Dad knew personally and perhaps that comes through in the painting. Maybe it's also that he is looking directly at us with an obvious happiness. He seems to be a very warm character. The lines on his face suggest a lot of laughter through the years. He's obviously seen a lot of life but seems very comfortable in his skin. Ali thinks he looks "scary", but I can't see that at all - just a beautiful Papuan man (New Guinea) with a great hairdo and an extra nipple on his forehead.

Anyway, I'm pretty proud of my Dad's talent with a brush so I wanted to share a little of it with you. Enjoy!

These paintings are all for sale. If you're interested in finding out more leave a comment and I'll get in touch with you.

Good For The Soul

I saw Michael Gungor for the first time in June at the Saddleback Worship and Creative Arts Conference. I was immediately sold. The guy has an amazing heart. He's humble, he's incredibly talented - has a beautiful voice, is an amazing guitar player, writes brilliant songs and has boundless energy.

So when I found out he had an album coming out I knew I had to get it. This is an album I looked forward to receiving for a couple of months and was definitely not disappointed when it finally arrived.

I don't recall any other album lifting my spirit like this one - and that's saying something! This is soul-stirring stuff. I have found myself moved to the core repeatedly while listening to this album on the ipod while jogging in the morning.

The music is pop/rock/worship with great creative production - it rocks where it needs to rock and it broods and hovers where it should with some delicious ambient moments. Some great soundscapes and arrangements reinforce the strength of the songwriting. Lyrically, Michael has taken some themes not often spoken of in worship (as well as some that are) and given them fresh impact.

I love it!