December Meeting of B&P

Twenty-One entries were displayed at the December meeting of the Brush & Palette organization. Methinks that we all were a bit embarrassed to show off some of our work, but then again, it behooves the B&P to have participation, whatever the enthusiasm level of the artists. All present voted on six of their favorite pictures from the group. The top five pieces receiving the most votes were awarded $10 each and three people had the same number of votes for sixth place and were awarded $5 each.

 Judging took place from 1:00 pm until about 1:30 pm as we milled around and ate pizza, salad, relishes and luscious desserts provided by the B&P Board members. President Elise Lind handed out copies of an article titled "How To Judge Art" both in anticipation of the judging and as an aid to a following critique of member art.

Member suggestions for paintings shown by brave souls were provided by the talented membership; several people showed their paintings.

Trudy Ungaro put forth her drawing in watercolor of Santa,with a tree in the background adorned with rhinestones for festive decoration.

Linda Dembitsky with a mixed media piece. She incorporated musical scores in her piece; great effect!

After eating pizza and refreshments, Elise tallied the votes and named the top point achievers. $10 award winners were Maggie Cook, Nancy McCarroll, Emmi Starks, Laegan McGee, and Elise Lind.

Ten Bucks in My Hot Hand

Three people tied for sixth place and were awarded $5 each. They were: Trudy Ungaro, Russell Mendelson, and Victoria Bianchi.

Come and join us in 2016 at the first B&P demonstration and meeting on January 21 at 1:00 PM at the Art Center. Cheri Isgreen will show us, teach us, inform us about poured watercolor techniques. Don't miss it!  More information here about B&P.

From Jesse's Root

The blog header above was painted by Ansgar Holmberg. Unabashedly, I am referring to GretchenJoanna who wrote this here: (be sure to read her entire post)

All the roots and trees passing by my eyes and through my mind this week bring me around to the Incarnation, the birth of Christ which we are celebrating. That’s because the most persistent and enduring life system, if you will, is the Root of Jesse, and the Branch that sprouted, mentioned in Isaiah 11. Iconographers have painted this flowing of our salvation history, and it is the inspiration for many other types of illustrations, like this dramatic interpretation by Ansgar Holmberg

What a marvelous depiction!  If you want more information about Sister Holmberg, who is contemporary and paints in a folksy and colorful style, here are a few websites in which she is written about and where her art can be found: (be warned that a few have quite negative reviews of her work)

A Blog for Dallas area Catholics

Good Ground Press Store sells her art (cards are $1.50 each)

on Pinterest (also here) on many boards

Speakeasy review

Mike Morrell, founder of Speakeasy, says here:

Speakeasy is a way to spread and discuss compelling ideas – author to bloggers to readers. It’s like a funnel of literary goodness, precise and deliberate at the entryway (we’re selective in what author and publisher submissions we accept) and wide-open at the end (when a campaign takes off, we get ‘everybody’ talking).

My second book to review for Speakeasy is Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Charles Marsh.

This book was detailed and gave more information about Bonhoeffer than I knew existed.  It was thoroughly researched and in looking at the extensive footnotes, the number of pages of references was about 20% of the entire book.  Many details of his childhood and early life showed him to have come from a privileged background.  It was written in a pedantic style, obvious since Marsh is a professor and scholar. 

It took over a month for me to get through the first half of the book; not an easy read.  But for one who wants to know minutia of this Lutheran icon who served the Lord as a martyr, this is the book for you.  Otherwise, if you want a brief overview of the life on Bonhoeffer, Widipedia would do.  This is not to diminish the work of Marsh, but it was written in dissertation style, not for the average reader of biography.

Review ends here.

The following hymn was written by Bonhoeffer in the concentration camp, shortly before his death.

By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,

And confidently waiting come what may,

we know that God is with us night and morning,

and never fails to greet us each new day.

Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,

Still evil days bring burdens hard to bear;

Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation

for which, O Lord, You taught us to prepare.

And when this cup You give is filled to brimming

With bitter suffering, hard to understand,

we take it thankfully and without trembling,

out of so good and so beloved a hand.

Yet when again in this same world You give us

The joy we had, the brightness of Your Sun,

we shall remember all the days we lived through,

and our whole life shall then be Yours alone.

source

This hymn appears in the 1982 Episcopal Hymnal (695)