Behind the Painting

An Unexpected Time

My stories behind the paintings and where I found my space

"a space, area, or spot, set apart or used for a particular purpose".  

Its almost like the Irwin's are on summer vacation.  Everyone is home.  The kids are out of school and Diane and I aren't working. Except it's March and we need to be isolated.  The corona virus is here. An unwelcomed visitor that has made an impact on our every day.  I don't think I've been a part of something like this ever before.  It has changed the way I think, act, and interpret my circumstances.  No one is exempt from the impact of this visitor.  

A new email I received this week was from Mark Batterson. He is a pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC and I really enjoy his writings.  He speaks  form a Biblical perspective that makes it real and practical. I thought I'd share his latest because it spoke to my heart and I wanted it to speak to yours.  As you read his words I sprinkled some pics of my latest paintings.  They are small canvas pieces that I will turn into magnets. I hope you enjoy.

The Plague and 100 Blessings

March 23, 2020

Did you know that an observant Jew says a bare minimum of one hundred blessings per day? Those blessings cover the gamut of human experience. They offer a blessing before they eat, like many of us. But they also offer blessings during the meal for different tastes and smells. And after the meal is over—you guessed it—they offer a bookend blessing. Observant Jews bless God for a new day, a new article of clothing, and a new experience. And whenever they experience something pleasurable, it translates into praise.

During the days of King David, a devastating plague is said to have claimed the lives of a hundred Israelites every single day. That’s when a council of Jewish rabbis prescribed the practice of reciting one hundred blessings per day to counteract the plague. According to tradition, the plague stopped immediately. I can’t promise that gratitude will cure whatever ails you (or stop the Coronavirus), but gratitude is a good place to start. And it’s where the double blessing begins.

According to the Talmud, if you enjoy something without saying a blessing, it’s as if you have stolen it. “A man embezzles from God when he makes use of this world without uttering a blessing.” How many little blessings have you shoplifted? How many big blessings make you guilty of grand larceny? The way we make restitution is by recognizing that every good and perfect gift comes from God. Anything less is embezzlement.

I try to live by a little maxim: “Whatever you don’t turn into praise turns into pride.” And there are no exceptions, which means there is no alternative. One of the simplest ways to position ourselves for future blessings is by praising God for past blessings! In fact, we’re not ready for the next blessing until we have adequately thanked God for the last one!

The Batterson family has four values: gratitude, humility, generosity, and courage. Those values are the cardinal points on our compass, and they are not unrelated. Generosity rises or falls to the level of our gratitude. And gratitude is both an art and a science.

A wide variety of well-substantiated studies have found that gratitude increases patience, decreases depression, replenishes willpower, and reduces stress. It doesn’t just lengthen life; it improves the quality of life. And if you want a good night’s sleep, don’t count sheep. Count your blessings!

Most of us are good at praising God for the big things, but we fail to praise God for the little things. And we’re good at praising God after the fact, but not a second before. Gratitude is thanking God after He does it, and that’s great. But faith is next-level gratitude. Faith is thanking God before He does it. It’s prophesying your praise!

Do you remember the ten lepers that Jesus healed? All ten were healed of leprosy, but only one of them was healed of a much worse ailment—ingratitude.

One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. (Luke 17:15)

Gratitude is a pilgrimage back to the foot of the cross. It’s giving thanks and giving glory to God.

During this current crisis that we find ourselves in, it is more important than ever to tap into God’s Word. The good news? His grace is always on tap!

(Excerpted from Double Blessing: How to Get It. How to Give It.)

Finding My Place- My stories behind the paintings and where I found my space

"a space, area, or spot, set apart or used for a particular purpose".  

  It's the area you live or have to work in  It has decor that represents you. When you are there, you can relax and unwind. Sometimes you can't get enough of it. It's your place.  The place you are going, the base camp for family, and one you imagine having. We all live in a place, call it home, and sometimes dream of having the perfect place for yourself and those you love.  The place can be physical, colorful, and have a fragrance.  It also is emotional, dreamy, and with depth of thought.  

For me my art business place has many of these attributes defining it.  The place I create in and create on canvas are made up of past, present, and future places I've been in my life.  And each one tells a story on how I lived and live out my time in that place.  Behind the paintings are stories of my personal places. 

Sailing was something that wasn't a part of my life until I met Diane my wife.  I vacationed with my family by camping up and down the east coast while her family sailed on the water next to it.  One of the first dates I had with her mom and dad was a day on the Chesapeake Bay.  Since then, the more time I go out on my in-laws sailing ship, the more I fall in love with this floating place on the water.

Over time as this place was shared with me, it also became mine.  I can feel the water swells, smell the salty mist, and hear the splash against the sailboat when I close my eyes.  This shared place turned into a shared love and experience.  It was a place for family and good memories.  At one point my father-in-law Ira gave me an old calendar that had black and white photos of sailing during the early 1900's.  That is where these paintings came from.

One picture, three variations of paintings by my brush. Three paintings representing a place that I have fallen in love with visually, emotionally, and spiritually. Each is the same yet differs enough to give a unique sense of experiencing sailing.

I'll bet you have one of those places that brings back smells, sights, and good memories of family. If you close your eyes you can feel what that place is to you. Its home and rest in your heart and you love going back to it again and again. It's your place.

Blessings to you

A Merry Christmas to All

A Merry Christmas to All

The holidays are here and I hope that it is a fun time for you with family, friends, food, and celebration.  The Irwin's have there traditions of decorations, Christmas cookies, gifts, and cheese strata for Christmas brunch (a fluffy egg, cheese, and bread mixture, yum!).  I hope it will be a time of rest for your bodies as well as your hearts.    

I don't want to overlook that it could be difficult.  A time of sorrow  for loved ones gone.  A time of sickness that makes holiday celebration hard.  I want to let you know I've had those too.  To be sick and bed ridden.  To be in the moment with the tears and the silent empty space of that someone who isn't there anymore.  I can say " weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning."

My first born Acacia Noel, 1993-1998              My dad Gene Irwin, 1935-2012

In all moments I hope and pray to live well and to live fully.  To enjoy the people, times, and things that the next steps of mine may take me.  This Christmas is one of those next steps.  

A very Merry Christmas and blessings to you and your family.
 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

Thankfully Singed

I'm heading into the holiday season and it is a time I really enjoy with my family. The food, decorations, and music I really enjoy. Even when I was a UPS driver with the long days, I found the beauty of lights and the cheers of the people as I arrived with the shipments wonderful. I do love this time of the year.
Thanksgiving to me is a great way to start the seasonal time. It sets the stage and tone in helping me to focus on what I am thankful for. My beautiful wife, great kids, health, my art, and a home are some of the things that I'm gratefully blessed.
This year starts with some extra thanks on my families part because of a recent incident in our home.

Last Saturday we were invited to a Friendsgiving at a neighbors house. Just a time to eat some traditional Thanksgiving foods with those you normally wouldn't see. I love our neighborhood because in general having block parties and getting together for celebrations is a normal thing.
While Diane and I were at the Friendsgiving we get a text from our daughter Shannon who was going to come to the party late because she had to work. She said that when she walked into our home after work it was smokey and the toaster oven was on. I hurried home and enter to the smell of smoke and burnt plastic. What we thinks happened was some groceries that were sat down on the counter banged the toaster oven and damaged the knob that turns it on. The little oven turned on and couldn't be turned off until Shannon unplugged it using oven mits because she said it was glowing orangey red when she found it. The heat burned the wall, the electric cords to the blender and coffee maker. and some groceries left on the counter. As I looked at the damage and then to my dog at my feet in the kitchen, this could have been a different holiday season for the Irwin's.

the recent experience was a 'gentle' reminder to love and enjoy the people and things that I have. To not loose those opportunities to appreciate my stuff. To hug, laugh, and say how much my family means to me. And to know in a moment it can literally go up in smoke.

Peace

In The Bliss of Time

First day on the beach together at Corolla, nc

This past week I celebrated my thirtieth wedding anniversary with my Wife Diane at Corolla, NC. This was the first time we have gone away without kids for multiple days. It was a great weekend that we enjoyed together and had many opportunities to reminisce about the past. The reason we ended up in OBX was that this was the place where the love for the beach started back in 1995. Back then we were invited by a bunch of friends to share the expense and being newly married with our firstborn it was a cheap way to be in some ocean front property.
One of the high lights was that we did find the first beach house we stayed in called Corolla Knights, now called Role Tide.

The first beach house we stayed in as a family

During one of the conversations about being married this long my wife made the comment that it was 30 years of bliss. Bliss? Perfect happiness or great joy? Not the word I would use but it did get me to think if it fit our relationship. It's not that I think that Diane isn't my greatest love or best friend, because she is that to me. The connotation is that only good things have happened and it has been one big party. kind of fluffy, but all of us who are married know that isn't it. It's angry arguments, foolish talk, weeping, asking forgiveness, and having mercy mixed in. Then throw in kids and maybe loosing a loved one. It's good, it's hard, it's fun, it's faithfulness, it's bliss.

I like the analogy of marriage being like the making of a diamond. In the beginning it is like a lump of coal. Not worth very much and only good for burning. When you add some time and a load of pressure eventually it turns into something else. That something else is plucked from the ground and gets cut, rubbed, and polished to become a precious gem. My friendship with Diane is becoming that gem. That gem of bliss.

My art business is just like it. It has it's ups and downs, victory and failures, and more hard work doing things I'm not gifted in like accounting and marketing. But a take away for me while at Corolla was that the place where we stayed had some new art work decorating the walls. It was my art work. A first for me to see the work and vision I had done right in front of me. The pressure, the cutting, the rub, and polish is starting to pay off.

I hope you see that for yourselves with family and the ones you love. Having laughter is great and smooth times with others are welcomed, but 'A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity' (Prov. 17:17). Bliss is made up of all types of circumstances.

Finding Inspiration

Very first SCRAP artwork

A couple of weeks ago I was having dinner with some friends of mine. We meet on a regular bases to eat, encourage, and have some accountability as family men. One of the guys, Dave, talked about how he had an outing with his girls and part of the day was spending time at the library. He loves to write and do poetry so he took some books out to give him ideas and inspiration. This took my thoughts back to when a style of art I do, which I call SCRAP, started and how it has become an important part in my painting career and business. I thought about the process I've gone through in creating the artwork and a few things came to mind.

Where do you get the inspiration
Dave searched in the library and found some readings to inspire him. For me I didn't need to go anywhere, it was right in front of me. It came from my own paintings. I was looking at my dried up useless paint on my pallet and wondered what to do with it? Not wanting to waste it, I picked, pulled, and scraped it together into small then bigger piles of chips, globs, and pieces. I found beautiful patterns and shapes emerging from what was once useless paint.

Big Blue

Experiment, fail, and succeed
I had to ask myself, how do I paint with dried paint? Many small messy attempts in the application came and went on paper, wood, and canvas. Some didn't last very long literally crumbling in my hands. Eventually I was able to find the path that gave me some success. I wouldn't call myself an abstract or modern artist but slowly I had small artworks come from the wasted paint. These started a new path of creativity that had less real painting but still vibrant in expression.

Relationships through the inspiration
I thought as the SCRAP art was made it would be a secondary avenue for my creativity. But the wonderful thing about this art it became greater even with my relationships. The first thing that happened was that my mom, an art teacher and painter, started saving her old dried up paint just for me. She has even mailed me these precious chunks (thanks mom for the extras).
Next I stepped it up in size while still keeping with my love of the ocean and the sea. The 5x7 inch grew to 24x36 inch. Those who saw the bigger work thought it unique and had a wow factor that my other normal paintings didn't have. The secondary is now becoming a main avenue of creating paintings.
The best for last is that I was able to work with one of my daughters, Brittany, in making a SCRAP painting this past week. To work with her was awesome. I talked her through the process and shared my insight of what I knew. In the end she said it was a fun way to express her creativity.

Brittany working on a clown fish

Where will it go

The wasteful, dried, small, secondary, globs of paint have become more central in my creative and business direction for C Irwin Design. It's fun to look back and think that it wasn't on my radar about 3 years ago. Now I can't see not doing it since the style is slowly becoming connected to my name. I'm probably not the first to use paint this way.But to be inspired to create something that is intrinsically mine and see how it has come alive is pretty cool. Like Dave and me, I hope you are able to find some inspiration that can move you to make something that is uniquely yours..

Color in Life

"Everybody thinks they know what art should be. But very few of them have the sense that is necessary to experience painting, that is the sense of sight, that sees colors and forms as living reality in the picture.”

"I'm not that obsessed with making representations of ugliness. Everything I've seen is beautiful..”—Otto Dix

During World War I one of the German combatants was an artist, Otto Dix. A volunteer and a good standard of a soldier. He won merit, medals, and survived to the end. His life wasn’t taken from him but it was altered because of the experience. Today we call it PTSD and for him it was nightmares of haunted combat like crawling in rubble without escape. It could have destroyed him inside and out, but it added another type of color to his living out life.

Stormtroops advancing under a gas attack 1924, of the British Museum

Otto Dix Self-Portrait with Easel 1926. Leopold-Hoesch-Museum & Papiermuseum Düren. Photo: Peter Hinschläger

Some of the work he did was gruesome and ugly. An alternate reality that I haven’t experienced and hope I never will. The thing that gives me courage is that he didn’t stop living and stop creating his art. The effects can be seen but the desire to keep painting continued even through WWII and the Nazis censoring of Otto’s work.

The experience of war added a new color to his life pallet I think a deep color like black or gray which can make stuff look dirty, dull, or unclean. My thought also is the deep color adds depth, dimension, and perspective that couldn’t happen without it. The deep dark color and shading of Stormtroopers Advancing Under Gas Attack make the light colored masks pop. Telling us the value of the struggle to live by the men involved. Darkness says there is light. A light that is here and is always here. Knowledge of the light gives us strength to live even in dire circumstances.

I find myself not working and writing during a reoccurring back injury sustained years ago that I have to learn to live with when it gets my attention. Its annoying and can be debilitating. But…. I can still live and have it color my steps with depth, dimension, and perspective for me and those near me. So I will put on my mask of light and go on to get through this gas and to eventually breath in clean air.

Peace

Year in Review and Blessings

The year of 2018 was great in a lot of respects for me as an artist and a person. It was great in activity in making paintings. Great in putting together a web store. Great in new relationships connected with my artwork. Great in desires and expectations. Great in learning from my failures. I confess that I thought I would have more sales of my prints and gain a few more commission works to do. But, my personal growth, spiritual growth, and business growth don’t always grow together equally.

One of the aspects of the business for C Irwin Design was that I wanted to have the ability to serve or give back to others. To create inspiration, not just with my paintings, but with helping financially, physically, and emotional needs of others and bless their efforts. The original heart felt desire I had was to give fifty percent of my profits to those I know who need help. Whether a mortgage payment or a shelter in Baltimore city, I wanted this to be more than just about my art. I’m not quite there, but the 2018 year was the first time I was able to give out of my ability and business.

Dr. Dave and Susan Madder with their translator Rosa in Cuba

The banner I helped design with Susan

The banners were signed to encourage the families in Cuba

The first of two banners that Dave and Susan presented.

Inspiring hope to others in Cuba from America.

Last November, a medical team went to Cuba to help teach, encourage, and support those families with autism. My friends, Dr. Dave and Susan Madder, were a part of that team. Just before they left I was able to create a banner that they wanted to leave with the Cuban people for encouragement and love.

The wonderful thing to me was that 6 months earlier I did some research on banners for my own personal use with my business for events and festivals. So I knew where to have the banners made. The amazing thing was the stained glass I had created 26 years ago was the inspiration for the image; an image of hope. Before the desire to serve and give back, the artwork was made

I look back and think “what if I didn’t make that rainbow”? What if I said “nah, go with another ideal”. That year I remember being inspired to do religious stained glass and to do a series from Bible stories. I realize that sometimes the things I do aren’t really for me. My creative talents are to be used for good today and also for the future tomorrow’s that I don’t know yet. The blessing of future Cuban families that I didn’t know 26 years ago.

P.S.- A benefit from the trip was that Susan brought a piece of artwork back from Cuba made by a grateful creative because of what I helped do for them…

Puttin It Off

This month I wanted to share another persons blog, Noah Elias. He is an artist, entrepreneur, mentor, and coach. For the past 12 months I've been a 'student member' of his Noah University which is a place of coaching for creatives like me who want to have input into their career, craft and calling. It has expanded and challenged my thinking and actions in what I wanted to do with my paintings. One of the challenges is writing my own blog. Not a strength of mine but a great place to help me be a better communicator, especially through my artwork. Noah has been a help for me and I hope you like what he has to say today:

Procrastination: The killer of Creativity and the “Good Stuff”

It is a huge passion of mine to help other creatives with learning’s I have had over the last 25 years of being an artist, entrepreneur, father and husband. It is a passion of mine to help point others to answers and keys to unlocking their creativity and allowing the good stuff to flourish.

I cannot tell you how many times I have run into artists, authors, and creatives that have amazing Ideas but little action. Have you ever found yourself building lists but spending more time on lists than on producing the product or goods? For every 1,000 dreamers and “thinkers” there are about 10 actual “do-ers”.

Procrastination or the art of putting off until a later time is usually fueled by fear. Fear of failure, fear of looking stupid, fear of criticism, fear that it will take too long, fear that it is a waste of time.

Nike coined the phrase “just do it” and it fits appropriately. Overcoming your fear and doing it requires risk and willingness to fail.

When I started my company I remember the feelings of fear as I attempted new techniques, new sizes of canvas, new audiences, new clients and new ideas. The driver was I had to eat. To eat meant that I needed to sell. In order to sell it needed to be fresh and new and different. New and fresh and different means: Risk and nothing that looks the same as the rest of the field.

For every time that I have succeeded, I have failed at least five or more times. Willingness to fail is the key to overcoming procrastination and embracing results, newness, and success in your craft. You have to get to the point of realizing that it might not be perfect and it might not be what others want or might fail. However, the key is that you “DID” it. I have learned more about myself by pushing and doing what I don’t feel like doing that it has become a part of me. Let me explain: 80% of my life is what I don’t “feel” like doing: Working out, saying no to certain foods, taxes, taking the trash out etc. The other 20% is what comes naturally and is second nature because I have created a discipline and now I like it.

It’s all in my perspective: Regardless of the fact that I don’t “feel” like doing it, I’m going to because I no longer want to be a person controlled by feelings of doubt, fear, self-sabotage etc. We have been given the most powerful gift: the gift of choice. I am “choosing” to start working out. I don’t “have to” I “get to” and I get to “choose”. Choose to write that chapter of that book even though you don’t “feel” like it. You keep talking about what you’re going to create but you are standing on the sidelines. Very few get in the game. They just want bragging rights that they went to the event. However, you only get a medal if you actually “run” the race....

Noah

If you are interested in Noah and what he is up to, go to http://noahelias.net/

First Downs, Touchdowns, and Championships

A day trip doing one of Casey's favorite things, sailing on Grandpas Sailboat

Recently I read a writing by a theologian and teacher R C Sproul who past away last year.  He is and was one of the most influential thinkers and speakers  that helped me understand and have depth of meaning in living life.  I had seen him a couple of times in person at lectures and did get to meet him once.  Here is what I read:

Pursuing the Quest for Purpose

In the quest for purpose, we must distinguish between proximate and remote purposes. The proximate refers to that which is close at hand. The remote refers to the distant, far-off, ultimate purpose. The football player's proximate goal is to make a first down. The more remote goal is a touchdown. The even more remote goal is to win the game. The ultimate goal is to win a championship.

We remember the poignant meeting between Joseph and his brothers, when the brothers feared recriminations from their powerful brother for the treachery they had committed against him. But Joseph saw a remarkable concurrence at work between proximate and remote intentions. He said, " You meant it for evil; God meant it for good."

Here the proximate and the remote seemed to be mutually exclusive. The divine intention was the exact opposite of the human intention. Joseph's brothers had one goal; God had a different one. The amazing truth here is that the remote purpose was served by the proximate one. This does not diminish the culpability of the brothers. Their intent and their actions were evil. Yet it seemed good to God to let it happen that His purpose might be fulfilled.

I'm sharing this because my family and I are getting ready to go visit the grave site of my first born Acacia Noel Irwin, 'Casey' my little one.  It was 20 years ago today that Diane and I said good bye  to our beautiful 4 year old as she succumbed to cancers grip.  Her two year battle seemed to be unfair, painful, wasteful, and evil.  In a lot of ways it looked like that to see my precious girl have to deal with the disease and if there isn't a God above it definitely is meaningless.  But for me, it had great meaning and purpose and I grow in understanding each day.  Right now my head is swimming with all the things that have positively come from that period in my life that there is to much to right.  So if you are willing and want to hear or read more about Casey and that time in my families life, go to my website and get my cell number and give me a call or send me an email.  I would be more than happy to chat with you.   Remember..."God meant it for good"...