Answer to a question no one asked: When I paint crosses-I never end up with something that looks “pretty”. Truthfully, unless given a specific example of a “pretty” cross, I don’t even approach it as such. Right from the start-I am all-in, freely painting lines and “x”s and going back over those lines and making the colors darker and smudgier (no that’s not a REAL word, it’s an ART word-it’s okay to use it, go ahead) and darker and messier and then comes texture…lots and lots and lots AND lots of texture-again no real “plan” just putting it on the canvas then scraping some off and leaving some and drying some and applying more and painting over that…and so on and so on. A lot of what I call art is for pure fun and relaxation for me. A lot of projects I get to do for other people are decorative for their homes and I love love love love that. However, fun or decorative and some of it might even be sentimental-yet not have a lot of personal meaning (I love it anyway)
Painting a cross is different tho. It’s symbolic and meaningful to me on a very personal level. I got nothing against a pretty cross hanging for decoration-fact is I have lots of them in my house. But when I paint a cross-I paint it as I hope it was…I paint it dark and messy. With “x”s and crossed out parts and re-dos and (totally see where I’m going now right?) I am not a big “feeler” when I paint (that seems a little too artsy to me) but when I paint a cross I like to consider what that cross was for in my own life -and what all it accomplished. Having that in mind-I just can’t make it pretty. I believe Christ died on a big ole’ dark and stormy-scary-humiliating- painful-bloody-ugly-cross. Covered in sin. For me. I believe the cross was for the mess, and while painting that out-I find great comfort.
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