Cast Out

This is something I wanted to draw after thinking of one of my favorite vignettes from the Gospels.

26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.)30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

Luke 8:26-39

Other accounts from the Gospels flesh out different emphasis from this story but what strikes me the most prominently in this account is the authority by which Jesus commands the demons to come out of the man. It's been said that the specific death of these pigs, which were intended for food, did more for the people in this area (and us, by way of the story) than if they were eaten. Why? It shows, as a declaration, that Jesus has authority over the forces of darkness. Jesus also said, "In the world you will have tribulation (troubles). But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) He is able to free us from darkness because he has authority over it and has already overcome it.

Slave to Spirits

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy inGreek mythology. His name, thought to be a theonym in Linear B tablets as di-wo-nu-so shows that he may have been worshipped as early as c. 1500–1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks; other traces of the Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete.  -thanks Wikipedia!

I really doubt that Dionysus worship has fallen off the popular scene guys. Have you heard literally any songs for the club? Not any club, The Club, the one that everybody sings about...

Dionysus is still alive and kicking in our culture. And just like so many of our ancient vices that have stayed with us through the years, ultimately the worship of it will lead to ruin. We get so enamored with the imagery of fun and joy even though we see the flip side being so many lives totally jacked up by alcoholism. 

The apostle Paul, speaking to an audience in Corinth (a society that dealt with many of the same problems we do today) said, “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. Following Jesus has taken me from a life dominated by ritual madness and totally serving myself to a place where I can begin to echo the apostle saying, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful...and I don't want to come under the dominating power of anything." 

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Oh hi there!

*insert apology for never posting to blog*

Yup, I'm back. It's been a while for sure but not for lack of busyness. That's busy-ness, not to be confused with business. But that's not a bad thing. We (my lovely wife and I) have been reevaluating our priorities as of late and it's been a time of good growth. So, that's about as transparent or deep into my private life as I get on my blog. Meet me in real life and we'll talk deeper, how about that huh?

Anywho, on the way home from Trader Joe's one day, I was listening to the song Way of the Wolf by the band Dynasty. It's a song that comments on the biblical Devil, the way he works and spreads lies- his modus operandi. The part that really stuck was how the wolf doesn't just flat-out lie in an easy-to-distinguish way, he spreads a counterfeit truth that sounds good. I had heard the song so many times but it hadn't hit me the same way. I started to think of visual ways to represent the ideas in the song that would not only be fitting to the meaning but also kind of fit the look of the music scene it came from. Dynasty is a hardcore band hailing for Los Angeles *represent* and so their aesthetic is going to look a lot different from how I'd approach the same idea if it were going to be in a conservative magazine article...although I'd probably still push that my way a bit. ;)

I dressed the wolf up in a sheep's skin but even under that he wears the robes of the clergy. Throughout history, the name of Jesus has been used by people to commit horrible acts. These men and women fleeced (in some situations, still fleecing) their flocks in order to get a little dishonest gain while purposefully misinterpreting or even ignoring the Scripture that one would assume they professed. Laid on top of a blanket of Scripture from the bible that warns against false teachers coming into the brand new group of Christians, the wolf holds a chalice of blood. Lots of good folks died because of some bad people. If you call yourself a Christian, know the bible. It's what our faith is built on and God will correct our always-going-the-wrong-way hearts through it.

Wrestlers VS Aliens

Aliens have invaded our world and the only way to stop them is to wrassle em' into submission!

 

I set a goal to create character designs for an imaginary wrestling video game or cartoon. The self-imposed prompt was to give the characters a whimsical feeling while still allowing them to look powerful.

Bruise E. Homemaker
6"0"
325 lbs
From Pasadena, CA

Finn McCracken
6'2"
380 lbs
From the Scottish Highlands

Lord Deville
6'9"
330 lbs
From Parts Unknown

Johnny Lightning
6'4"
301 lbs
From the Concrete Jungle

Thin Lizzie
5'9"
130 lbs
From Detroit, MI

Glorox
7'2"
441 lbs
From the Kartac Peninsula on Glutoc 5

Nigel Quarkbottom

6'5"

301 lbs

From the Wrong Side of the Rings of Saturn

This is an ongoing project.

Let me know what you guys think!

Bookmarks!

I've been reading a lot more as of late.

I keep finding myself using little index cards or scraps of paper to hold my places in those books. Although I am probably fighting against the "print is dead" movement, I really find myself in need of a good bookmark. So, uhhh...I just made some.

For one of my bookmarks, I decided to make a Bilbo Baggins because I just love that sweet little hobbit. Everything about him. Everywhere he goes, he just wants to go and eat. He just wants to eat breakfast. I can relate Bilbro.

He's got his Elfen blade, Sting, with him...glowing because there are always goblins around, of course.

If you would like a Bilbo for yourself, or a bookworm friend, you can find him here.

Fat Elvis bookmarks are a multi-tasker- they are perfect for cookbooks and rock n' roll biographies.

Then again I literally have this fat tub-o-lard bookmark sitting in my bible. I giggle every time I look at it.

Literally singing his heart out, Elvis is shaking what his mama gave him. Thanks Mama Elvis.

If you are interested in picking up this bookmark for yourself of your friends, you can find them here.

Post-It Show 9 preview

It's that time of year again!

The Post-It Show 9 is right around the corner. Here's a selection of pieces I submitted this year. They're characters from some of my favorite games.

These are all painted with acrylic paint and ink on standard 3"x 3" Post-Its. The Post-It Show is held at Giant Robot 2 gallery in Los Angeles and is curated by the dynamic duo that is Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson.

Pumpkin of the Opera...aka...Phantom of the Pumpkin Patch

Hey work, you made the grave mistake of letting me into your pumpkin painting contest. The rules were simple, take a small sugar pumpkin, and decorate it any way you want as long as you don't carve into it. I think I took the contest a little too seriously.

I probably would've settled for just very simply painting a pumpkin, but I was specifically challenged by a few of my coworkers. They literally came in to my room, and taunted me. What's a guy to do?

Fueled by the incessant workplace taunting, I added more and more detail with each wave of smack-talk. Things like, "Aw bro, I'm going to destroy you." only fed my weird competitive streak.

I knew that I wanted to do a Universal Studios monster from the beginning – even when it was just a lone, painted pumpkin. I chose the 1925 Lon Cheney version of the Phantom of the Opera- because Lon Cheney was the best. However, as time went by, I added cardboard structures cut out with X-Acto knives, papier-mâché, and a blowtorch to the works. Okay, there was no welding…but it was way more time and effort than I should have put into him.

Oh, I failed to mention – this is for a contest at Trader Joe's. This is not some art studio that I'm working at where all my competition are also artists. I literally pouring tons of effort into this pumpkin contest and I really don't know why. Maybe it's because I'm pompous and I JUST HAVE TO WIN ALL THE CONTESTS!! At this point I'm actually expecting to lose because I put so much effort into it.

The organ is made of corrugated cardboard that I cut with an X-Acto knife, taped with blue painters tape and then finished with papier-mâché. I waited overnight till the papier-mâché was dry completely and then I painted directly onto it with acrylic paint. The papier-mâché I went with is simple: little bit of flour, a little bit of water, and strips of newspaper. The "cobblestone" base is 1/8 inch plywood that I cut with a jigsaw and then painted with acrylic paint.

Everything else is painted in grayscale tones of acrylic paint with little cut paper hands and feet and a cape made of heavy duty paper towels that I drenched in ink. Lastly, I finished him off with little yarn strands for hair.

 Happy Halloween everybody!