THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas, a time for joy–

We celebrate, for it is the birth of our Savior.
It really happened in April, but through time and Pagan beliefs we now celebrate in December.

Most of the narrative of the Saviors birth is the work of others. He wrote no books. The story of his birth has been canonized and told in standard works, The Bible , The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, all are the words of the Birth of Christ..

This story was foretold to us by the prophet Isaiah.

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called, wonderful, counsellor, the might god, the everlasting father, the prince of peace.. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David

"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.( meaning christ will be born into mortality of a virgin and will be among the people to save and redeem them).

It was a Levite priest named Zacharias who came to the temple to preside at the alter. An angel surrounded him in intense heavenly light and told him that his wife, Elizabeth, shall bear him a son. He shall be great in the sight of the lord and shall be called John. He shall ready and prepare the world for the Lord and Savior.

About 100 miles north of Jerusalem lay a modest peasant village called Nazareth. Here lived a daughter of Israel, called Mary – Gabriel, the heavenly angel also appeared to Mary, saying,
"Hail, though art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women".

Behold thou shalt conceive and bring forth a Son.

He shall be called Jesus, the Son of the Highest, and the
Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David.

Mary could not comprehend, for she knew not a man.

"How shall this be?"

The angel replied saying...

"The holy ghost will overcome thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore that which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God".

And so it was...

And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed , every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David , which was called Bethlehem– for he was of the house of David.

It was early in April when Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem to be taxed.– Mary being great with child–While they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn_ a son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger–because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the light shone round about them... and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them "

Fear not for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you this day is born in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manager.

And, lo, the star which they saw in the East, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was laying. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy, and when they were come unto the house they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God saying
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And so the prophesies of old have come to pass. A savior was born. And the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.

For unto us a child was born,
Unto us a Son was given
and the government shall be upon his shoulder
and his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father
The Prince of Peace.

Oh Come Let Us Adore HIm


An so this is the Christmas spirit–

And the spirit of the lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor
and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. Isaiah 9:2, 6-7; 11:2-4

– The birth of the savior _The Son of God.– redeemer of all the world – born to save the world of sin––born for the salvation of all mankind–That if thou believeth in his name thou shall have everlasting life.

– peace on earth good will to all men: Amen

WHAT ABOUT COLOR

I'm always interested in people and their behavior. What makes them do what they do. People are attracted to certain colors. Why they pick these colors is a study in itself. If we could figure this out you are your way to millions of dollars.

There are reasons why.

For and experiment go into a busy supermarket and without thinking about it and not having a motive, walk up to the first thing you see. Now try to figure out what attracted you to that spot. Remember you are just like everyone else.

Strong reds and oranges are on most packages because they attract more attention. But it is how you use the colors that make the sale. Same goes in painting. Some colors compliment others. Some colors accent others. Some
colors push other colors forward.

Beginning painters want to get right at a painting. They are more concerned about
the subject matter than what happens in the painting. Exaggeration of colors and
ther compliments are what it is all about.

Study color...


Talk to you Later

Cloyd

PAINT FOOD GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT

Food paintings, especially desserts are very hard to make them appear appetizing.

First off most desserts are very moist and runny. They are made out of items such as fruits, pastries, topped with Ice cream, frostings and carmel dripping over or chocolate base.

Sounds good huh.

When you mix all the ingredients together it often looks like MUD!
Mud in a painting never looks appetizing (unless it is pure chocolate).

Appetizing colors are peach, yellow, orange and red. Most fruits and pastries are in this color range. Browns, blacks, greens and blues really do make mud in a painting.

Pick an item that tells to story. Like a cherry for a for a cherry pie. Paint it as an object in the arrangement then paint the pie. Use the blues and blacks in the background to push the main objects in the painting forward.

It will take some practice before you to get to the point that you'll want to eat the
painting.

Remember less is more...

Cloyd

OILS OR WATERCOLOR?

For years now I've been painting in watercolors. I like them and their easier to teach with. They have a soft and interesting strength to them and most people like a good watercolor.

I can do a good water color in the classroom in about one hour to one and a half hours. It has taken a long time to get to this point and have the confidence
to bang one out. When I do a workshop I always start with doing a painting
quickly. Not for the reason to show how good I am but to give the students an idea of the process. It helps to show the students not to labor over their work.

Oils are a little different. They take longer to paint because of the drying time of the oil base. Because it is a traditional medium they are more desirable to collectors and buyers. Galleries like them because they are not framed with glass. They have a longer life than any other medium. They can be cleaned with the proper solutions and will endure indefinitely.

Watercolors must be matted, framed and sealed behind glass. With some of the new glass products and the UV resistant glass they will last as long time. Fading would be the only problem but everyone knows not to hang in the sun. With museum quality glass it's not a problem, but don't hang in the sun anyway.

Oils fetch a much better price than watercolors. So, is that a good reason to just paint in oils? Some of my friends switched for the money. I resisted because I just couldn't give up my old friend. I'm going to try a few oils and just see how well I do.

Ya, it's for the money.

Talk to you later,

TEACHING KIDS

I'm not sure if you can teach kids art. They have their own preconceived ideas of what art should be. If you give them a simple assignment they always come up with the same solutions.

I have yet to figure out who teaches them to put the sun in the upper corner of their painting.

I have decided to instruct them and not let them know they are being instructed.

You see, to really teach them you have to let them teach themselves. Just keep them drawing and painting. Give them drawing exercises that improve their ability to think, that's where the change is.

The rest takes care of itself, or they lose interest. That's ok we don't need that many artists anyway.

Talk to you later

Cloyd

WHAT DO I PAINT

As you face a white piece of paper, you often think what could I paint that makes a difference. You think of all the paintings that have done before you and how many different solutions that you might come up with. It's endless.

Keep in mind that no two people look alike and no two people will paint alike.

There is nothing that can come out of your head that you didn't put in. Again, you are what you are. The things you like may interest a lot of others also.

Now, what do I paint..

My one man show that I recently had surprised me on subject matter.
The show had big ones, small ones, lots of color and very eclectic. I painted subject matter from English country sides to a Peruvian woman with her Lama. With that variety I was sure that I had something for every one.

The show was catered by my good friend Jody, who by the way does these beautiful table arrangements of tasty little finger treats. She ask me to paint some food pictures for her tables to help accent the whole idea. They were small and just for interest I hand scribed the recipe on them (I only did three).

They were the hit of the show (along with the tasty treats of course).

Paint what you like, others will like it to.

Talk to you later,

Cloyd

SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE

While working in Chicago in my early art years in the advertising business, I learned some very important lessons. Lessons I have used throughout my artist life.

You see everyone was fighting for their position. A position that gives them some authority and possibly more money.

We art directors worked in teams on design projects, not leaving any stone unturned.

About 7-10 art directors would get the same assignment from the client via the account exec and were allowed to work on it for 2 t0 3 days. We would all go into our little corners and work away.

After three days we would get back together and proceed to present our concepts. Each art director would make his own presentation separately and wait for comments from the others. Like in all the movies we hoped that ours would be the shining star, and we would be called "Mister" by everyone in the firm.

For some reason some of the older and wiser ADs would wait to be last with their presentation. I always wanted to be first...pick me...pick me. Problem with being first everyone is fresh and full of comments. By the time you finished, you were really beat up.

The ones that presented last compared our bad concepts with their great ones.

Get the strategy. They always won.
I studied this behavior for several months before I finally figured it out.

I was purposely late for one of our sessions. That gave the last presentation.

That was not enough. On other presentations I was very vocal, especially the ones who had used the system. Not only was I vocal I was vicious. I tore their concepts apart piece by piece knowing what mine were and that they answered all the important questions .

I won ...

Talk to you later....

"Mister" Cloyd