Would you dare to believe?

I'm not really sure how to formulate all that is going through my mind this evening, but I really feel that I need to share the faithfulness of God. There is a song that Matt Maher sings- well actually 2 songs for this post - bu the first, Alive Again. In a normal context, and when this song first came out, I really felt like God used it to speak to me in a powerful way about his relentless pursuit of me. To quote the second song by Matt Maher, Your Grace is Enough- God did and continues to "wrestle with [this] sinner's restless heart." But today, in a very profound and unmistakable way, God spoke to me. And I later heard these words in this song by Matt Maher,

You called and You shouted
Broke through my deafness
Now I'm breathing in and breathing out
I'm alive again
You shattered my darkness
Washed away my blindness
Now I'm breathing in and breathing out
I'm alive again  

These words became and have become so literal for me right now. For the last few months, I have been trying desperately to figure out what God wants me to do and what I should do- as far as school, a career, etc. I have chosen "realistic" career paths, one after another, along with the appropriate school options. None of which ultimately worked for me, resulting in a recurring headache. All the while, this voice inside me kept saying, Jenna, why don't you just paint. That simple. Yet even considering this path and its lack of a steady job completely floods me with worry. I like plans, and that path is too spontaneous and unreliable. But I went with it anyway, because I felt one by one God began eliminating my other options. Yet for whatever reason, I still did not feel confident in my decision. I felt so silly and ridiculous anytime someone would ask me what I'm doing now.... "Well I'm.... painting. And I'm going to go back to school to paint. So I can graduate and.... paint."
I kept begging God to please, give me some confirmation that I was actually doing what he had asked. That I was actually doing what I am supposed to be doing. That I hadn't completely missed what he had said or overanalyzed or misunderstood.

Today I went to meet with my undergrad art professors to get some advice on applying for and pursuing my MFA. And WOW. I cannot believe the depth of confirmation that I felt in my heart from God. These people think like me, have the same motivation as me, know what it feels like to tell people that your career is art. They have the same hopes and dreams for themselves and their art. They understood me. And best of all, I feel so normal around them. Around people that I have so much in common with. Around people driven to create. Around other artists. And they have such confidence that this is what I should be doing and that I will succeed- Such a compliment coming from artists like them. And I know, now more than ever, God brought me back to Memphis at just the right time, and he placed me in just the right school to finish my undergrad. Being in this art department was such a blessing to me and my art, especially when my love for and confidence in my art had been so wounded. Being around these people is such a God-thing. And today just capped it all off. I felt and feel God's calling so strongly. It was like God was saying, "Ok, if you didn't catch what I was saying before, let me make it undeniably clear. Now go. Do this." I am just so amazed at how he answered my prayer for guidance. I have no idea how I am going to get to where I am going, but I know he will see me through and see me to the end.
Honestly, left up to me, I would never have planned such a thing for myself. I still have a really hard time even considering myself a true "artist." But this God? An MFA? Wow. Great is your faithfulness, Oh God. 

Painting a Portrait, Part 2

Sorry it's been so long since I have updated on this portrait. I've included a few steps in this section...

Here I'm beginning to add skin tone colors. I normally start with the forehead and eye area- this normally sets the what the skin tone will be like for the rest of the face and body-how warm or cool, what hues I use for shadows and highlights, etc.

And here are the colors that I'm using and mixing on my palette to create the skin tone.

The hues for the mid range for the value of the skin is a mixture of cadmium red and cadmium yellow light. From this, add either zinc white or flake white to lighten the pigment to the mid range.

                            
I use alizaren crimson for the next value/intensity level below the mid range. So this would be the lighter shadows. To make a slightly darker shadow than this, I add cerulean blue.

For the very darkest shadows, I use a mixture of alizaren crimson and ultramarine blue. For me, this combination will always push an area back in space. I suppose if you wanted to go even darker, you could add phthalo green- or if you feel your shadows have more brown and green in them, you could replace the cerulean blue and ultramarine blue with the phthalo and a burnt umber or other brown.

Next I have finished more of the face with these colors.

And now the chest area.

And finally, at this point I will add some color to the hair. Right now I am using a combination of burnt umber and cadmium red, with some ultramarine blue in the shadows. I'm not sure if I want her hair to be dark brown or red, so I will leave the underpainting in these tones for now.

 I think the background will really determine what color her hair ends up being.

Painting a Portrait, Part 1

I'd love to show a painting in progress and the steps I take to complete a painting. So here we go....

These are two new paintings that I have started and they are in the underpainting stage. Basically, I drew the images out with pencil and then mixed cerulean blue, alizaren crimson, and ultramarine blue with white (i used flake white this time) and thinned out the mixture with my solvent- I use Turpenoid Natural. I tend to use more of the blues for shadows and a more reddish purple for the highlights, but generally, the mixture gives me an indigo lavender underpainting. For me, this helps the skin look more realistic after I apply the upper layers of paint.