Lord…thanks.

I don’t take you for granted.

These people could have gone anywhere on the web, and yet you let them take a little time out to hang out on my little site…
…and I’m thankful for that.

Thank you for letting them help me in 2011. Here’s what I mean:
•    Increased our website traffic to more than 3,000 people per month.
•    …with those people downloading close to 30,000 pages per month.
•    Launching Art Slam Live™, with three shows in just a year and now an emerging brand.
•    Connecting us with a local college; creating a course based on Art Slam Live™ that they now wish to offer annually.
•    Letting us help two of those students acquire an internship with a leading local marketing firm.
•    A creative coaching practice, helping creative people turn their hobbies into a business.
•    Getting new coaching clients and launching workshops that help ALFG now pay for itself.

And just letting us help creative people discover their purpose one weekly post at a time…

Lord…thanks…

…for these people. Let me honor YOU by being a Blessing to THEM in the new year.

Tony-

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"Soul Stirrer"- Click to Enlarge

One of the things you MUST have on your list for starting a new year off right is to have a fresh sketchpad.

There’s nothing that says the sky’s the limit for fresh concepts and ideas like the blank pages of a sketchpad or journal.

Here’s an example of a totally unexpected drawing that came from listening to a little music. To make it interesting, I chose a sound that I don’t necessarily listen to daily.

Click the image to see a larger version.

Click the video below to witness the actual creative process (be sure to crank your speakers UP!):

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This guest post is by Josh Espasandin of WeCreate:

One day a couple years ago, my mom went to Goodwill looking for cheap Christmas decorations. She was in luck. There was a sale going on: 75% off all Christmas items! She thought it was a good deal, so she got a few things. Once she got everything, she went to have them ring it up at the next available check stand. The cashier, somewhere in her 20s, scanned one thing after another:

Small tree, 75% off.

Light-up snowman, 75% off.

After a few more things the young lady finally came to a small nativity scene made in Italy (the nativity scene pictured) that my mom found. The lady looks and it and says, “Oh, sorry. This isn’t a Christmas item.”

…Wait what?!

My mom told her, “It’s a nativity scene.” Then the lady said something that shocked my mom and myself when she told me about all this. She said, “What’s a nativity scene?”

Josh Espasandin

People, God’s artists, anyone reading this post… we have some clean-up to do. We’ve gotten so caught up in finding 75%-off Christmas sales, but it turns out that the true Christmas story has been marked down 100% to the rest of the world while we’ve had our backs turned.

This website is devoted to showing people how to better discover purpose in their artistic career, so I have a mission for you all during this holiday season:

Keep this from ever happening again! Time to get creative.

Any ideas? How can we BETTER bring the miracle of Jesus’ birth to those around us? For our family, we’ve decided to leave that same nativity scene up year-round.

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"Real Heroes" by Rob Joseph

Fantasy illustrator, graphic novelist and Full Sail University grad Rob Joseph shows his gratitude for our nation’s military with this latest digital painting “Real Heroes“.

I asked Rob what inspired him to create “Real Heroes” and here’s what he had to say:
“I have 3 or 4 members who served in the military and when Vets day rolled around, I was stunned as I realized wow, I had never before honored my family members who were in the military and all the other military heroes with my gift before. That’s when I put my other projects on hold and made a decision to do this piece.”

Get a copy for yourself or for someone YOU wish to honor (framed or unframed) by going to Rob’s online gallery now: http://rob-joseph.imagekind.com/store/Images.aspx/bca72629-d7f5-4549-a1ab-bdaeb8a21af5/Illustrations

Illustrator, Author ROB JOSEPH

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Is your work “meaningless” because it’s not “Christian”?

Is the work that we create that does not have pictures of the cross, a fish or the gospel message within it of less value than work that contains these things?

“…is all art by Christians what many recognize as ‘Christian Art’?”

It’s the crossroads that many of us as Christian creatives face. Now that we have given our lives over to Christ, and now that we have given Him access to our talent, how will we see this relationship reflected in our work? Many immediately expect comic books that tell bible stories and graphic designs for Christian t-shirts…but is all art by Christians what many recognize as “Christian Art”?

Obviously we would see some expression of our faith in what we create the same way we hear it in our verbal expression. But do we quote scripture in every conversation?

I don’t want to lead the conversation on this, but I want to hear what YOU have experienced in the matter:

1. Leave a comment below on your take on this.
2. Forward this to 3 friends and ask them to post their thoughts and experiences as well.

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