Artandicon's Blog

  • Two Types of Color Wheels

    Two lessons using the color wheel: the first is to mix the colors around the wheel. The students who’ve done this exercise before get to mix the same colors, but create an image from their own imagination.

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  • Solid Geometric Perspective

    An introductory lesson in perspective and shading using solid geometric objects for determining the skill level of students in a first art class. This lesson allows the teacher to modify the future lesson plans to build on the students’ noted strengths and weaknesses. It also allows for making several levels of the same lesson, if…

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  • Rublev’s Holy Trinity

    My artistic and spiritual journey with the Rublev icon of the Holy Spirit left me wanting to return again when I am in better health. I’ve made my way into the common pitfalls which result from inattentive observation and will be in a better frame of mind at a later date.

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  • The Two Domes of Creation

    I had Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF) neck surgery at the end of March to correct a damaged disk. A very fine surgeon removed it, replaced it with a new one, and fused it for strength. Two days in the hospital and I went home to recover. I was tired for several weeks, but…

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  • Pillars of Creation

    The Bible has many creation narratives. We’re familiar with Genesis 1 and 2, but our scriptures also include creation stories in Job 38-41, Psalm 104, Proverbs 8:22-31, Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 and 12:1-7, and excerpts from Isaiah 40-55. Some believe God created the world and all of creation in seven 24-hour periods. Others believe God had nothing…

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  • Never surrender!

    “Never give up! Never surrender!” This is my favorite quote from the 1999 sci-fi parody film Galaxy Quest. As a fan of Star Trek, I love the heroics of the storylines and the movie’s devoted fans. What sets this spoof story apart is how an alien culture has modeled its entire identity on the “historical…

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  • Weaving a Life Story

    Weaving is a metaphor for our life’s story and journey. We envision the weaver in charge of the colors, designs, and textures of the finished fabric. The weaver’s goal is to produce a beautiful product. We often think we are in charge of our own destiny, as “The Weaving Song” by Carolyn Hester, in which…

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  • Learning, Growing and Thriving

    In most adults, learning and thinking plateaus and then begins to decline after age 30 or 40. The old adage, “Don’t trust anyone over thirty” takes on new meaning in regards  to creativity. People after this age start to perform worse in tests of cognitive abilities such as processing speed, the rate at which someone…

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  • The Iconography of the Nativity

    What Makes a Nativity Scene? The gospels remind us the story of Christ’s birth isn’t necessary for our salvation. Only our faith in Christ’s saving work for us on the cross is necessary “to transform our humble body that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables…

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  • Light Overcomes the Darkness

    “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” —John 1:5. Some of us can hear these words with hope, two thousand years after John’s gospel was first written. These words come as a ray of hope, like a flashlight’s beam bursting into a collapsed mine to let imprisoned workers know…

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