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Breath of Heaven – NOA Art Auction

Night of Artists is having their annual Art Auction and my submission this year is an

18″ x 24″ mixed media painting called “Breath of Heaven”.

breathofheaven_detail_AmandaMilke

breathofheaven_rhinestones_amandamilke

Most of my paintings tend to be inspired by a Bible passage but the inspiration for this piece comes from several different verses that all spoke to me.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth Psalm 33:6

In his hands is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. Job 12:10

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4

You see my grandmother who I am very close with has by God’s grace survived through skin cancer, colon cancer and lung cancer and has now recently had more cancer found in her other lung. As I was thinking over the unfairness that is cancer and was petitioning God for healing for her I was given this image and message that even though the breath in her lungs may fail her body, the breath of God in her soul will never fail. The same breath that formed the Heavens and gave life and form to everything can also live within us and that alone is awe inspiring to me. So in this painting the “sky” breathes, as layers of cells/earth have life and breath radiating out of them.

If you’d like to own this one of kind mixed media painting you can place your bid online here:

“Immersion” coming 2019

I love creating art around a theme or concept and for 2019 that theme is “Immersion”.

I’ve been inspired by how prominent water is used as a symbol in the bible from the sea of Galilee to the many miracles that center around it and I wanted to create a body of art that encompasses that wet and wild imagery.

So, throughout 2019 my media feeds will be flooded with many water based paintings which hopefully will culminate into “Immersion” a gallery exhibit that will immerse you the viewer into this wet, wonderful world.

For now, here is a look at some past and present and in progress pieces to immerse your senses in.

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🌊💙

Amanda

The “Talk” …

You know what artists usually do best?

CREATE!

We are good at using pictures, colors and textures to convey our thoughts and feelings.

But in order to make those creations relate able to our viewers we need to do “The Talk”.

“The Talk” often fills artists with anxiety.

I think this anxiety partly comes from a fear of not being able to clearly and adequately express in words what we have already expressed on canvas.

It’s that old adage that a picture is worth a 1000 words.

I think it’s more accurate to say that some things, some experiences can’t be fully described in any other way but artistically and even then the art form used may still only be grasping at the coat tails of those experiences.

Then add in the problem of subjectivity, how you see and I see will be different.

Even how we perceive the same colors will vary from person to person and at this point a lot of Artists will take a hard pass on that “Talk” because they are scared to put themselves out there for fear of rejection.

Who can blame them, Society today places an emphasis on living life on fast forward click that thumbs up button or angry face and move on.

But we were made for so much more than that.

Imagine if we took time, actual time not just a scroll through to get to know someone, to learn from their experience and to share yours to actually interact with each other.

Can you imagine what the world would look like if we saw people, individuals for who they truly are?

You see friends I’m a Christian Artist not just because I believe in a Creative God but I believe in his creative process and that’s you.

You! Each and every one of you is a beautiful work of art and you are living a life that I’m not and there is value in sharing those experiences with each other.

And that is why I am doing “The Talk”.

It may not be as eloquent as I’d like, it may fall short of describing a particular piece from my original artistic vision, but I firmly believe there is value in our interaction and I’m willing to risk getting up in front of a crowd of people to share it with you, so I hope you’ll take the time to join me.

To our shared experiences!

Cheers,

Amanda

My Exhibit “Blue Pomegranate” will be on display for the month of June with the official meet and greet happening on June 11 at 7pm and the Artist Talk happening on June 14th at 7pm at the ALFA (Alberta Lottery Fund Art) Gallery for “The Talk” The gallery is located in the heart of the Sherritt Cultural Pavilion at the Dow Centennial Centre 8700 84 St, Fort Saskatchewan, AB T8L 4P5

Exhibit Hours
Thursdays & Fridays
11 am – 2 pm
Also open during performances at the Shell

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