Stella McCain and Mary Apple Batiste viewing St. Serapion
The Encounter Gallery paintings are currently installed in the sanctuary at Monica Park Christian Church in Garland, Texas. Pastor Eddie Hill and the whole congregation have been so gracious. It’s been a pleasure to meet and talk, and also worship with them on Sunday mornings the last few weeks.
Both sides of the sanctuary before the service.
I tried to be as unobtrusive as I could, but here’s a picture taken of the side walls from the back row during the early part of the service a few weeks ago.
And during the service.
On Thursday, March 28 at 7 pm, Monica Park will hold a Maundy Thursday service. Pastor Eddie has asked me to speak about the paintings and give some insight into why I painted them. I’ve chosen a couple that directly relate to the ideas behind Maundy Thursday, and will end with some stories behind the “24 Feet”, and why I painted that. Please join us!
Anna in the Temple with the Child Oil on canvas 24″ x 18″
I’ve wanted to do this painting for a long time, and now it’s done. The models are my beautiful mother, Virginia Reed and her latest great-grandchild Eliza. Thank you Ben & Kathryn for allowing us to include Eliza!
I’m very pleased with how this painting turned out. Anna is so joyous and tickled to be holding this baby. Her expression is exactly what I was looking for. And the child is completely content in her arms.
This painting is now hanging at Monica Park Christian Church in Garland, Texas. In fact, just this last Sunday, Pastor Diana preached on Simeon and Anna both and used the two paintings to illustrate the passage in Luke. That was a great blessing to see and hear the sermon.
A catalog of the Encounter Gallery paintings is available. There are some sample pages below. Each painting has a short essay along with the scripture text. About half of the essays were written by friends, the other half are my own stories.
The catalogs are $20. If you would like to purchase one, let me know by sending an email to russ@encountergallery.com. I’ll reply with ways to send payment, and then bring a copy to you next time we meet, or drop one in the mail.
If you would like to have an art print made, let me know which painting you are interested in, and the size you would like (16 x 20’s are less that $50), and I will work on it.
With James Surls under Seven and Seven Flower, photo by Charmaine Locke
The Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth recently unveiled their
newly designed interior and I went to check it out the day after their big
grand re-opening. It was Sunday (after 1st
service) and their website said “Open today at 10 am!!!” So, I drove over to
see the new interior design. It turns out that there were a few of us there
early, but the website had not been updated overnight. So we hung out in the
parking lot under the oak tree shade.
At noon, as we were walking inside, I overheard a lady behind me speaking to one of the attendants and she said “… well, that’s James Surls”. I looked at the guard who didn’t seem to register the name, and I turned to her and said “That’s James Surls?” She smiled and said “Yes, and I’m Charmaine, his wife!” James and Charmaine were checking out the placement and hanging of his newly installed piece Seven and Seven Flower for the museum. It was pretty cool, the hanging of the piece had been supervised by one of James’ assistants, and we were seeing it together for the first time in-situ.
If you know Texas artists, you’ve seen dozens of James’s work in art museums and corporate collections. But, this one is pretty special. It’s massive and cool with wonderful wall shadows.
As we were talking, James walked back over, and Charmaine introduced us. I told him that his name had been on my resume for almost 15 years. Back in 2005, James was juror of The Texas National at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacagdoches. James selected my piece “St. Leon of the Steelworkers” for that show. I’ve always been extremely pleased that he included this portrait of my grandfather. I’ve always thought it gave me some Tex-Cred!
St. Leon of the Steelworkers Oil on Canvas 30″ x 36″
I did not share with James and Charmaine my other James Surls moment. A number of years ago, around the time the kids were in diapers (all grown now), I was at the Fair Park Flea Market in Dallas where Terri and I used to spend hours looking for unique treasures. One month I spotted a small maquette obviously by Mr. Surls. It was about 5-6 inches in diameter and maybe 6 inches high. I very gently picked it up and marveled at this extremely cool work of art. The proprietor of the booth saw me, and smiled, and showed me a letter of authenticity, but if you know James’ work, it was obvious who made it. The price was $500, which even though a great price, at the time it was about 100 times what I had to spend. I looked for awhile, sat it down, looked for another long while, sighed, and walked off.
