He Is Risen!

Easter Sunrise 2013
Oil on linen • 6" x 8"

A few days ago, our good friend Jonathan Stasko invited my wife and me to join him in his annual tradition of painting the sunrise on Easter morning. Unfortunately, since Jonathan lives in New York state, we couldn't join him in person, but we did so in spirit.









When the alarm rang at 5:40 this morning, I was certainly not in the mood to paint, but I pulled myself out of bed anyway and staggered around a bit until I started to wake up. Fortunately, we had prepared all our gear last night, and my sweet wife had made muffins, so we could just grab everything and go. After a quick stop at Starbucks to grab two coffees, we were on our way.

I began painting before the sun rose and made the mistake of starting out too light. When the sun appeared, I had no values left to make the sun bright enough! As a result, I had to darken everything else. Aside from this setback, and the annoyance of my coffee going cold too fast, and the humbling fact that Andrea made two paintings in the time it took me to paint one, it was a great time!

Andrea's 1st
Oil on linen • 6" x 8"

Andrea's 2nd
Oil on linen • 5" x 7"

Jonathan inspired us to adopt this tradition as our own. We hope many other artists will do the same, in celebration that our Lord Jesus Christ is no longer in the grave, but is risen indeed! Happy Easter, everyone!