Walter Rane

Sorry it's been a few days and I never posted pictures of my Halloween costume! This Halloween kinda turned into a major stink. I ended up having a huge meltdown, my roommate had an intense asthma attack, and I found out I had a paper due the next day, so I spent the evening in my room doing homework, balling my eyes out, and going through more tissues and paper than I want to think about.

On a happier note I maybe, just maybe get to have one of my drawings on the art wall! As bad as this sounds the art wall is my main motivation for my success in head drawing class. It's pretty much the only reason I do anything. Oh the joy of having one of your pieces on that high and mighty wall! It pretty much says you know what you are doing and you rock at it. We will see if it actually happens though, because my art teacher is all over the place. One day he told me my piece was good enough for the wall, and the next he told me my heads suffer from "onion skin." Yah.....

Well, tonight I got the privilege of listening to Walter Rane speak about his art career and work for the church. If you don't know who Walter Rane is go look him up because his paintings are beautiful! This man has paintings in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City yo! That is intense! It's only like one of my greatest dreams to have a piece of artwork there! One of the things he talked about that really hit me was his emphasis on emotion. He pretty much said that the emotion of a painting is the most important part of any artwork, even higher than composition. I totally agree! Anyone can paint a picture, but only a few have ever overwhelmed me with their beauty and brought me to tears. Here are a few of his that really speak to me.

This is a painting of Moroni when he found his father dead and he realized that he was the only one left of what had once been a large and righteous civilization. Look at the emotion on his face! Holy crow this one hits me hard!

Funny story about this one: I actually saw this painting when I was like 14 or 15. It was in my friend's bathroom and I loved it so much that I took a picture of it on my cell phone and looked at it all the time haha.

This one brings me to tears. Walter Rane talked about how he wanted a different perspective on the garden of Gethsemane, and how he thought no one had ever captured just how much of a burden our sins were on Christ. You can just see the pain in his figure and it breaks my heart. Such a beautiful painting!

The simplicity of this painting is what makes it beautiful. I love the overhead light that lifts your eyes to heaven  and shows the purity and beauty of a resurrected Christ. I also love that it is titled Not Here. How perfect!

Really, his paintings are some of my favorites. He uses the gestures of the body in such a perfect way to bring emotion. He said his favorite artists were Caravaggio and Rubens and you can totally see their influence in his figures. He has the most perfect way of painting angels-they seem to twist out of heaven in a mix of light and power. They are absolutely breathtaking. If you ever get the chance to look at his original pieces do it because it will totally be worth your time! Anyway, I think that's it. Have a wonderful evening and be excited because tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!!!!! k loves bye