Author: Stan Hillard

I am a man who loves the Lord, my wife and art in that order. I find that there is not enough of me to get done all of the things I find important. I am learning to ease into things instead of jumping before I consider what the outcome will be. I try to see the glass and not to worry about how full or empty it is. Loss in life has lead me to be thankful for what I have and not to be a whiner. God has provided more than is equitable considering how often I fail Him. I find that loving is more valuable than being loved. Art is and has always been the thread in my life that ties everything else together. I long for the day...

TRUST THE COMFORTER

Posted on by Stan Hillard

The small grey rock in the lower right quadrant of this work represents God’s people. The stone is not small because it is insignificant, but because it is precious to Him. God knows how frail we are. He created us to be dependent upon Him. A rather large, multicolored, diagonal stone, representing the Holy Spirit, eclipses the small grey one. Above and to the left is an sepia colored rock that symbolizes Jesus in his no-longer earthly but resurrected body. Having been human, He understands how difficult it is for us to weather daily storms. He knows our needs. Further above and to the left is a slightly more distant stone meant to be God the Father. This arrangement is an attempt to show that we are connected to God through Jesus. God gave us the Holy Spirit to hover over and comfort us. Behind these stones is an environment that is broken and hostile much like the world we inhabit. Strewn across the bottom of the composition are a variety of variously colored stones that are intended to represent the conflicts and trials of everyday life-each different in its own way and all the same in how they can and do cause us harm. The stone upon which the small grey rock rests is intended to be our faith. Notice how it is by our faith we are supported and not even torrents of hurt, disappointment or anger, represented by the water to the right, can attack us or carry us away. A tiny red stone wrapped in a royal purple disguise is supposed to be Satan himself, hoping to tempt us away from God’s protective plan.

We are not alone. After the resurrection, Jesus left to return, but before he did he promised us that the Holy Spirit would come to us as a comforter. When trials come our way, and they will, we have the peace of knowing that there is a form of the triune God that is still here with us.

Peace, if it can exist in this life, is the direct result of the influence of a power higher than ourselves. I know that some say peace is the absence of conflict. I say, that conflict is not only unavoidable, it is inevitable and not necessarily a bad thing as long as we trust Jesus to guide us to remember that this life and its trouble is temporary. So, we must beware those who would distract us. You must know those people who love to argue for the sake of argument. There is a good reason why those people are called devil’s advocates. Take care where you put your trust.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“But very truly, I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away, Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

John 16:7

MERCY

Posted on by Stan Hillard

The God I serve is not an angry, unforgiving, impatient God. He moves in small ways that we cannot perceive to affect the changes that, should we become aware of them, would bring us into perfect harmony with Him. As I consider the beauty He has made, I am constantly reminded that those small merciful changes he has offered us are ours to grasp, to hold on to so we will become aware and give Him the Glory for what He has done. His hand is everywhere. Should we look closely enough, we would be awestruck by the Majesty of His Mercy. Most importantly of all is how slow He has been to judge us. Second, third, innumerable are the chances He has given us to come into his presence and ask forgiveness for the horrors we have perpetrated on this planet and on ourselves. His Mercy is free. Pause. Take time to let Him in.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:8

Hiding In The Cleft Of The Rock

Posted on by Stan Hillard

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The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.   Psalm 18:2

This oil painting is 10” x 20” and symbolically represents my relationship with those I love and those who love me. God the father (The large rock at the top) shelters, protects me, hides me from harm because of His love for me. Jesus (The second largest rock, entering the picture plane from the lower left) is my constant support and a perfect example of how life should be lived. The next two largest stones are similar but slightly different. The less perfect one (on the right) represents me. The more perfect one that touches both of the larger rocks, well, it represents the Holy Spirit, my comforter who is always with me. The smaller stones behind are my family and friends (always supportive and patient with me as I attempt to get “it” right). In the darkest part of the painting there are rocks that represent my sins (They are many and always there to remind me of my failings). Please note that the Holy Spirit is firmly positioned between me and my mistakes. Entering the picture plane from the upper left side, there is a plain, nondescript stone (It looks deceptively normal dosen’t It?) that represents both my past and the deceiver (Satan himself). Please notice that it (He) is completely blocked by the rocks that represent all three branches of the Holy Trinity.  I am hidden, protected by them.  When I rely on them I am free from the control evil used to have over me.

There is a safe place from all the craziness that keeps attacking my spirit.  It has been freely provided and the peace I find there is immeasurable. I find comfort by hiding in the shadow of the love my Savior has cast on me.  He has never failed to intercede and ask God to remember me.  All I have to do is spend prayer time talking to Him about my sin, my pain, my temptations.  He always provides better alternatives than the ones I could have produced for myself.  The comfort that come from living in a spiritual safe place gives me courage to try to tell the world what has been done for me.

What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
And what a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer

Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged
Take it to the Lord in prayer

Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness
Take it to the Lord in prayer

Songwriters: Charles Crozat Converse / Joseph Scriven

I spent much of my life disappointed in unfulfilling relationships but when I finally surrendered, gave up my will and in its place allowed exceptance of whatever God has planned for me, I found peace.  I am a sinful wretch forgiven by God and he hides, shelters and protects me from the world and from myself. Now all of my relationships are measured by the one I have with Christ.  I am loved, forgiven and cared for.  Therefore, I now have the privilege to love, forgive and care for others.  It is all much easier now that I have Christ as a perfect model to follow.  Don’t get me wrong.  I still struggle.  I am human not divine as He was.  When I get “it” wrong (It happens all the time) I no longer have to waste time beating myself up.  If God can forgive me, I can forgive myself and move on to the next challenge.  That’s a much better real-life model than wallowing in self-recriminations and despair the way I used to.

I have learned that joy and happiness are not the same thing. Happiness, a temporary state, is easily ruined by the constant onslaught of the evil that we face each day. However, the joy that comes from knowing God through a relationship with his Son, Jesus, is permanent and boundless. Things may not always turn out the way I would prefer, but my God is bigger than my disappointments and my failings. He protects me from my own inadequacies. He is enough for me.

There are four more paintings in this series.  I hope to have them finished soon. I will share them when they are.  Until then, rock on!

 

 

Color Too Far

Posted on by Stan Hillard

 

365296E0-EC89-4069-9CBB-5DBCD6C4EFDFWhen I think of the importance of color I am overcome.  There is no visual element that means more to me.  When I get to heaven I hope that I will be allowed to assist the Creator in the mixing of the colors He uses.  I would never presume that I could do a better job of making color choices than He does.  However, I believe that the gifts and abilities He has given me are part of His eternal plan.  I pray he will use me there as He has here.  He has given me an understanding of the intresic value of specific color relationships. Knowing that color is never random or arbitrary but intently specific validates for me that there is order and He is in charge of it.  I am blessed.

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When I play with color I often allow myself to go too far. It is my hope that the use of extreme color will force the viewer to abandon expectations of the natural world as it is and enter the realm of the unexpected. My aim is to alter reality to the point of abstracting it and in turn giving an enhanced view of creation. I am not questioning God’s perfection. Instead, I am hoping to help others look more carefully at it, to see it anew.

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My love affair with God’s creation continues. I can’t give it up. No I won’t do it.  It inspires me to search for new ways to give evidence that I have Him to thank for all I have and all I can do.  Praise be to Him!

For the beauty of the earth
For the beauty of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies
Over and around us lies

Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise

For the beauty of the hour
Of the day and of the night
Hill and vale and tree and flower
Sun and moon and stars of light
Sun and moon and stars of light

Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise

For the joy of human love
Brother, sister, parent, child
Friends on earth and friends above
For all gentle thoughts and mild
For all gentle thoughts and mild

Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise

For each perfect gift of thine
To our race so freely given
Graces human and divine
Flow’rs of earth and buds of heav’n
Flow’rs of earth and buds of heav’n

Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn, our joyful hymn of praise
This our joyful hymn of praise

John Rutter

 

The Chimney Tops

Posted on by Stan Hillard

Everyone needs a place to go to be alone with God. Mine is at the entrance to the Chimney Tops trail in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. I am blessed to live close enough to go there whenever I feel the need to to be especially close to my maker. Sadly, this trail has been closed for a while due to the wildfire damage. It is open again and I am happy to say that God still joins me there. I cannot explain what happens to me when I see this place. It is my ideal church setting. I can talk freely and God responds with absolute beauty that demonstrates to me that he is listening. I praise Him for being the kind of God who cares to let me be that close to Him. I took many photos the day I was there. I am still trying to process all He revealed. I will share one image that spoke of His sovereignty and power.

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Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

FALL IN THE SMOKIES

Posted on by Stan Hillard

I found a new place to take photos today. Since I have not been able to go to my favorite spot (fire damage from last fall), I have been forced to look elsewhere for my subject matter. I hope these images impact you the way they hit me. I love playing with color. Unrealistic color will help me when I start making drawings and paintings from these photos. For now, all I can hope for is that you will enjoy something I have done. My prayer is to glorify the God who made this place. I cannot improve on natural beauty so I alter things to better understand the creative process that God has tasked me to explore. Check out my latest excursion.

Consubstantial Truth

Posted on by Stan Hillard

This artwork was produced as a 36” x 48” oil painting on canvas. The stones depicted are intended to symbolically represent the Trinity. The rather large and looming stone at the top of the composition is intended to be God Himself. He is above us, strong, omniscient, omnipotent and ever present. The stone entering the picture plane from the left is intended to be Jesus. The Jesus stone closely resembles the God stone in every way.  It faces the smaller stones in a horizontal relationship. The Jesus stone stands on a flat surface that is intended to be the foundation of faith, the promise of His love. The largest stone traversing the entire vertical length on the left of the image is intended to be the Holy Spirit. It reflects the glow of the God and Jesus stones while covering and protecting the smaller stones which represent the faithful. The six stones that immerge from the shadow of the Jesus stone are intended to represent Mary, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul, the tellers of His story. All of the smaller stones represent mankind as it attempts to be in God’s will, following Jesus. In the upper right hand corner there is a lone pebble, separate from all the others. That small stone is supposed to represent the artist, basking in the glow of God’s love and struggling to follow in faith the teachings of our Savior.

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be
pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Psalms 19:14

SET MY FEET- AN ATTEMPT TO COME TO TERMS WITH WHO I AM

Posted on by Stan Hillard

I am blessed to have lived my entire life here in East Tennessee. None of my travels have afforded me more inspiration than the place where I was born. I step out my back door into evidence that the reason I am an artist is all around me. I make images that are derived from nature. I find it edifying that the work I do is an extension of reality without being a mere reproduction of what can be seen.

I have always had an affinity for rocks. They have physical, psychological and spiritual relevance in my art-making process. Living in the foothills of one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth, I am provided some of my favorite subject matter. After a short drive I can easily be photographing phenomenal formations of gigantic boulders. Alongside these monoliths I find their ancient relatives. Stones that have been weathered by the changes of many seasons range in size and type from mammoth to the tiniest pebbles imaginable.

I am passionate about the infinite variety of their shapes and forms. I never tire of their beauty and their exquisite compositional possibilities. I digitally alter my photographs to adjust their color, exposure, resolution, contrast and definition. Because I consider myself a colorist, I abstract the color to symbolically express spiritual ideas and themes. Although I manipulate color without mercy, I cannot divorce myself from the integrity of the textural surfaces. Fissures, cracks, pitting and the effect of lichen and stains from other organic materials on rock surfaces intrigue me.

Layering thin washes of color and value permits me to work almost as slowly as the weathering process itself. I do not like to rush things. If I am patient, all of the artistic quandaries I encounter resolve themselves without too much duress. I enjoy experimenting with new processes and find that I often combine drawing, painting and sometimes collage to exact the effects I like the best. If I failed to give God the glory for permitting me to explore the gifts He has given me, I would be truly remiss. He allows me to communicate the beliefs of my faith through my imitations of His handiwork, and I am eternally grateful. I am His, and what I do is His. I pray that you will see Him in something I have done.

“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

Psalm 40:2

AN ATTEMPT AT ABSTRACTION

Posted on by Stan Hillard

After visiting the KMA exhibit of the Knoxville Seven in January of 2016 I found myself asking some serious questions. The works of art I had just seen were produced by those who had been my teachers. I went through the University of Tennessee art program in a golden age when those who were teaching were also capable of making amazing images. The problem for me was that they were all the living proponents of Abstract Expressionism and I was in love with realism. The defining question I was forced to address was, how had I come to be the realist I am as an artist in spite of my training by such magnificently abstract artists?

In my heart I had rejected every attempt they made to ask me to embrace abstraction. I understood all of the precepts of abstract conceptualization and I could more than satisfy the requirements of their assignments. None of them ever knew how in my arrogance I hated being praised for doing what came far too easily for me. Realism was my only real challenge. I love a good skirmish with what I think I know to be true.

I came home that night having decided that forty years ago I had been shortsighted in having tried to dismiss the genius of abstract thought. I examined my own set of artistic sensibilities and was confounded by what I discovered. In spite of all my railing against non-objective imagery I was guilty of using the push pull of surfaces and edges that deny form and space. I allowed myself to apply non-realistic, abstract use of color that is so evident in the images of my 1970’s forerunners. I am glad today that I had been influenced by them.

Carl Sublett was at the core of this influence. What a giant among Cretins. His kindness, intellect and encouraging candor never fell short of meeting the personal and artistic needs of his students. I am grateful to have been one of them. When I became an art educator, I attempted to model my classroom behavior after his.

So, as you can see, I had to revisit, rethink, rework what I would allow myself to admit about the whole abstraction thing. After careful scrutiny with a refreshed eye, I found that my own work was not as realistic as I had touted. Total abstraction is still not native to me. However, when whatever I am working on needs that special tweet, I am going to allow myself abstract liberties. It can’t hurt. Right?

God has been very good to me. He has allowed me to live long enough to start to see the truth in my life and in my artwork. Here are a few steps I have taken toward abstraction. I think I like it.

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I looked at one of my rock photographs and asked myself to care a little less about reality.  This is what happened.

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As the piece developed I fell more in love with surface and less with subject matter.  Texture and mark making became fun again.

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This is the finished product and it is obvious that these are intended to be rocks and water.  They are, however, a bit less realistically represented.  I enjoyed the process and the product turned out okay too.

Art and Thoughts On It

Posted on by Stan Hillard

HIDING IN THE CLEFT OF THE ROCK

It has started.  I am ready to start sharing with others the gifts God has given me.  So, I guess it could be said that I have been hiding.  Hiding in the cleft of the Rock (Jesus) has been a safe place but now I am willing to venture out and let others know what Jesus has done for me.  Having taught for thirty-one and a half years, it could be assumed that when it comes to art, I would know what I am doing.  No, no, no my friends.  I am still learning. Even after all this time it seems that I am just getting started.  With the help of my Savior I will give it a shot.

The image above (Eucharist Abscission – oil on canvas) is one of my early works in a series about rocks. As you can see, I love color more than I love realism and I really love realism.  Rocks are so beautiful. Like me, they take to change very slowly.  I am already finding that it is easier to make images than it is to talk about them.  I hope you will enjoy my work and come here to look at it often.

May God bless you as he has blessed me.