This is the Sunday School lesson I taught on Sunday March 11, 2007. I know it's been a while since then, but if you read my last post, I decided to run these here (after the fact) because I've been spending a lot of time doing them and as a consequence have had little time to write a blog. Hopefully they'll be helpful to someone.
James chapter 1: 19-27
• “Mirrors”
James 1: 19 “…my dear brothers…”
As in last week’s lesson, I was tempted to pass over this statement--as if it were a mere pleasantry. James here identifies with all believers in an exceedingly intimate way.
The ironic thing is that I was tempted to pass over that phrase, in spite of the fact that James immediately follows it with “Take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak…”
But I wanted to get to the part where I got to speak! Is that human or what?
So let’s go back again.
Last time we discussed James’ radical statement about being a slave of God, slave to Jesus. Here he calls his readers (us) “dear brothers”. Isn’t this like saying, “I’m a slave--you be slaves too” ?
Q: How do we act as slaves?
A: By being “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry”.
Remember that I said last week that James is sort of self-outlining. He achieves this outline by anticipating his reader’s questions and following up quickly with answers to those unspoken objections.
Q: So why should we be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry?
A: “For man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life God desires”. (vs. 20)
Now if I were listing sins in the order of most grave to least down to most minor I don’t think that
• Not listening
• Speaking too quickly
and
• Anger
would top my list--that is, prior to reading this closely. I do all three of these constantly--and practically consider them virtues at times, not vices. But James lists these three, (perhaps summed up in the term “impatience”) first.
Let’s back up again:
What did James speak of in the previous section? Remember that this letter wasn’t written to be read over several weeks time, it’s all one short letter to Christians, and meant to be taken in close context.
James just told us about Persevering with Joy. Summed up in one word: “Patience”.
vs. 21 “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you which can save you.”
This is both a practical statement AND a high theological concept.
IF we discard moral filth and humble ourselves we are going to be less frustrated by our selfish desires (remember them?) and consequently NOT be easily angered, NOT be quick to speak, and have the Patience to listen to both God and man.
We need to listen to God--we all know this--and I’ll submit that this is the primary meaning of “listening” that James is speaking of here. But sometimes I wonder if I don’t have a harder time listening to men than God. Which probably means I wasn’t really listening to God in the first place.
Guess what? James anticipates this in…
vs. 22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
The word here obviously indicates the word of God (the written word, since James says, “Do what IT says”, not , “what HE says”. This should silence any talk of “ongoing scriptural revelation”).
vs. 23 “Anyone who listens to the word and does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”
I look in the mirror in the morning and I see a man with hair sticking up--I’ve got glop in my eyes, dried drool on my cheek, maybe one of those breath right strips on my nose, I don’t know where my glasses are some days…Karin says it’s cute--but I don’t want to go out in public like that. I want to be prepared if I meet anyone.
I’m pretty sure that this is what James is talking about. We’re disheveled, and we look into the mirror to see what we look like so that we can begin to put things right for the day. And notice that this is a daily thing.
Just so, a Christian looks into the word to get a good look at himself and begin the day’s work of putting things right.
vs. 25 “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in whatever he does.”
We need to look at our “reflection” in the Perfect Law.
Let me digress for a minute. In James’ time, mirrors were highly polished pieces of brass, hardly a perfect reflection. The fact is, even now mirrors are less than great. We think they’re pretty swell, but you’ll notice that there’s some distortion caused by the glass interfering with the silver backing. In fact mirrors used for artistic purposes or photography have the silver on the facing side, otherwise you’ll get a double image.
But James re-affirms the scripture as “The Perfect Law”.
Q: How Perfect is the Law?
A: It can give freedom.
We tend, as humans, to think of law as being restriction. But God’s law isn’t about restricting us, it’s about freeing us to be what we were meant to be.
Let’s give this a context. The speed limit on the bypass is now 60 m.p.h.. Sometimes I am in a rush--okay, MOST of the time I am in a rush, and that speed limit seems like a restriction. But suppose I carelessly exceed that “limit”, get in an accident, and wind up in the hospital or the grave. The “restriction” had the power to keep me out of the hospital or grave, making me free to continue living my life.
God’s law is like that, only much higher. What seems like a restriction here and now opens to a freedom I probably can’t anticipate--especially if I am, what?
• Not Listening
• Busy Talking
and
• Getting Angry about the “injustice of it all”
vs. 26 “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless”.
Have you ever noticed how people with a bunch of bumper stickers aren’t usually too pleasant to be around? The couldn’t sum up their complaint in just one sticker, so they add another and another, until the whole back of their car is one big quilt of vinyl? Do you ever seek out a conversation with these people? Or do you see their car in the parking lot at Ingles or Bi-Lo and think, “be on the lookout for that guy!”
Q: Why do we do avoid the opinionated bumper sticker guy?
A: Because he hasn’t “gotten it off his chest”.
He doesn’t feel better-- he’s in the grocery store somewhere waiting to pounce on the cashier, or the stock boy, or the manager, or you and me!
Of course there’s two problems with this observation:
As soon as I began writing down the “bumper sticker analogy” I thought about my own car. “How many bumper stickers have I got?” I asked myself. “Five, but that’s not so many,” was my answer, “and mine aren’t all opinionated like that other guys!”
So my bumper stickers express no opinion at all? Of course they do!
Let’s see, I’ve got one for Denmark, that’s where Karin’s family comes from. I liked visiting there, although it had it’s problems. That sticker says to the world, “I’ve traveled outside the U.S., so don’t think I’m too provincial.” I’ve got two Route 66 stickers. Those say, “I’m a bit of a traditionalist, and don’t mind driving my car anywhere I want to go.” I’ve got an Apple Computer sticker that says, “I like a computer that doesn’t require programming skills on my part.” And I’ve got a Ron Jon Surf shop sticker that says, “I wish I could surf, or want you to think I can.”
If you count my antenna topper (that would be number six),that says, “I like fast food, and I’ll even eat hot dogs.”
So I guess I’m a loud mouth too.
The second problem (a function of the first) is that I can’t be doing any listening if I don’t even want to meet the guy who I think has “a chip on his shoulder”, and all those bumper stickers.
Remember that James told us to be quick to listen. I think that I need to learn to listen to both God and men.
vs. 27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
I should define the word “religion” here. This refers to outward acts of religious devotion. The sad fact is that it’s very easy to appear religious--particularly in the eyes of the world. Dress up, go to church on Sunday, drop something in the plate…if you’re rich or a politician you can throw a fund raiser.
But James tells us we should “look after widows and orphans in their distress”, and then keep ourselves “from being polluted by the world.”
Remember before, James told us to “get rid of all moral filth”, why?
So we can:
• Not be angry
• Not speaking quickly
and so we can be
• Listening
How are we to know about the distress of the widow and orphan if we’re trying to fill ourselves with our selfish desires--failing to do so (which is inevitable), getting angry (as a result of our failure), ranting about how unfair it all is, and not listening?
James seems to be re-affirming the statement Christ made in Matt. 6:3
“But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”
As humans we want to do our sinning in secret and our religious acts in a big way. But Christianity says, “keep your religious acts to yourself, and confess your sinfulness openly.”
It’s an upside down thing, this faith of ours. Seems to me this mirror we’re looking into is like a fun house mirror--except it’s showing us that we’re the ones that are actually inverted.
While I was making my notes on this, a young boy was in the same hallway talking to his mother, “I want my toys--I want to go home to my toys.” His mother replied, “I want a good boy, who’s going to have a birthday in three days.” “Yeah, but I want my toys!”
This fellow was tired after a long day, and his mother was being exceedingly patient with him (his baby sister was asleep on her shoulder). “We’re going to go home tomorrow and then you can have your toys, AND then you’re going to have a big birthday party too.”
God treats us with great patience. We’re too busy talking to hear him saying, “we’re going home soon, and then it will be better than you can imagine.” “Yeah, but I want this thing right now.” God replies, “I don’t think you should have that thing right now, it’s not the right time.” “Yeah, but I want it anyway.” And so it goes.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Sunday, September 09, 2007
My Sunday School lessons
Anyone who's been paying attention to this blog since around March will notice that I haven't been posting as often as all that. (Not that I posted that much to start with). The main reason being that I've been teaching Adult Sunday School at my church (Covenant Presbyterian Church, Waynesville, NC) since Sunday March 4 of this year. Not satisfied with a traditional "quarterly" I opted to write my own notes for the class, thereby guaranteeing that I'd have a lot more work to do each week.
For months now I have been considering simply posting some of the lesson notes that I have written. For various reasons I have put this off, but now I'm going to do it. Today's post will begin my class notes from the epistle of James. If anyone cares to read these notes, fine. I hope you get a great deal of information from them.
I don't offer them lightly, but I'm also hoping that this doesn't open a can of worms in which everyone wanting to discuss comparative religion begins posting comments and e-mailing me day and night.
I'm not going to pretend that these notes are all encompassing. I'm writing simply from a Christian perspective, and even within Christian circles there are often disagreements on some of the finer points.
I also realize that I am departing somewhat from the stated purpose of this blog, wherein I proposed to ramble about my life as an artist and musician. Then again, since this Sunday School class has become something very important to my life, and as it affects my creative output as well, it is relevant to my "day job".
With that said, here are the notes:
Sunday March 4, 2007
James chapter 1: 1-18
•James 1:1 “A Strong First Impression”
I was tempted to say the meat of this first passage was in verses 2-18 but then was caught short by my own familiarity with this sort of salutation. It occurred to me that I was jumping ahead.
James is making a radical statement here:
“James, a servant of God…”
Familiarity has dulled our response to these words. Here a man is claiming to be a slave of God Himself! It is unlikely that many Hebrews living at this time would have thought in these terms; i.e. “I am proud of my slavery!”
Recall that the Pharisees claimed they were “slaves to no one”(John 8:33), in spite of the occupation of Palestine by Rome. So for any Hebrew to announce proudly his slavery would be a radical idea at the time.
If that’s not outrageous enough, he equates God and Jesus Christ (recall that you can’t be a slave to two masters, so this statement can only be taken as affirming the Deity of Christ).
This statement to a Jew during this time would be analogous to a British citizen coming to the US now and calling us “colonists”. It would rub us the wrong way. We might laugh it off, but we’d want to make sure that this Briton would know that we were no mere colony of the United Kingdom by the time we parted, right?
Historical context: The Nation of Israel had existed in various forms for nearly 1500 years at this point. The remnant of Israel had returned from Babylon 400 years before-and in spite of occupation by Alexander’s army and then the Romans, the Jews still considered themselves a free nation.
So James makes two outrageous claims here. (1)He’s a slave to God, and (2) God and Jesus are one in the same. I’m not sure of the construction in Greek but I suspect that these are actually reversed: “God and Jesus are the same, and I am a slave to God.”
Considering the political climate of the time James had signed his own death warrant with this salutation. He had offended both the Jewish rulers and the Roman government with this statement.
•Who is this James?
Probably NOT the Apostle James. Apostle died in A.D. 44, or about 11 years after Christ’s resurrection. The James here is writing to the “tribes scattered among the nations”, a reference to the first persecution (Acts 8:1).
The other two James mentioned in the NT did not have the standing in the early Church or the authority that seems apparent from this letter. In other words, they’d have likely identified themselves more clearly in the salutation.
Most likely this James was the eldest of the brothers of Jesus. He doesn’t actually say this, but the evidence is pretty good. (Seven qualifications found in NIV intro to James).
So if we assume that this is that same brother, what do we know about him from the Gospels?
(Matthew 13:55) He is listed first among Jesus’ brothers. So if he wasn’t the second son he was the most prominent.
(John 7:2-5) He and his brothers doubted Jesus initially. Typical of brothers, and reminds me of how Joseph’s brothers treated him.
(Jude 1)You’ll recall that Jude was a younger brother of Jesus, and in his epistle identifies himself as “brother of James”.
•James 1: 2-7 “Happy Trials”
vs.2 “Consider it pure joy…” How often do we do this? I know I don’t. When I face “trials of many kinds” I pout, grumble, mope, complain, rant, etc. But James says I should consider it a joy--PURE JOY! Delight in it.
But James is a practical man and doesn’t simply leave us with an empty platitude. He goes on to tell us why.
vs.3 “Because…” Very important word, “because”. He gives us the reason for the trials: To develop perseverance. But what good is perseverance?
vs.4 James really anticipates these questions well! What good is perseverance? It’s making us, “finished, mature, complete, not lacking anything.”
We all know what it’s like to be younger than we are now. And we should have some idea by now that wisdom is a result of experience, and time is required for us to have experienced things: When we were infants we didn’t know not to touch a hot stove. By the time we reached 5 we only touched one by accident, and then thought it was the end of the world. Now as adults we avoid hot stoves when we can and cope with a burn if one happens.
This is a simple material example of perseverance growing wisdom, and James wastes no time in connecting wisdom to perseverance:
vs. 5 “If any of you lack wisdom…”
This is often pointed to as one of God’s sure promises in the Bible. “…he should ask God…and it will be given to him.” But people often say that’s all you have to do, ask and BOOM! You’ve got it. But why then does James go on?
vs.6 cautions us “…when he asks, he must believe and not doubt…”
What is meant here by “believe”? Is it scrunching up our faces trying to force ourselves to believe something that defies our senses? Is it like clapping our hands in hopes of making Tinkerbell get well?
Of course not--People who truly believe in something don’t go around saying “I believe, I believe, I believe” in some sort of self-hypnotic mantra.
How do believing people behave?
They’re quietly confident--they can face any trial that comes their way with Joy and Perseverance!
vs. 9-11 James goes on to give us some specific examples.
Notice particularly the voice of belief in vs. 11 “…for the sun rises with scorching heat…” James speaks with complete confidence that as certain as the sun rises and flowers wilt, so our destinies are sure.
vs. 12 James sums up the principle. The result of blessing with the crown of life has resulted not from one instance of faithfulness, but a lifetime of smaller cycles of Trial-Perseverance-Blessing arriving at this ultimate blessing.
vs.13 “Tempted” here is the same root word in Greek as the word for “Trial” in vs.2-3. The distinction is that “Trials” are defined as external difficulties (like getting burned by a hot stove) and “Temptations” are our inner moral struggles, as in vs. 13-15.
“…no one should say God is tempting me…” Why? I actually hear this sort of thing a lot, from the unsaved and the Christian too.
First off we should recognize that God is Holy. Temptation doesn’t work on God because it has nothing to offer to God, no way to appeal to Him. (We attempt to drag God down to our level when we think that He could be tempted). God doesn’t hunger or thirst, he doesn’t need a house, or a bigger car. He has all the power, knows everything, etc. God doesn’t have these sorts of desires. (Admittedly, Jesus did face temptation in the desert, but this was his Human nature, not his God nature).
But we have desires aplenty. And they affect us.
vs. 14 “…each one is tempted when his selfish desires drag him away…”
Selfish desires drag us away -- away from what? The confidence that God has provided, and is providing, and will provide what we actually need.
That’s why James tells us in
vs. 16-17 “…every good and perfect gift is from above”. Everything else comes from selfish desires.
And finally James shows us the ultimate perfect gift:
vs. 18 “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth…”
Would I be digressing here into Calvinism to point out that I often tell friends that to be “born again” is nothing that we ourselves do? We had little or nothing to do with our first birth, how can we have anything to do with our second?
We have to look at all these words through fresh eyes.
We could look at life in the darkest of terms. Every single one of us is going to face difficulties in the near future, if we aren’t facing them right now; but as Christians we know that beyond those problems we have “the crown of life” waiting.
For months now I have been considering simply posting some of the lesson notes that I have written. For various reasons I have put this off, but now I'm going to do it. Today's post will begin my class notes from the epistle of James. If anyone cares to read these notes, fine. I hope you get a great deal of information from them.
I don't offer them lightly, but I'm also hoping that this doesn't open a can of worms in which everyone wanting to discuss comparative religion begins posting comments and e-mailing me day and night.
I'm not going to pretend that these notes are all encompassing. I'm writing simply from a Christian perspective, and even within Christian circles there are often disagreements on some of the finer points.
I also realize that I am departing somewhat from the stated purpose of this blog, wherein I proposed to ramble about my life as an artist and musician. Then again, since this Sunday School class has become something very important to my life, and as it affects my creative output as well, it is relevant to my "day job".
With that said, here are the notes:
Sunday March 4, 2007
James chapter 1: 1-18
•James 1:1 “A Strong First Impression”
I was tempted to say the meat of this first passage was in verses 2-18 but then was caught short by my own familiarity with this sort of salutation. It occurred to me that I was jumping ahead.
James is making a radical statement here:
“James, a servant of God…”
Familiarity has dulled our response to these words. Here a man is claiming to be a slave of God Himself! It is unlikely that many Hebrews living at this time would have thought in these terms; i.e. “I am proud of my slavery!”
Recall that the Pharisees claimed they were “slaves to no one”(John 8:33), in spite of the occupation of Palestine by Rome. So for any Hebrew to announce proudly his slavery would be a radical idea at the time.
If that’s not outrageous enough, he equates God and Jesus Christ (recall that you can’t be a slave to two masters, so this statement can only be taken as affirming the Deity of Christ).
This statement to a Jew during this time would be analogous to a British citizen coming to the US now and calling us “colonists”. It would rub us the wrong way. We might laugh it off, but we’d want to make sure that this Briton would know that we were no mere colony of the United Kingdom by the time we parted, right?
Historical context: The Nation of Israel had existed in various forms for nearly 1500 years at this point. The remnant of Israel had returned from Babylon 400 years before-and in spite of occupation by Alexander’s army and then the Romans, the Jews still considered themselves a free nation.
So James makes two outrageous claims here. (1)He’s a slave to God, and (2) God and Jesus are one in the same. I’m not sure of the construction in Greek but I suspect that these are actually reversed: “God and Jesus are the same, and I am a slave to God.”
Considering the political climate of the time James had signed his own death warrant with this salutation. He had offended both the Jewish rulers and the Roman government with this statement.
•Who is this James?
Probably NOT the Apostle James. Apostle died in A.D. 44, or about 11 years after Christ’s resurrection. The James here is writing to the “tribes scattered among the nations”, a reference to the first persecution (Acts 8:1).
The other two James mentioned in the NT did not have the standing in the early Church or the authority that seems apparent from this letter. In other words, they’d have likely identified themselves more clearly in the salutation.
Most likely this James was the eldest of the brothers of Jesus. He doesn’t actually say this, but the evidence is pretty good. (Seven qualifications found in NIV intro to James).
So if we assume that this is that same brother, what do we know about him from the Gospels?
(Matthew 13:55) He is listed first among Jesus’ brothers. So if he wasn’t the second son he was the most prominent.
(John 7:2-5) He and his brothers doubted Jesus initially. Typical of brothers, and reminds me of how Joseph’s brothers treated him.
(Jude 1)You’ll recall that Jude was a younger brother of Jesus, and in his epistle identifies himself as “brother of James”.
•James 1: 2-7 “Happy Trials”
vs.2 “Consider it pure joy…” How often do we do this? I know I don’t. When I face “trials of many kinds” I pout, grumble, mope, complain, rant, etc. But James says I should consider it a joy--PURE JOY! Delight in it.
But James is a practical man and doesn’t simply leave us with an empty platitude. He goes on to tell us why.
vs.3 “Because…” Very important word, “because”. He gives us the reason for the trials: To develop perseverance. But what good is perseverance?
vs.4 James really anticipates these questions well! What good is perseverance? It’s making us, “finished, mature, complete, not lacking anything.”
We all know what it’s like to be younger than we are now. And we should have some idea by now that wisdom is a result of experience, and time is required for us to have experienced things: When we were infants we didn’t know not to touch a hot stove. By the time we reached 5 we only touched one by accident, and then thought it was the end of the world. Now as adults we avoid hot stoves when we can and cope with a burn if one happens.
This is a simple material example of perseverance growing wisdom, and James wastes no time in connecting wisdom to perseverance:
vs. 5 “If any of you lack wisdom…”
This is often pointed to as one of God’s sure promises in the Bible. “…he should ask God…and it will be given to him.” But people often say that’s all you have to do, ask and BOOM! You’ve got it. But why then does James go on?
vs.6 cautions us “…when he asks, he must believe and not doubt…”
What is meant here by “believe”? Is it scrunching up our faces trying to force ourselves to believe something that defies our senses? Is it like clapping our hands in hopes of making Tinkerbell get well?
Of course not--People who truly believe in something don’t go around saying “I believe, I believe, I believe” in some sort of self-hypnotic mantra.
How do believing people behave?
They’re quietly confident--they can face any trial that comes their way with Joy and Perseverance!
vs. 9-11 James goes on to give us some specific examples.
Notice particularly the voice of belief in vs. 11 “…for the sun rises with scorching heat…” James speaks with complete confidence that as certain as the sun rises and flowers wilt, so our destinies are sure.
vs. 12 James sums up the principle. The result of blessing with the crown of life has resulted not from one instance of faithfulness, but a lifetime of smaller cycles of Trial-Perseverance-Blessing arriving at this ultimate blessing.
vs.13 “Tempted” here is the same root word in Greek as the word for “Trial” in vs.2-3. The distinction is that “Trials” are defined as external difficulties (like getting burned by a hot stove) and “Temptations” are our inner moral struggles, as in vs. 13-15.
“…no one should say God is tempting me…” Why? I actually hear this sort of thing a lot, from the unsaved and the Christian too.
First off we should recognize that God is Holy. Temptation doesn’t work on God because it has nothing to offer to God, no way to appeal to Him. (We attempt to drag God down to our level when we think that He could be tempted). God doesn’t hunger or thirst, he doesn’t need a house, or a bigger car. He has all the power, knows everything, etc. God doesn’t have these sorts of desires. (Admittedly, Jesus did face temptation in the desert, but this was his Human nature, not his God nature).
But we have desires aplenty. And they affect us.
vs. 14 “…each one is tempted when his selfish desires drag him away…”
Selfish desires drag us away -- away from what? The confidence that God has provided, and is providing, and will provide what we actually need.
That’s why James tells us in
vs. 16-17 “…every good and perfect gift is from above”. Everything else comes from selfish desires.
And finally James shows us the ultimate perfect gift:
vs. 18 “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth…”
Would I be digressing here into Calvinism to point out that I often tell friends that to be “born again” is nothing that we ourselves do? We had little or nothing to do with our first birth, how can we have anything to do with our second?
We have to look at all these words through fresh eyes.
We could look at life in the darkest of terms. Every single one of us is going to face difficulties in the near future, if we aren’t facing them right now; but as Christians we know that beyond those problems we have “the crown of life” waiting.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Monday, September 03, 2007
Things we do for art, again.
Artwork by James E. Lyle (Based on a publicity photo, presumably copyright by Ms. Eden, but used here only to demonstrate the technical ability of the artist).
Why do I do the things that I do? Good question…darned good question. Wish I had a good answer, but I don’t.
Above you will see (at least if the image hosting worked out as it has mostly in the past) a picture of Barbara Eden, rendered by me in “bing salad” colors. If you don’t know what a bing salad is, then you simply need to get down to the south sometime and experience one. (Hint: It’s not named after Bing Crosby).
Anyway, I did this piece last week. I had some other stuff I should have been working on, but I didn’t get to it.
I told myself that I was doing this piece for money. And that is, at least in part, true. I’m hoping it will sell on eBay at as high a price as the Lynda Carter piece did at Heroes Convention back in June. Barring that I hope that it will at least impress someone enough to convince them to commission a similar piece.
But there are some differences:
First off, Barbara Eden is not known for playing a comic book character. True, there have been “I Dream of Jeannie” comic books, but they were spin-offs of the TV show, not the other way around.
Secondly, this piece has no “hook” aside from the weird color interpretation. The Lynda Carter piece, besides showing her in the Wonder Woman costume she’s known for, had also the pop-art addition of a Che beret. That seemed to sell a lot of people on the piece. Whether they saw the intended satire or not I cannot say. But it seemed to work.
Third, the bidding at Heroes Convention was for charity and there were a lot of high spirits involved therein. I was pleased to know that my piece there went for $1700, but was also embarrassed a bit by all the adulation.
So it would be easy to say that I simply did the piece hoping to cash in, personally, by doing so. But I’ve got no guarantees that anyone will even care. I’ve had auctions crash and burn more often than I’d like to admit.
I will admit that when they crash and burn, I often accompany them emotionally.
Every time I put a piece up for auction on eBay I get the same feeling that I did in elementary school when I got up to bat in softball. I was usually picked last and calls of “easy out” still ring in my ears (Charlie Brown and I were obviously separated at birth).
So why do I do it? Why put myself through all that, again and again?
Because of the occasion of adulation. I may be embarrassed by it, but I also love it. In fact I very often would prefer to impress someone with my art than make a lot of money. Fortunately for my finances I’ve been doing both a lot more lately.
But I’ve also been experiencing a lot more clients walking away. I suppose it’s part of the percentages. That is; if I’m doing more work, making more money at it, then it stands to reason that I’ll have a larger number of clients that will walk away not completely satisfied.
The last client to drop out, did so a couple of weeks ago and it brought me down. It was affecting my work, and so I tried a couple of pieces. I thought I’d take another stab at a 60s Black Widow (before her hair turned red), and posed out a couple of figures that I thought worked. But I got halfway through both and was completely disappointed with the results.
I even tried to use Barbara Eden as the face for that Black Widow piece. I figured it was a natural.
But it stunk.
Okay, so I had all this research on Barbara Eden and an itch to draw her face. This is the result.
So far my wife, Karin, is impressed…and also my student Cierra. They both liked the art, so I figure I’ve got a chance. I sent the scan to my agent on Friday, but I’d forgotten that he was away at Dragon*Con this weekend, so I haven’t heard what he thinks yet. We’ll see.
After taking a couple of days away from the studio, I have to admit that it looks better than I thought it did originally (and I liked it before). So maybe it will sell.
When Steve Martin got the Mark Twain Award for American Comedy he said, “this award is our nation’s highest award for comedy…next to money.” (I laughed and laughed).
Putting a piece of art on eBay is sort of like that. I want people’s approval and adulation (this is a character flaw, I admit), but if that approval results in them giving me their money then I feel exonerated. If it ends in them giving me a lot of money then even better.
Not that life is about money, or adulation. But my experience says that being an artist means needing a certain amount of both.
The trick is not needing so much of either to get by. That I have to work on.
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