Coming to Life

“I change with each expressive stroke and the painting comes into being; into life!” – Scott White

Coming to Life

“I began drawing when I was much younger.”  Scott White said as he walked into the Gallery on the Square.

His eyes darted from painting to painting; seemingly drinking in the brush strokes, the paint itself, the canvas and even the frames.  It all seemed to expand the twinkle in his eyes into a bright fire.  The art, his art and the art created by others, was clearly consuming his soul as if the fire-twinkle in his eyes was spreading into every other portion of his being.  But it wasn’t always that way.

“I quit drawing when my wife and I began having children.  It just seemed as if my children and my work were consuming my entire life.  Then, one day, my Pastor gave me an invitation.”

Scott’s Pastor knows him well.  He even recognized a burning ember hiding inside of him.

“I’m preparing a sermon series based on the Lord’s Prayer.”  Scott’s Pastor said to him one day.  “I’d like to have an artist create a painting for each portion.  Would you be willing to create some complimentary art to go along with it?”

Scott was a little perplexed by this invitation at first and replied, “You know my emphasis in painting is abstract, right?”

“Yes.”  His Pastor said with a matching, abstract grin.

“Well, I don’t quite know how this all fits, but I’ll give it a try.”  Scott said out of respect.

A few days later he picked up his brushes, after allowing the invitation fan a spark inside.  Then, when he made his first attempt at painting again, it was as if those brushes fanned the artistic ember within into a living flame and a new way of approaching life.

“I start out with an idea.”  Scott says of his approach.  “I put brush to canvas and the art seems to spark to life.  It isn’t so much that the painting paints itself.  It’s more like a partnership, the process of creating the painting reveals me!  The painting and I come to life together.  I change with each expressive stroke and the painting comes into being; to life!”

Scott’s ability to recognize this process is also reflective in the way he displays his work.  He arranges his work by phase. 

“The problem is that we’re running out of wall space in our house!”  He says with a chuckle.  “My work has changed over the years.  So, we’ve arranged my paintings in phases.  My work has morphed over the years and it just keeps growing.”

The role of his art has also grown in his life.  He’s still working at his “day job” now.  He paints as a hobby.  But, he’s looking forward to the day when his living experience completely shifts.

“I’m 65 now.”  He confides.  “I hope to flip my use of time to the creation of art first, with my job taking up less and less of my time.  It’s all because of one invitation.  That invitation from my Pastor.”

That sermon series based on the Lord’s Prayer was fully supported by complimentary paintings created by Scott.

“The combination of the Lord’s Prayer and my painting was the start of a new way of living for me; a more fulfilling approach to life.  Now I don’t let my preconceived notions rule the way I move into my future.  I relish the process of living my way forward by receiving each moment and living it as it happens; as it comes to life!”  Scott said, as the fire in his eyes brightened and he finished his story.

“I began drawing when I was much younger.”  Scott White said when he walked into the Gallery on the Square.

His eyes darted from painting to painting; seemingly drinking in the brush strokes, the paint itself, the canvas and even the frames.  It all seemed to expand the twinkle in his eyes into a bright fire.  The art, his art and the art created by others, was clearly consuming his soul as if the fire-twinkle in his eyes was spreading into every other portion of his being.  Because it has.  But, it’s more than that.

His art is an invitation for him.  An invitation for him to come to life!