expressive representation of the overly bored mind

life and death

to me, one of the quintessential concepts of Christianity is from philippians 1:21. the idea of both living like Christ and having to die to your own impulses and humanity in order to truly live that life really struck a cord with me when i was first introduced to it. when i initially outlined some sketches to illustrate this concept, i tried a mathematical theme (0+1=3; 1-1=1), but the sketches didn't seem to truly match the verse and were scattered without a specific focus. i finally landed on the idea of a sickle. The initial response to the image for most people in our society would probably be death, as a sickle is mostly associated with the "angel of death."  That's the first half of the image.  However, at its simplest form, a sickle represents a harvest, as in reaping crops. This part of the image represents the new life we have in Christ. I used the image along with a red tree (representing death on the cross and, in some ways, life) and green, vine- like shapes in order to emphasize the idea in this watercolor. 

what it is and how it was

as a kid, i always felt different. sure, thats the case with most kids growing up, but i didn't know that. also, that feeling was only strengthened by my 3 older siblings' persistent claims that i was an alien left on our families front step when i was 1 (curse of the youngest child). as a result, i grew up with the attitude that i didn't want to be like other kids and that i'd dance to my own tune (literally). my parents and former teachers can attest to that. that mindset was strengthened once again when sometime in the fourth grade i first heard the song Jesus Freak by my favorite band DC Talk, and realized that the call of Christ is to be different and stand out in the crowd (even though the message of the song is to be unashamed in your faith). in light of my near obsession of that Jesus Freak ideal (i not only loved the song, but bought the books based on that theme), i tried to live out my faith in every aspect in my life. namely, my growing interest in art. so, when i was registering my first design software on my mom's computer and the question came up, what company do you work for?, it took me 2 seconds to think of it: Freak Studios. the rest is history (but so is everything else that happened before this moment).