The LUUvre

This website was created January of 2009. It's main function has mostly stayed the same since it's inception. It's main purpose is to be a people friendly, update-able online gallery/portfolio of my spiritual artwork. At first it was also as storefront from which to sell prints, but then I discovered Etsy.com, so now the images here are purely for display.

"The LUUvre" is a play on concept and words. It's a reference to The Louvre in Paris, one of the most famous art museums in the world. I don't think quite so highly of myself that I might say my work belongs there, but by adding a few "U"s I hope to denote that this is site is a gallery of Unitarian Universalist inspired work.

The logo also relates to this same theme; the chalice is replaced with the Eiffel Tower, though the flame and signature UU circles still remain.

I've haven't been a UU for very long, but I'm still grateful I found it as early in life as I have. I didn't grow up with any sort of spiritual guidance, although being a kid it didn't bother me much. However, shortly after my parents got divorced, my mother discovered Christianity and suddenly I found myself introduced to a plethora of things that I didn't quite agree with. I would go to church with her, or to church with friends who were Christian, and I never quite felt like I belonged. The more the preacher preached, the more lonely and out of place I felt. One night I went to my mother crying, and asked her, “Why is it that I don't believe this, I've tried so hard, I want to believe, so what is wrong with me that I just can't?” but she didn't have an answer. Despite how much faith she said she had, she had nothing to say that would give me the faith that I thought I ought to have.

A few years after that, I went to church with my father and his family, and it just happened to be the Unitarian Universalist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. I felt no trepidation walking into the building that was, quite frankly, a bit un-churchly compared to the only other churches I had visited. The worship hall was small and cozy, and as I sat in the front row with my family, I couldn't help but notice how easy it was to simply be there. As the sermon started (the subject matter having to do with the rights of those with different sexual preferences, and why we, as UUs, should care even if we didn't identify with any of those groups) I simply smiled. I had found the place where I knew I would have no trouble at all believing in the things that the people around me believed in. And better yet, as I would discover as I went along, that it would be okay even if I didn't, that I could believe just about anything I liked and, no matter what, I would always be welcome there, and at any UU church.

Now, of course, since then I've changed and grown spiritually, so what I was beginning to believe then is quite different from what I'm beginning to believe now. But as a UU, I would consider that a success.

I graduated from the Orange County High School of the Arts (in Southern California) in 2007 before attending the California State University of Fullerton for a short time. While I did not walk away with a degree, I learned many things and it is still a goal of mine to return to University to study art again in the future.

My artistic influences come from many sources. My earliest and most notable influence is that of eastern animation and sequential art (or, in less fancy terms, anime and manga). I fell in love with the bold lines, bright colors, and dramatic story telling. While my focus has been steadily shifting over the past year or so, I'm sure I'll never lose sight of the passion I once held for it, nor do I think my love for it will ever diminish. 

A few years ago I discovered fantasy artist Amy Brown, and fell head over heals for her work (for similar reasons as previously mentioned). Since then I've been hunting down other fantasy artists to be jealous of, including (but not limited to) Stephanie Pui-mun Law, Meridith Dillman, and Michelle-lee Phelan. They all have unique and beautiful ways of utilizing the mediums they use, and I continually look up to them in awe and admiration. 

Even more recently, I had the opportunity to take a trip to Florence, Italy, where I was introduced, for the first time, to true Masters like Botticelli, Barocci, and Titian. The renderings of their timeless paintings are visual majesty beyond words, and they were so irrevocably imprinted upon my mind that it would be impossible for it not to change the way I view art, and the way I want to produce it.

I love the reverence and gorgeous life-like renderings of the masters, how angels are really brought to more than life, to really be holy. I love the playfulness, imagination, and fantastical renderings of modern day fantasy art, and it really incites this idea that magic is real and that you can find it all around you.

I think that together, these elements can exist in harmony and create something to ignite and awaken the spirit like never before. It's very much becoming my goal to achieve this with my art.

Now, whether or not I'll be successful... it'll probably take me awhile. But I'm going to keep trying!!! 

        None so far! If I start getting consistant
        and, well, frequently asked, questions, I'll
        start answering them here!