The Yellow Ochre Newsletter
A weekly curation of encouragement and practical wisdom to turn your art from a hobby into a purposeful blessing for your community and culture.
Pumpkin Art
Since the kids were little, we’ve enjoyed carving pumpkins, a longtime tradition in my own family. Every year, we get to take raw creation and fashion it into something beautiful.
Since the kids were little, we’ve enjoyed carving pumpkins, a longtime tradition in my own family. Every year, we get to take raw creation and fashion it into something beautiful.
Mario, 2024
Enjoy our family’s pumpkins since 2019:
A Blind Woman’s 9,000 Hymns
Fanny Crosby, blind woman, 9,000 hymns
What’s holding you back from trying to express yourself creatively?
Van Gogh’s Brokenness: What We All Get Wrong About His Famous Ear Incident
I am looking forward to reading Russ Ramsey’s latest book, “Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart.” Pastor Ramsey has been making the rounds with interviews to promote the book, a promising follow up to his Rembrandt is in the Wind book. During his interview with Stephen Roach (Makers & Mystics), he had something potent to say about Van Gogh’s famous ear-cutting-off story.
I am looking forward to reading Russ Ramsey’s latest book, “Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart.” Pastor Ramsey has been making the rounds with interviews to promote the book, a promising follow up to his Rembrandt is in the Wind book. During his interview with Stephen Roach (Makers & Mystics), he had something potent to say about Van Gogh’s famous ear-cutting-off story.
Ramsey says that if you ask someone on the street, “what can you tell me about Vincent Van Gogh,” they’ll tell you 2 things:
He painted Starry Night.
He cut off his ear.
He calls these answers unfortunate because, he says, “the episode of him cutting off his ear was the lowest point in his entire life. It was a moment of incredible shame, incredible brokenness and fear. He was a terrified, broken, hurting person when that happened. And it becomes something people joke about.”
He says Scripture is filled with people who “are known by the things dragging them down.”
So, what does this painting have to teach us about our own brokenness?
Self Portrait With Bandaged Ear
Van Gogh painted numerous self portraits during his lifetime. Ramsey indicates he painted this days after cutting off his ear while he resided in an asylum hospital. It is a painting of “him telling the truth about how broken, desperate, needy and wounded he is.”
Ramsey applauds Van Gogh’s courage and honesty in painting such a portrait. I find Ramsey’s take away helpful for my own life. He says, “I want to be like that in the sense that I want to be somebody who is willing to let the wounded side of me be seen.”
For these reasons, Ramsey has this painting on the wall of his offices to remind him of the kind of pastor he wants to be and the kind of people he wants his church to be.
Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear
Vincent Van Gogh, 1889.
2 Perspectives on Gifts
As a child, whether it be for Christmas or my birthday, I would have relished in my parents taking video of my gifts, themselves. What a wonderful feeling to revisit the joy and surprise at a later point in time.
During one of my kid’s birthdays recently, I found myself taking video, not of the gifts themselves, but the process of my child opening the gifts. I remember my mom loving that too when we were kids. I loved watching one of my other kids show their sibling the gift they created.
Gifts can come in many shapes, sizes, and particulars.
As a child, whether it be for Christmas or my birthday, I would have relished in my parents taking video of my gifts, themselves. What a wonderful feeling to revisit the joy and surprise at a later point in time.
During one of my kid’s birthdays recently, I found myself taking video, not of the gifts themselves, but the process of my child opening the gifts. I remember my mom loving that too when we were kids. I loved watching one of my other kids show their sibling the gift they created.
Gifts can come in many shapes, sizes, and particulars.
Sola God
I call Psalm 73 the, “I want what they have!” Psalm.
Worship leader, Asaph, battles envy in the first half of the Psalm. He watched “worldly” folk seemingly get ahead in life while those who followed God seemed to…well…not.
It wasn’t until he reflected on God’s judgment that he could attune his heart once again to his Lord.
I call Psalm 73 the, “I want what they have!” Psalm.
Worship leader, Asaph, battles envy in the first half of the Psalm. He watched “worldly” folk seemingly get ahead in life while those who followed God seemed to…well…not.
It wasn’t until he reflected on God’s judgment that he could attune his heart once again to his Lord.
As he finds his footing, he pens one of his most favored verses,
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.Psalm 73:25-26
My friend Joel wrote this beautiful song based on this verse. In seasons of ache, songs like this bring the stillness I feel this Psalm warrants.
Heart Play
“The gods of Greece and Rome may be worshipped well enough with classical music, but Jehovah can only be adored with the heart, and that music is the best for his service which gives the heart most play.”
C. H. Spurgeon, Psalm 81:1
A New Apologetic
Recently, I sat with a group of people at a restaurant.
After much enjoyable conversation, one man pointed out how shocking it was that none of us were on our phones. He was surprised we all (there were about 8 of us) valued our dialogue over anything else.
My friend then shared the gospel with him.
Might this be a new apologetic, a purple cow, going into 2025?
Recently, I sat with a group of people at a restaurant.
After much enjoyable conversation, one man pointed out how shocking it was that none of us were on our phones. He was surprised we all (there were about 8 of us) valued our dialogue over anything else.
My friend then shared the gospel with him.
Might this be a new apologetic, a purple cow, going into 2025?
4 Ways We Interface with Politics
This post is not so much about politics.
It is more about how we interface with politics.
My aim is not to debate, get us in a frenzy, or stir up commotion. My heart is to frame this season with some love-your-neighbor concepts.
My brother used to be afraid of monsters.
The monster may not have been real,
but my brother’s fear was very real.
Jack Pearson, This Is Us
This post is not so much about politics.
It is more about how we interface with politics.
My aim is not to debate, get us in a frenzy, or stir up commotion. My heart is to frame this season with some love-your-neighbor concepts.
I tend to see four ways we respond to whatever the political season is.
Consequences & Emotions
Whenever election season comes, we see the full panorama of consequences and emotions displayed. Sometimes, the consequences are real. Sometimes, they are imagined. We find legacy media interviewing people genuinely optimistic as well as terrified.
The way I see it, people tend to fall into one of four categories during election seasons.
Hopeful
The hopefuls are those who are not entirely sure, but envision a blessed future because they see their preferred candidate winning. This might also be the person who has a more positive outlook without feeling the need to even vote.
Pragmatic
Perhaps just as optimistic, the pragmatist is hopeful, yes, but their hope comes from experience. They can read the winds of time and make connections to another day that was similar to this one. They feel they have a little bit of “proof” for their hopefulness. “The data is in…this will work if _________ wins” they might say.
Suspicious
Those who feel suspect during this season may imagine the worst possible outcomes and therefore lack any sort of trust in specific candidates.
Pessimistic
The pessimist has a little more reason to be suspicious. Their doubts are based in experience. I once knew someone who lost their home due to a previous candidate’s policies. Based on what they know, their expectations are low for specific candidates.
Love Your Neighbor
Of course, we often do not even fit perfectly into just one of these categories. Depending on the day, it is more likely that you are a certain blend of them all! The American experience is made up of vastly different people who each have their own context and set of values. While one candidate’s words and actions symbolize comfort to one person in Montana, those same words and actions symbolize violence in California.
If you are an artist or any kind of maker and you care about someone in any of these spaces, consider joining us for our October “Love Your Neighbor” art challenge on The Yellow Ochre Team Patreon page.
The Need 60 Years Ago
In 1962, Calvin Seerveld exhorted college students with these words:
“If there is anything the Christian community needs it is leaders, scholars, trained artists and writers who, because they virtually live out of the hand of our heavenly Father daily, stay close to the uneducated followers and untrained readers doing the same, living out of the Scriptures.”
In 1962, Calvin Seerveld exhorted college students with these words:
“If there is anything the Christian community needs it is leaders, scholars, trained artists and writers who, because they virtually live out of the hand of our heavenly Father daily, stay close to the uneducated followers and untrained readers doing the same, living out of the Scriptures.”
Calvin Seerveld, A Christian Critique of Art and Literature, 17
Needing a New Environment
Typically, plants will only grow within the context they’re in. If their pot is small, they will be small. If the pot is large, then they will be large.
Their roots can only extend as far as their context allows.
People are more like aloe plants though. We need space to stretch. We need new spaces and new pots to accommodate our growth. Like crabs, we must find new shells, new environments, for our angsts and movement.
This is one reason I launched The Yellow Ochre Team. If you are an artist, looking to stretch those artistic muscles within a community of other mission-minded artists, join The Yellow Ochre Team today.
Typically, plants will only grow within the context they’re in. If their pot is small, they will be small. If the pot is large, then they will be large.
Their roots can only extend as far as their context allows.
People are more like aloe plants though. We need space to stretch. We need new spaces and new pots to accommodate our growth. Like crabs, we must find new shells, new environments, for our angsts and movement.
This is one reason I launched The Yellow Ochre Team. If you are an artist, looking to stretch those artistic muscles within a community of other mission-minded artists, join The Yellow Ochre Team today.
Join the Yellow Ochre Team
And we're live! If you are a Christian and an artist wondering how to use your gifts for God's mission, check out The Yellow Ochre Community to learn more!
patreon.com/yellowochreclub
And we're live! If you are a Christian and an artist wondering how to use your gifts for God's mission, check out The Yellow Ochre Community to learn more!
patreon.com/yellowochreclub
In 4 Days…
4 more days until I launch my Patreon community. I'm calling it "The Yellow Ochre Team." If you are a Christian and a "creative" who wants to discover how to use your artistry for the mission of God, this is the community for you.
