My super-popular casino and resort set of drawings around the Las Vegas strip gets a new addition today. ‘America – Charcoal and Oil – Venetian, Las Vegas, Nevada’ premieres today at DouglasRickard.com and the douglasrickard eBay store! I’ve included an early stage of my artwork below for you to see. Oh and don’t worry, that’s only the Mirage Volcano across the street from the gondolas. About where else in the world could you say something like that!
Well yes, I hit a significant birthday since my last season of blog posts… and I like 40! I spent the day with my parents who came up to stay. And so afterwards I thought I needed an updated profile photo (I went for the ‘caring yet sexy’ look!), to fit in with my remodeled online art galleries, at the shiny new-style DouglasRickard.com! (Even my eBay store has a new appearance, see below). I’ve actually had my sleeves rolled up ‘under the bonnet’ for the past six months, ensuring among other things, all my artwork is easy to find on the internet, and it’s been so exciting, it felt like opening a refitted, physical store! So if you haven’t already, I hope you’re planning on dropping by the ‘turbo-charged, freshly painted’ DouglasRickard.com!
My debut as special guest artist went wonderfully at the Castle China’s ‘Walt Disney Classics Collection Simba Spring Premiere Event’ back in April in Warwick, England. It was like a dream being surrounded by the huge array of WDCC sculptures they sell and I got to meet the Buyer of mine who put in the word for me in the first place. The customers had a ball with huge prize giveaways and through snapping up my still-life drawings of the Walt Disney Classics Collection sculptures gave me their seal of approval, which of course is more than I could wish for. Now, don’t be too late, there are only a few 9 ½” x 13” giclée versions of the still-life I was asked to draw of the Lion King sculpture ‘Simba – You Are My Son’ left over at DouglasRickard.com and the douglasrickard eBay store.
Were you ever like me? I remember as a little boy in public school, we had religious assemblies, we sang about Jesus’ hands being “kind hands, doing good to all, healing pain and sickness, blessing children small”. Stories about Jesus were taught as a matter of fact. And I believed it, simple as that. Doesn’t that sound like something called child-like faith? It’s when people reach adulthood that they feel the need to add their own ‘intellect’ or ‘theology’ to the Word of God. Fortunately I’ve found teachers in my life, like Kenneth and Gloria Copeland who don’t add anything to what the Bible says, they may dig deep but they believe God’s Word means what it says. And that is the answer to stressful times, trusting in our elder Brother, the Lord Jesus and accepting His power to do us good.
My ninth season of Blog posts is due to start on Monday July 13th 2009. Here are some of the ideas I have planned to share with you:
A ‘Story Lines– Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. I’ve had requests to draw more dwarfs individually, and I can’t promise that, but this piece will have all the dwarfs and as many diamonds from the mine that I can bring to light.
You can tell these preview posts are straight from the planning stages as that second ‘Landscape’ gallery wing didn’t unfold this past season, but that’s still there in my head, somewhere. I can promise though, not one, but two drawings of my favorite Las Vegas hotel, The Venetian.
And as this is a special year to remember Abraham Lincoln, he will be the first U.S. President as part of my ‘Historic Heroes’ series.
So until then, tune into my YouTube Video logs at weekends, thanks for reading, have a great Spring (stop to enjoy the blossoms and birdsong as I have been) and I hope you’ll join me in the Summer!
I am really thrilled. I’ve known of what is probably this country’s premiere authorized Walt Disney Classics Collection dealer, Castle China in Warwick for many years; and they’ve asked me to produce my still-life study version of the 2009 Spring Event Sculpture “Little King, Big Roar”. And I’m going to be there too, on April 18th!
It’s going to be quite an event at the Lord Leycester Hotel, Jury Street, Warwick. It’s free admission and there will be a competition, new sculpture release presentation with peaks of upcoming WDCC sculptures and along with Bruce Lau’s new Simba piece, some event-exclusives from myself.
I’m in the middle of producing two still-lifes from the prototype they sent me. The first will be a Super-Size giclee edition of one for… one Castle China guest. And the second still-life will only have an edition size of 12 in Super-Size giclees (13”x19”) and 9 ½” x 13” giclee print versions. Plus I’m going to be adding my oil pastel strokes to Hand-Embellished versions, per request, up to an edition of 12 only on that day… and exclusively for Castle China guests! So, see you on April 18th?
Christian people were getting mad at a video I put together from the Tuesday morning session of the 2007 Great Lakes Believers’ Convention. It’s because even though what was said by Kenneth Copeland lined up with the Bible, it wasn’t what they were used to hearing. Most of these people didn’t even seem to get to the part where Kenneth taught from Hebrews 3:1 on Jesus being the ‘High Priest of our profession’. They got mad because he said how the Lord Jesus is not referred to as the only begotten Son of God since the Resurrection (but the first begotten of many brethren). One lady wrote me: ‘Surely this is heresy to say something that is opposite to what the bible says!’
I replied to her and suggested she either goes to her concordance or to a site like searchgodsword.org and do a word search herself for ‘only begotten son’. The only time the Lord Jesus is called ‘only begotten Son of God’, is when it’s talking about before His resurrection and before He got Christians like you and me as His family. Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brethren (Hebrews 2:11). So really if you’re still calling Him the ‘only’ Son of God (remember, the capital letters are only in the English translation), you’re denying what He achieved on the cross. Interesting isn’t it, how easy it is for people to throw the ‘heresy’ word around when they haven’t read their own Bible.
I must have seen Bible verses about healing before I was born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit, but read past them. That’s because you understand what’s inside the Bible by revelation from the Holy Spirit Himself. John 14:26 says how He’ll teach us all things.
Now this is what I think. If your minister or Bible teacher has not received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues, I think you’ll find you may be missing out.
That explains why there are people who don’t believe in divine healing despite all the Scriptures in the Word of God. Some people may be basing their belief upon their own personal experiences; other people might just be theologians. I wonder if a lot of these people though, who actually argue that God may not want us healed and even puts sickness on us, even know the same God I know. Exodus 15:26 says that one of the Names of God is JEHOVAH-ROPHE, ‘the LORD that healeth thee’!
How do we receive that healing? Firstly, you have to know it’s His will. And this ought not to be difficult at this time of year, remembering how Jesus’ Blood was shed as He was flogged by that lead tipped whip. So, why not go to 1 Peter 2:24 today and ask the Holy Spirit yourself, to reveal to you how by those stripes on His Body, we were healed.
There are people who identify themselves as Christian, who will tell you that healing is not always God’s will. ‘Intellectual’ Christianity may sound clever putting their own spin on what the Bible says, but actually it’s really ignorant. They come up with questions like ‘what about the thorn in Paul’s side?’
It’s Good Friday in two weeks. Most Christians get downhearted around this time over the horrific curse that came on Jesus. Did you know that’s what it was? It was the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13-14). Jesus took that … for you and me! All sickness and disease comes under that curse. So my reply would be, ‘What about the thorns in my Lord Jesus’ head!’ John 19:1-2 in The New Living translation says they wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head and flogged Jesus with a lead tipped whip.
The Bible says it’s by those stripes on Jesus’ body that we were healed and that’s the verse I have on my Thorns and Fruit artwork. (The Greek word translated stripes also means bruises, wales and wounds that trickle with blood).
And the adversary, satan has tried his best to keep that from us, and what better way than to operate through someone who calls themselves Christian, like a theologian. But that truth is being restored; that our healing was included in Jesus’ purpose for going through all that terrible pain. Does that not make you feel totally indignant about any sickness and ailment that might try to come on you now?!
