An imagery that replay in my mind is of a boy flying a kite.  The kite is flying high and free,  its course controlled from ground by a string attached.   If the string is broken, kite looses its course with unpredictable results.

Realism or Abstraction?  This is a recurring question for artists.  To me,  it is primarily a consideration for effectively conveying art. 
Exploring divine realism,  where love is so real yet so abstract, this is indeed an important consideration.

Like the boy in the imagery, while I value the freedom of kite, I desire to be in control as well.   I prefer freedom of my abstraction well grounded on a string of solid realism.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Everyone has a view point.  Artists are no exception.  They evaluate art from various viewpoints to choose the best.

It may be on a technical aspect such as design, harmony,  composition, value pattern, color scheme, etc.  It maybe on a totally different aspect such as marketing, sales or custom art.  Even the very sense of taste and aesthetics depend on your view point.  Your point of view may be objective or subjective.  It may be well planned or spontaneous.  Your view point is very relative to your personality and life experience. But personality and  life experience are influenced by external factors.  Are all these influences in the best interest of the artist?  Question arise as to which is the best influence to guide my view point.  What is considered best?  What is considered best is very subjective from a human perspective.  This is where divine perspective comes in, God being ultimate cannot be surpassed.  What will be God's view point?  If you look at the most important commandment God ask of us, we see it is a view point of love.   It is this realization that excite me to explore divine realism.

How do an an artist measure progress?

Is it in terms of critical acclaim, awards,  fame, riches, shows, skills , style etc?

They are all valid in certain sense.

I consider this in terms of the age old quest for truth...What is the ultimate truth,  am I getting closer to it?

In this regard, I look at artist statement as a measure of artist progress.

Introducing my new artist statement here.

Once a lawyer asked Jesus;  "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?";

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  

***

You, your God and His creations, all joined by a common thread of love;  beautiful!

This is a thread I do not want to break in art, nor in life.

"If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me" (Psalm 139:9-10).

“And if you will obey my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil" (Deut 11:13-14).

Goal setting makes sense...

One advice I received was to set realistic goals and actionable tasks; work your tasks to achieve your goals. 
So, I came with a plan...a ten year plan with goals and corresponding tasks
Taking a close look at my plan,  I find no tasks against one of my goals, this goal "Produce great art"  looks kind  of vague...

What  is great art?    

To me,  Great art is like mom's cooking;  
When mom cooks, it is a labour of love.  She carefully choose a menu, gather freshest ingredients and lovingly cook all the dishes.  Simple yet nourishing , it is a meal her family always enjoy.

Yes,  Great art is like mom's cooking; cooked with love, served with love and enjoyed with love.  It taste like more and leave fond memories...

What is great art to you?  
What would you suggest as actionable tasks to produce great art ? 

Credits

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Representational artists attune their eyes to elements of picture making.
They practise their eyes to see shapes, values, colors, composition and edges.  Such highly trained eyes and mind have an immense impact on the art produced.  Divine realist artists need to attune their spiritual vision(1).

Starting  as a representational painter,  I used to plan a painting from theme to composition to colors in an elaborate manner.  
My  transformation to divine realism was characterized by a thirst for seeking God's love in my subject matter(2).
Gradually I found  this perspective of  love win over elements of my art making.  
In essence  composition, color harmony,  shapes, values and edges  etc. now subordinate to this realism of love. They are falling into their place with less and less planning and effort on my part.  
A decrease in my controlling intervention is resulting in an increase in yielding,  a yielding to divine intervention(3).   I am realizing this letting go of control and painting in faith result in a certain strengthening  of artwork.  Other aspects of my picture making is also experiencing a similar yielding.   I will share my picture making  process later.

Credits
1) Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law (Psalm 119:18).
2) Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us (1 John 4:11-12).
3) He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30).

Do you believe in love? I do, in God's love.
I believe God created life out of divine love.  
My art seeks this divine spark of love in reality around me.
I call my kind of art divine realism.  
Divine realism is the  art of experiencing reality from divine creator's perspective of love. 
My approach to experience this perspective of love is spiritual and Christian in nature.
Word of God supply my instructions for this art.  
I borrow from many generations of saints and godly people who deeply experienced divine love.
Their life is a well trodden path to learn about this amazing perspective.  
Standing on the shoulders of these great luminaries and seeking divine care I explore divine realism in my paintings of contemporary life moments.  
I find divine realism a beautiful and rewarding perspective in art as much as in life, more about that later.

This is my first blog post.   Over the next many many posts, I intend to share learnings and experience from my art journey.  I call my kind of art divine realism.   I am very grateful and excited to explore divine realism. My sincere hope  is  you will find divine realism a refreshing  approach,  worthy of your precious time.