My pastor will begin a new AM sermon series in a few Sundays. I completed the artwork yesterday “just in time” to have it printed and in Albany today. Of course, I got all wrapped up working on the new church website that I completely forgot about putting the poster up.

There are many days when the creativity does not come easy or quick enough. This week was no exception. So, I went looking for inspiration.

The first stop was iStockphoto. I found an OK picture of a lion (Lion of Judah) running somewhat towards the camera (the action of coming) while spending too much time looking through their pictures. I did not start off with the lion in mind; I think was searching for royality or a king. One of the pictures had a cat in it and something struck.

The next thought or idea was too search through some Ken Jenkins‘ photos stored on my computer. I save thumbnail pictures from artists that I like in an artist section. There were no pictures of lions moving towards the camera in his folder.

While in my artist section, I looked through another artist’s folder, Rodney White. He is a very cool painter. He creates new paintings that look old and tarnished. Most remind me of an old rusted tin or metal advertising sign left outside in the weather for way too long. His strength is in his use of typography and colors.

The gallery website that I found him in had closed shop a while back. I searched for him on Google and found his website. One day I would like to see his work in person.

While there, I came across this painting. I thought the colors were right for this poster - dark and a little murky. They could show the idea of judgement, the darkness of our times and the warning to be ready.

The only way I knew to re-create the tarnished or whethered look on the computer was to create each section in Photoshop Elements using the brush feature. I am brand new to using brushes. Someone had blogged about the quality of Jason Gaylord’s work and when I went to his site I knew immediately I wanted to try it. I downloaded one of his worn brush sets and begin to experment.

So, now I had my idea and direction. I grabbed the color scheme out of Rodney’s painting. Then, I began working on a section at a time with two or three colors from the 19 color scheme. The first section completed was a part of the title. It came out well. The next 3 or 4 were terrible and had to be scrapped as I learned that you do not need too many layers. Once that lesson was learned it flowed pretty well.

Melissa from 44 SUBURBIA and Jason would like to know when their brushes have been used. They have created the best brushes that I have found so far. Thanks to both of you and Rodney.