What's Tony Thinking

Art on Display, Mental Health Break and He-Brews

Art on Display Sometime last spring, while visiting Laura in White Salmon, WA, we went across the Columbia River to Hood River, Oregon. Once mainly know for its fruit (apples, peaches and pears), Hood River has become sort of artsy. Lots of galleries and eating places that display local art.

On the “nothing ventured, nothing gained” operational theory, I hauled a painting of mine around to a few shops and restaurants. At Doppio on Oak Street in the center of Hood River, the manager, Aaron, liked what he saw and asked for photos of more.

So the upshot is that Doppio will host a display of my paintings throughout the month of November. We will be hanging them on Halloween afternoon. Not sure how I feel about that timing, but whatever.

Doppio is a coffee/ breakfast and lunch place that is open daily from 7 to 4. When I stopped in last spring they had a very nice photography exhibit in progress.

Most of the paintings I put up will be for sale (hint: Christmas is coming!). A couple will be NFS (not for sale) for one reason or another, and one of a scene on the Zumwalt Prairie has already sold. The buyers graciously agreed to wait until after the exhibit to get the painting. I’ll tuck in photos of several of the paintings that will be up.

On the three you see here: the first is from a raft trip down the Snake River in Hell’s Canyon several years ago. There’s rapids ahead and the eastern sky is just beginning to gray with building storm clouds. I wanted to convey the combination of beauty and menace in the waters of the river around us.

The second is a “master study” of a painting by the Canadian School of Seven Artist, Frank Carmichael, titled “Mirror Lake.” I am a big fan of the work of the School of Seven, a group that came to prominence in the first half of the twentieth century doing mostly, though not exclusively, landscapes. Carmichael (1890 – 1945) has been described as “a transcendentalist in his views on art and spirit.”

The third is one of my Zumwalt Prairie paintings. Alas the photo doesn’t get the whole thing which is wide, as is the Prairie itself. Click on it to get the wider view. Any money I make on the sale of paintings will go toward Afghan Refugee Resettlement efforts in the Pacific Northwest.

Mental Health Break Happened to be in the car this morning when KEXP radio ran a cut from the Ted Lasso show, Ted’s final locker room talk following a crushing defeat on the soccer field. I loved hearing it again. Maybe you will too. Here’s the link to the you tube cut. Coach Ted reminds that worse than being sad is being sad alone.

He-Brews. So the 8 week on-line course of Hebrews for which I was part of the teaching team wrapped up this week. I won’t blame you if you don’t have the energy to sit through the hour plus long sessions of Scripture study, but I would recommend tuning in for the first couple minutes of any session. That because a talented pastor – musician, Joshua Munnikhuysen, opened each session with a soulful, prayerful song. 

Hint: if you like Jason Isbell (formerly with “The Drive-by Truckers” band), you will like what Joshua Munnikhuysen puts out. I asked Josh to do a tape of his collected Hebrews songs. He says that if he does he will title it “He-Tried.” I suggested “He-Brews.”

In the winter quarter NT scholar Rob Wall and I will be doing an on-line (Zoom) course on Hebrews for the M.Div. students of Seattle-Pacific. It is Monday evenings, beginning January 8. Let me know if you are interested and I can get you registration information.