A project that took 4 months to complete…….

It was in August of 2023, I was sitting by the pool about to do some online work while lounging in the sun and an idea came to mind. In July I started creating mini paintings and posting them on Instagram & Facebook. People were buying & collecting them from me before I could even post some of them on my website. That demand and enthusiasm from my collectors inspired me to want to create a collection of minis. Then another idea came to mind. What if I created a bunch of mini paintings to create a big painting? Then guess what? Another idea came to mind 😅 This is how my brain works… one thing leads to the next, then the next, and the next 🤣 Anyways it was a Bible verse that came to mind. ⬇️ 

Unity and Diversity in the Body

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by^[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it,²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Alright…. Let me clarify… not all of this popped into my head, but I remembered there was a verse stating how we are each individuals yet all apart of the body of Christ, so I googled it and found Corinthians 12:12-27 which is exactly what I was looking for! It couldn’t have been more well said! I wanted to create a piece of art that resembled how there are many parts but one body referring to each of us as the many parts and the body being the Holy Spirit.

Now that I had the concept it was time to start executing! As I was sitting in the sun, I opened my iPad and started looking for places to buy a bunch of mini 2”x2” canvases….haha but wait… how many would I actually need. It was time to do some math 😜 In my mind I was thinking “how about I make a 3ft x 4ft piece. So after doing the math, I would need 432 mini 2” canvases to make a 3ft x 4ft piece. Then back to google to find a place to buy them! BINGO..I found them, clicked Check Out and they’d soon be on their way to me 😄

About a week later the canvases were delivered and to my surprise when I opened the box, I discovered that each of the 432 canvases where individually wrapped in shrink wrap plastic 🙈 oh this was going to be fun to unpackaged. It took me about a hour to unwrapped them all. 

With the blank canvases unwrapped, it was time for the real hard work to begin…. in other words the painting and order of how the colors would line up so when the pieces would be put together, the subject would be recognizable. It’s was like creating a big puzzle from scratch. Below is the first mini I painted for this piece.

 Let’s fast forward a few months as they were filled with painting and painting and completing commissioned pieces for collectors as well as a few art shows mixed in there.. oh and teaching classes a couple days a week. It was a full schedule those months and I’d say the hardest month, was November. I wanted to complete this piece by Dec 1st. When November hit, I recall on November 13th when I sent my Insider List Members an email to give them an inside look/ update on the progress, I still had 253 minis to paint! 😱 Gosh I wasn’t even half way finished and there was only 18 days until my Dec 1st deadline. It was time to give myself a huge kick in the butt and grind these paintings out 😮‍💨 I didn’t want to disappoint myself or those I told I would have this done by Dec 1st. The next 18 days looked pretty much like this… wake up.. read the Bible… take Hope for a walk…. paint.. eat… paint.. snack…paint more…social media posts.. paint some more until my eyes were twitching with fatigue…and then fall asleep and repeat again.

I felt like complete junk on the inside and outside as I neglected working out to get more painting time in. As I was getting in the last week before the launch. I was sleep deprived, mentally exhausted from creating, and I was a bit cranky since I wasn’t releasing my energy in the gym 😝 But the last 2 days before the launch were the toughest. They kind of blended together as I only took a couple naps to complete the rest of the mini paintings, take photos of them and upload hundreds onto my website for the big launch on Dec 1st at 6:00pm.  

I was in my pajamas the whole time until I quickly changed into a dress, smiled and took a pic to showcase the final piece, then quickly took off the dress, got back into my pajamas, sent an email blast to my Insider Members for early access to the collection, and my IPad ended up dying, so I scrambled to charge it, then made social media posts, and finally sighed a breath of release.

It was such a whirlwind, but wow… WOW! I never ever expected the amount of love, feedback, shared and wide spread reach it got on social media. I have never experience a post of one of my paintings blowing up like that. I couldn’t keep up with the comments. I had to turn my phone off and walk away. It was overwhelming in such a wonderful way. My body was shaking probably from the adrenaline, and excitement mixed with pure exhaustion. I did it! I really did it! And I absolutely could not have done it without God. The support from my family, friends, Insider Members, and those I connected with on IG were so encouraging and supportive. I can’t thank everyone enough. Dozens and dozens and dozens of minis found their forever homes. I had so many orders to package, but that was such a joy! Prints were released just in time before Christmas, so more orders came in. It was a wonderful, challenging journey! Definitely something I will remember and cherish throughout my life. It was touching to hear how many resonated with the story of this “One In Spirit” piece. God’s word is powerful ❤️ 

What’s next? Well I have one more product coming in soon that features this piece and the Bible verse that inspired it.  It is this Black Hoodie 🌟 When it arrives, I am going to inspect the quality and if it’s as good as I think it will be, then I’ll open orders for it.

As far as what’s next for my art? I am not quite sure yet, other than I know I want to grow more in my skills, specifically pushing my attention to more realism details/ techniques in sketching and painting while still exploring an abstractive blend. I also REALLY want to go on a vacation to somewhere with a beach and warm sunshine 😄

Traveling helps spark new inspiration, so we will see what comes next. I’d also like to share/ create some more longer form content on YouTube such as vlogs, behind the scenes of being an artist, and online art classes. These are all things floating in my mind and I know I need just a little time to rest and get myself together again… get back into my workout routine and challenge my body physically.

I will finish this blog post here. If you have made it this far (I know this was long) I want to thank you again! I am grateful I get to share this journey in life with you.

Keep on Shining 🌟

God bless

❤️‍🔥Bri

Here is a photo dump from the 4 months of creating this piece