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Penny Gordon-Chumbley

Penny Gordon-Chumbley | Fine Artist

Fine Artist

About Penny Gordon-Chumbley

Creating has been a part of my life, even as a little girl. As I drew what was around me, I knew I wanted to grow up and be an artist. But I allowed other priorities to get in the way, having been taught that the only way to glorify God was to work in certain professions, such as teaching or social work. I sublimated my desire to draw and paint until I just couldn’t stand it any longer.

Learning to see, really see, the world through the eyes of an artist came to me later in life. When my only child graduated from high school, an inner voice, a Godly voice said, “You need to paint.” The voice was right; thankfully, I listened and responded. For five years, I studied with academic painters at a local university and then, tentatively, left that cocoon and created my own studio. I’ve never looked back.

As an artist, I strive to see the beautiful in the ordinary. Through my work, I “practice the presence of God” as blessed Brother Lawrence wrote. I see vivid colors and lively shapes in the mundane or that which is taken for granted. I often paint food, or the ingredients of food, believing that food is a sacred gift, not to be overlooked or ignored.

I use nature as my starting-point. Knowing God as the ultimate creator, I don’t seek to replicate what I see in nature, but to respond to it emotionally.  I try to paint the joy and the wonder and the excitement I see in creation.

 

View Penny’s works at pennygordonchumbleyartist.com.

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