Flaunt-a-Friend Friday!

Today I'm excited to promote Bill Stidham, who is a featured artist at the Austin Fine Arts Festival this weekend.

Bill is not only my good friend and kindred spirit, but also a bold, compassionate artist who articulates his heart energy with every word he writes and each painting he creates. What impresses me most is that he has moved through the fears that many people hide behind to evolve his heart energy from scarred to scared to sacred. It's amazing how a little rearrangement of the letters can free us to do our best work...lol.

Bill's current collection is The Sacred Heart which is an assemblage of iconic paintings imbued with the sacred heart imagery that he grew up with in the Catholic Church. Each of his sacred hearts have touched the world with the gifts that they have been given. Using their heart energy, these artists and shape shifters were able to change people's lives through the use of their gifts. Without them the world and the way we experience it would be lit a little dimmer. Bill challenges himself and others by boldly asking "How are you using your Sacred Heart for change?"

Bill Stidham came to painting after a bruising experience in trying to get his contemporary fiction novel published. Having spent 4 years in writing, editing, choosing an agent,more editing, then shopping publishing houses and hitting a dead end... William decided to pick up a watercolor kit from the local Walgreen's in order to do something different with his creative energy.

The initial paintings came out better than expected and offered encouragement. He could paint what he was feeling fast and had something beautiful to show for it, as opposed to writing where you can labor for years and still draw blank stares.

Fueled by more tumultuous experiences in his life, William dove deeper into the watercolor as a way of expressing what needed to be released. Out of those internal dialogs came the cathartic realization of the feminine archetype that he painted for a number of years. With each painting more was revealed about himself and what needed to be healed in his human condition. He refers to his paintings as a "spiritual exercise" where God takes over. He challenges himself with every painting by destroying them, then bringing them back to life.

Not having a formal education in art, he looks at this as a gift. "The only bad habits I have are my own. I'm not trying to copy anyone else's style. I have been fortunate enough to have been given my own. Watercolors can never be mastered and God is in the perceived mistakes that eventually become a new extension of who I am and where I am going. The so called mistakes end up becoming a new direction."

Bill has had shows in many cities including: Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Atlanta ,Corpus Christi and Queretaro, Mexico. He has been featured in the Austin American Statesman, radio stations in Austin, ME TV, magazines and a Coors Light beer commercial. His work also graces The Vineyard wine labels. He currently resides in Austin, Tx.

He asks you to not to be critical of where you stand with your knowledge of art...because he sure doesn't. Whatever touches you is a good enough reason to take it home and give it love.