I read Steve Turner's Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts today, and it was really good.  It's an easy read, and very articulate and compelling--especially for a person who is new to thinking about the intersection of faith and the arts.  I'm still waiting for that book to come out that discusses the really, really hard questions about that intersection, however.

One of the sections got me thinking about creativity and how art comes about being made.  Me, I've always tried to accomplish a kind of "Top-Bottom" art, and by that I mean an art that starts from a grandiose abstract idea and then gets fleshed out.  But one of the chapters talked about art springing forth from random, concrete things: a random phrase such as "shadows and tall trees," a vision such as a faun carrying parcels in the winter by a lamppost, or an object.  You start with this concrete image or phrase, and then the grandiose idea develops from that.  I think there is power in that suggestion.  I dont' seem to get anywhere with trying to flesh out grandiose ideas.  But I have gone pretty far with more concrete things...things already fleshed out, and then finding the idea behind it.

I don't know... I just thought that was cool, and wanted to share.  We'll see if anything happens from it with me artistically.  Not likely...hehe.