Chris Cook, Artist, Painter. Southern Artist in Georgia

Kratos

Kratos is the main character in the video game series “God of War”. This was a birthday gift from my Granddad. It is part of his famous portrait series which includes famous actors, musicians, and video game characters. I recommended he paint this character to go along with the other video game characters he painted such as Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2), Joel Miller (The Last Of Us), Kara (Detroit Become Human) and others. This version of Kratos takes his son on a long and difficult journey to complete a final wish by his wife to spread her ashes in her homeland. On this journey he teaches his son morals and how to be strong and brave. Together they face many foes and and in the end they both become better people. One of my favorite quotes from the game is “The Cycle Ends Here. We Must Be Better Than This.” I feel that this painting reflects the seriousness of this character very well. All the minor details show how much time and effort he has put into it. This is definitely one of the best gifts I have received.

-Zaiden Smith

Footprint

Tilled soil, crusted earth, fresh greens, and morning dew. These are just a few things that make me think of farm life out here in our humble Morgan County. You dear reader wouldn’t know it, but this foot print is actually from our Morgan County’s very own Levity Farms. Since I’m Chris Cook’s son I do have some inside knowledge and can give some reasoning and/or inspiration as to why my Dad has painted some of the things that he has. This painting was part of the,”Farm 2022″ show my Dad did for the Madison Cultural Center. This painting is also unique in how it was made as well. You can kind of tell by looking at the painting online that it has some depth to it. There is nothing that compares to seeing the real thing of course, because you would have that added depth of being able to feel the texture of the soil as you brush you hand down the canvas. That depth is actually dirt that my Dad got and sprinkled on that painting itself before he painted over it. “It’s pretty hard to paint dirt to look more like real dirt”, this is what my Dad told me as I watched him work his artistic magic on this painting.

I feel as if the more you look at the painting the more you notice about it. I like the detail of the pepper in the corner having morning dew on it’s leaves. There is also how Dad paints the shadows in the boot print to make it have depth on this 2-d surface. I have watched my Dad paint many a painting and still every time I go into his art studio to see what his next artwork is going to be I always learn something new. Weather that be a new style of painting or just him talking me through how he is going to work around something that he wants to change before he is finished. I will be sure to cherish these moments now that I am old enough to be able to grasp more of what he is trying to tell me. I’m doing my best to follow your footprints Dad and I would like to at least try and come close to being the good and kind man you are and will always be.

– Elijah Cook

Kara

“My name is Kara.”

These are the first words spoken by one of our android protagonist in a video game called Detroit Become Human. Before I go much further let me give you a bit of background information. Quantic Dream, the developers of the game, were looking for a place to base their story and when they got to Detroit they thought it was the perfect place. Parts of the city are barreling ahead with progress while others are fighting to scrape by with what they have. This game is one of my favorite experiences to have been able to share with my Dad. Its a choice based game that is pretty much like those chose your own adventure books from way back when.

How this experience went was, I would control the characters and select the choice, but Dad would be the one telling me which choices he want me to make. Kara’s portion of the story is about protecting a little girl named Alice and getting her out of the city and down to Canada where they will be safe harm. Kara is an android that was made specifically to all the things that might be an inconvenience humans such as, laundry, cleaning up, making food, doing house repairs, and taking out the trash. She was purchased by Alice’s father Todd to do such things. Androids are built with the soul purpose to obey humans to make their lives easier and their code prevents them from making their own choices. However their is a virus going around that allows androids to think and have feelings like humans do. To sum all that up it pretty much makes androids believe they have a soul. So the question is should we treat android’s as another for of life and equally or should we consider them lesser than us? The choice is yours.

One night when Alice and Todd are eating dinner Todd is talking about how androids are going to take his job and then he starts throwing things and yelling which scares Alice and she runs upstairs. Todd stomps up the stairs after Alice and Kara is faced with her first real choice of, “Do I go help Alice or stay down stairs and do as I’m told?” Crazy dilemma right? Who wouldn’t go help Alice? Well the developers thought of everything. If you choose not to help then Todd comes back downstairs and takes his anger out on Kara by breaking her and your story ends. If you have a heart though and choose to go help Alice then you are able to break programing and go to save Alice from her dad, which is the start of a amazing story full of tough decisions, what is right and what is wrong, who lives and who dies, did I make the right choice, and most importantly can I save my charters and the ones they love?

The whole journey through this game was a roller coaster of emotions with sadness, stress, and joy being at the forefront. We would often pause the game and debate which choice were going to be the best ones for the short term and which ones would help in the long term. The good news is that we mostly agreed with each others choices and I can gladly say we were able to save our characters from untimely demises. this wasn’t without our ending route if the game being so stressful with every single choice mattering. I would later replay the game with my Mom, of course after I knew which choices would get me a good ending, and she shared the same sentiments as my dad about it. I figured if something was this much fun to me why would I not share it with the rest of my family. I know our choices in life might not be as easy as life and death, but I feel like for the ones we loves our choices are penultimately made with a true heart. To end off I wanted to share my absolute favorite quote from the game,

“Forgetting who you are to be what someone needs you to be. Maybe that’s what it means to be alive.”

– Elijah Cook

Chris Evans

This painting is part of my dad vast series of faces. The faces series is pretty much any face he wishes to paint whether that be a real famous person such as Johnny Cash or a character in a work of fiction such as Kratos from God of War. This face though is the face of Chris Evans or as some people my know as Captain America. Dad decided to paint this face when we were watching to Marvel movies together. I might have also had a hand in this because I said it would be cool if he painted the 3 “Chris’s” who were playing characters in the movies as well. Those 3 Chris’s being Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, and of course Chris Evans. This specific portrait comes from Chris Evans portrayal of Steve Rogers in, Captain America: The First Avenger. in this movie Evans plays Steve rogers who will be given a super soldier serum that will make him stronger and faster, which is important in his fight against the Nazis and Hydra.

Now dad always has some sort of meaning behind the things that he paints even if it seems as straight forward as a face. Here he chose a picture that made Evans seem stoic, but with also a weight behind what it means to be a leader. Dad will also make slight adjustments to the face to make it seem more pleasing to the eye. An example of this is getting ride of shadows on the face that may look a little off when they are painted. Another example is if the person is squinting, dad will paint both eyes more open so that it doesn’t seem like one eye is larger than the other.

This painting is just one of the many others that will remind me of dad when I’m ready to move out of the house and start my own life. That’s what I like about paintings is that yeah, they capture a specific moment or thought, but also has the weight of all the time, commitment, and reason it was painted embedded with those memories as well.

-Elijah Cook

Blind, Not Blind, Judged, Not Judged.

Jesus healed many blind people, often in different ways; by word, by touch, even spit. The blind person in these verses regained his site only after he left Jesus and washed his eyes as instructed. Jesus was not even there at the moment he first could see! Only later running into Jesus again do we get this dialog.

Upon seeing him again later, Jesus asks him if he believes in the Son of Man and he answered “Who is he sir? Tell me so that I may believe in him.” He responds to Jesus’ question with an admission of his own ignorance but with an open heart – the total opposite of the Pharisees.

In this reunion, encounter, there are nearby Pharisees (no surprise there, they seem to always be keeping a close watch) that hear Jesus say “…I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” The Pharisee answers, “What? Are we blind too?” A rhetorical question meaning – “you’re not saying I don’t understand spirituality!” and laughing.

The ending is fascinating. Jesus seems to say, God does hold all people accountable – but – (“If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin;”) those who come to God in humility, admitting weakness and seeking truth, are met with grace and forgiveness – judge on that standard VS. the proud, those who are wise in their own eyes, who claim to have spiritual sight, (“but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”) will be judged accordingly – by their own standard? You could write a whole book in this closing verse!

Regardless…We are all sinners, called to repent with humility as Jesus’s sacrifice has paved the way for our acceptance in Heaven with Him for eternity.

Untitled – Man Reaching

When my dad originally introduced me to these paper paintings, he described them as an outlet when he could not think of something to put on canvas. Dad uses these paintings to express his feelings and his current emotions, on paper, he can do this in a casual manner. I have always been in awe of people who can express their thoughts or feelings using art, music, or words. This painting in particular would be something that I would paint to express my feelings more than I am comfortable admitting.

I imagine the man in this painting to be a confident man only moments before this picture was captured. Confidence is built on a foundation of past successes and trust in your ability to continue your success. However, sometimes this confidence can be shaken or even vanish, the foundation falling away leaving the individual feeling naked and afraid. The man has lost the ground he was standing on and is now grasping for air, anything to keep him afloat.

This painting does not show what led this man to his demise, but offers us clues into the path that he took. There seem to be black scratches all along the man’s arm. The man has gone down a path that has left him scars across his arms, but based on the amount of scratches, he seems to have ignored the pain or ignored the ability to change paths. If he is anything like me, I assume the man blamed the world for these scratches, not beleiveing that he couldve made a mistkae in his direction in life. The “confident” man does not admit wrongdoing or failure, he has constructed a world where he is all knowing and the world was created for his success. Maybe I’m dramatic, probably am.

When you look at the man, you feel a sort of sympathy for where he has placed himself. His face is a look of innocent shock, mouth agape, eyes bulging and raised eyebrows. The man has become a boy again, unsure of what will happen next. The blue shirt helps us sympathize with the character, but also makes the man appear young and innocent.

One thing in this painting that I am completely unsure of are the black dots. They seem to originate from the left side of the man’s face, as if to show the abyss he is slowly falling into. The black dots in the white space are the beginnings of the darkness that will soon surround the man.

“If time frightens us, this is because it works out the problem and the solution comes afterwards.”

So the man is wearing a watch with a t-shirt, so either he is trying to look good or he really cares about time. Trying to figure out why my dad put that watch in the painting has taken me some time. With movies, books or paintings, I’ve always been curious whether the artist/author/movie director does every little thing for a “symbol” or some things are just done because, why not? In this instance, i have decided that my dad placed the watch in there for a reason.

The watch and falling at the same time makes me immediately think “your time is up”.

The falling coinciding with the watch signifies to me that time is up, that the man has lost his chance for life as he knows it, as he is heading to his demise. He can’t save himself, he was given warnings, and he ignored them. We cannot see where he is falling, nothing but a white abyss of nothingness. But nothingness may be a worse punishment than hell for this man. Because when he is by himself, alone, he has to face himself. He realizes that he is his own problem, the world has its own problems sure, but he was the one that led himself to his own demise.

So now what? Is the man in our painting’s life over? The painting does not show anything for the man to grab, no way to get back up to reality or life. But I guess we could suppose there are a couple alternatives. The color of the shirt for the man is blue, a calming and peaceful color. Imagine if the shirt color had been red, the character would be harder to be sympathetic to. The character’s facial expression shows a shock towards his current fate. His mouth is agape and his eyes are bulging with raised eyebrows. The face is gentle and innocent, as if the man has become clueless.

“Only it takes time to be happy. A lot of time. Happiness, too, is a long patience.”

Carter Atchison

Woman at the Well

The Woman at the Well

Scripture Reference: John 4: 1-42

During the time of this actual event, Jews traveling through the Samaritan area would go around Samaria and avoid contact as they despise the Samaritans. The unnamed woman that comes to the well where Jesus was waiting, came, on purpose, at a time of day that others from her town would not be there (the heat of the day). Due to her questionable lifestyle, this Samaritan woman was an outcast among her own people who were themselves to the Jews… an outcasts among the outcasts.

In this practical, verbal exchange with her about getting a drink of water and how to draw it…

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

God has placed a “thirst to know and worship Him” in us all – he was offering her a relationship with her creator, which would satisfy that thirst for the rest of her life here on earth and into eternity. She did not know who Jesus was though she did know about the Messiah and about God and worship… “religion”. But, not about Relationship, which is what Christianity really is. She immediately replies with; “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (which further illustrates that she still hadn’t gotten the message).

Jesus’ response to her “give me this water” may seem really odd and out of place, a big change of subject even. “Go, call your husband and come back.” Strangely enough, this was needed to help her along and was not a 180, out of the blue response. This started a dialog that revealed who Jesus really was. It made her examine her life and what she as “filling herself with to satisfy that deep thirst” with and it was the approval of males instead of the loving approval of God.

I painted this painting to be around the time she “gets it” and runs off, towards her town where she was an outcast, leaving the water jug there at the well (a metaphor to me about leaving her old thirst/life) to go tell the good news she was now so filled with!

I hope you enjoyed the painting and commentary,

Chris Cook

Untitled on Purpose

This painting is titled “Untitled on Purpose” – on purpose. I have found that most folks that see this painting have some unique idea of what it is and what it means, if not, they will ask me about what it means.

I will give you some ideas about how this work came to being, but don’t want to give too much of my thoughts, as I have really enjoyed hearing from you all. Go see some of what I am talking about when this painting was posted to my Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/ChrisCookTheArtist/posts/1422255384578492

I spend quite a bit of time just searching for interesting images on several royalty free photo depository websites, or sometimes while looking for a photo for a new website that I am building, I just stumble upon a photo that captures something inside of me and drag it into a folder on my computer called “2 Paint”.

I found an image of a woman in a house dress looking out a screen door… that is the spark that set this – what I think is – one of my most inspired paintings of late. (I had been praying for real inspiration for quite a while before finding the core inspiration in that photo). I pulled the image down and started playing with it in Photoshop a little, extending it wider… then I left it alone for a while.

Later on, in looking through that folder of images that I had saved, I thought about the scripture where Jesus made the statement “many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (Matthew 19:30). As this woman in her surroundings seemed somewhat poor, maybe a little scared – staring ahead at something we can’t see, I felt it an interesting start for a painting. When Jesus is talking about this in that verse, I think He was speaking about eternity – after the second coming. That had me searching for “Second Coming” paintings from the past and I found a few that I could use as imagery in the outdoors of this painting.

All the other elements in the painting, like the black cat, industrial clock, the time on the clock, the strange lights on the wall, the light switch, power plug, television, what is on the tv screen, fly swatter, the “seemingly see through door” with a crucifix behind it… were all added on as I continued to paint. This painting was on and off my easel for several months. You can see the results in the painting below or here on my website –

Love to hear your thoughts on this work, I am always amazed and inspired by them.

Thank you,

Chris Cook

Rich Young Ruler

RELATED SCRIPTURES:
Matthew 19:16-22
Matthew 6:21
1 Timothy 6:10
James 5:1-6

In all of these passages, the Bible seems to discussing our attitude about money and how it can capture and swallow us up. Paul clearly says “the LOVE of Money” not “Money” is the root of all kinds of evil.

First, we should eliminate what He did not mean. Jesus was not teaching that the way to get to heaven is to live a life of poverty in this world. Scripture is clear that salvation is by grace through faith, not of works and independent of one’s financial status. The rich aren’t always last in heaven, and the poor aren’t always first. Nor will believers who enjoy wealth and prestige on earth be required to somehow be abased in heaven. Earthly rank will not automatically translate into an inverse heavenly rank. (from this blog)

A good example that illustrates that earning money and becoming wealthy is not always a sentence of being a slave to money is Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven book series – who began to reverse tithe, giving 90% away and keeping the 10%.

The rich young man claimed to be righteous, and so wanted to know what thing to do to guarantee eternal life. He thought the kingdom could be earned this way. Jesus’ response was designed to probe how righteous he actually was–did he obey the letter of the law only, or the spirit as well?–and to show him the true way to eternal life. The instruction to sell all and follow Christ was designed to reveal that the man treasured his earthly possessions more than the heavenly hope. (source)

Matthew 6:21 – For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

In the painting I wasn’t trying to make any statement what so ever about money; the love for money, being rich, judging others on how much or little money they have… What I was wanting to conceptualize was – when we “walk away” from an important encounter/event/situation, we often look back as we walk away… sometimes we figuratively look back many years later, in our minds… either way, I painted Jesus still standing there waiting, ready to have us back!

A few more things about the painting itself. You would assume that “a rich young ruler” would be adorned in jewelry and fine clothes as he approached Jesus, I painted him as Jesus sees him without the worldly adornment. I painted a subtle frame around the rich young ruler to symbolize the self as center of the world. He is walking into the darkness away from the light, his leg is already going dark.

Thank You,
Chris Cook

Symbols Are Universal

I do more research and thought – letting them gel over time – more than preparatory sketches commonly seen in an artists working style. In the case of this painting called “Disciples Flee” I was, at the time, researching symbols in Christian art. I was also preparing for “Every Time I Feel The Spirit” – a solo exhibit at the Madison-Morgan African-American Museum in Madison, GA – and was searching the Bible for mentions of Africa and Africans.

All this came together wonderfully, no mystery there as I have found with my spiritual works. I had been thinking about how scary it would have been right after the public execution of their teacher, master, friend. These men were in shock, dealing with grief, guilt for abandonment, and had no clue what to do. I tried to capture, quickly, a moment of panic for these three men, looking over their shoulders, avoiding eyes, darting between buildings in a courtyard. I roughed in the main “bulk” of the figures but with no reference yet of “the environment/background” I left it for several months and would occasionally put it back on my easel and work on the main figures. The initial roughed in outlines were thick and bold and I decided I liked it and started coloring in around the initial lines. Still no background, just a few lines to show the horizon line and indication of a building.

Then, I found a website that had these wonderful West African – Adinkra Symbols, see below.

Wow, these four symbols and there meanings represent what these three men really needed at that time; (GYE NYAME) God is Supreme and in charge fully at all times, (NSOROMMA) they are a child of Heaven – guardianship, (NYAME BIRIBI WO SORO) God is in heaven giving us hope and lastly (NKONSONKONSON) that they are united as the human chain and in Christ.

Once seeing these, reading about these symbols and there meanings, I dropped the idea entirely on a realistic background and started painting in the symbols, treated the environment in a more graphic style, applied more of that same style to the three men – and that is how this painting came to being!

I sincerely hope that you enjoy a little glimpse into the internal, conceptual thought processes and then the steps, transformation methods of the physical work of art.

Chris Cook

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