Studio/Office Open House

This Saturday is the Open House of my Office and Studio. It's the place where many of my projects come to life. I wanted to take an opportunity to show our family, friends, supporters and prayer partners the inner workings of what I do. Angie and I are getting excited as we finish preparing it. We talked about h'orderves last night, which is just another aspect of creating! And in one corner of the office there will be a prayer station. There you will be able to look over a list of prayer needs, spin a globe and pray for various missionaries and people groups around the world.  It's on the campus of Highland Park Christian Church in the 2:20 Center. It will last from 2-4PM and you can come and go as you please. Hope to see you there!

Hello Organizational Project Idea Tracking!

Ever since I started doing artistic projects, long before that became my job/mission, I have searched for a good visual tool for tracking the projects that I'm working on. I think I may have found it. It's portable, completely customize-able, at-a-glance-functional and works as a funnel of the idea process.

I looked and looked and finally figured out I was going to have to make something. The really ironic thing is that I am deep into technological wizardry. I have a laptop, desktop, smartphone (since 2004 or so), mp3 player, tablet computer and graphics tablet, among other things. Usually, the more advanced futuristic, the more I like/use it. However, I came to the conclusion that I needed something more organic, something analog.

So what does this homemade organizer look like? Here's some pics of the tools and how it turned out.

First I bought some Moleskin volant notebooks, 3M bright colorful post-it notes and 3M post-it durable tabs. Of course, you could use any small notebook, but after living in Italy and filling several Moleskin journals, I am a little partial to the brand. Besides they have some new very colorful soft cover styles in the volant line. 

Then I took a tab and placed it on each subsequent page starting with the second. I purposefully skipped the first one, because the cover didn't naturally open to it, it opened to the second page. Every time I placed a tab, I wrote on it the title of a different project that I am working on. After placing a tab and title on each page (I indented the tabs as I went, to make them easier to see at a glance), I put a post-it note on each page.

Then I can write notes on the post-its referencing the project. If I fill those up with ideas, I can place new post-its on top of the originals.

The concept is that when a project is completed, I can take it out, tab and post-its. Then if I want to archive them, and most I do, I bought a couple extra volant matching notebooks (each color actually comes with a second notebook with the same color cover, just darker).


Voila! This does not replace, Evernote, Dropbox and the myriad apps and devices I use, but it does make it so I can quickly and easily scan across all the projects I am working on and determine what needs attention next.

Book Read - Imagine: How Creativity Works

I just finished a book last week that has made me think so intently that I am ready to pick it back up again.

Here's a description from the book - 

Did you know that the most creative companies have centralized bathrooms? That brainstorming meetings are a terrible idea? That the color blue can help you double your creative output?

From the New York Times best-selling author of How We Decide comes a sparkling and revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Shattering the myth of muses, higher powers, even creative “types,” Jonah Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single gift possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively.

Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, daydreaming productively, and adopting an outsider’s perspective (travel helps). He unveils the optimal mix of old and new partners in any creative collaboration, and explains why criticism is essential to the process. Then he zooms out to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective.

You’ll learn about Bob Dylan’s writing habits and the drug addictions of poets. You’ll meet a Manhattan bartender who thinks like a chemist, and an autistic surfer who invented an entirely new surfing move. You’ll see why Elizabethan England experienced a creative explosion, and how Pixar’s office space is designed to spark the next big leap in animation.

Collapsing the layers separating the neuron from the finished symphony, Imagine reveals the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our increasingly complex world.

 http://www.jonahlehrer.com/ 

Disclaimer: It's got a few curse words, but the principles are great, if that helps you make a more informed decision.

The Reward of a Completed Project

So I finally did it. I finished a project that I started about a year ago, when I moved into my new office studio. I had decided that I wanted to paint five different colored paintings to hang along the long wall in my office and I finally did it. It seems kind of silly to be excited about finishing decor for my office, but there might just be something else there. I mean, what would you think if you went to a doctor's office and there was nothing hanging on his walls, no magazines on his tables and maybe no tables? I know what many would think, "is this guy for real? Or is he going to still be here tomorrow." It's kind of like putting down roots.

So, by completing this project, it's like I'm showing the roots that I've been planting all year. I've been in this specific role for two years now, and I feel like I have been hitting my stride the past several months. I have down or am doing projects for places such as Peru, Venezuela, Northern Africa, the Lisu people group, Taiwan, and Spain. This is on top of the general resources that I am creating that can be used anywhere in the world! The paintings mean that I'm putting down roots and am in this for the long haul.

The five paintings also represent something else....creation. God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. When I see the different colors of the paintings, I think of water, earth, sky, springtime, the sun and fire. I see God's creation. My paintings pale in comparison, but my goal is to give God glory in everything I do, whether it is explicitly or implicitly reflecting Him.

On April 21st, from 2-4pm, we will be hosting an Open House at my Studio/Office. If you are interested in coming, please write me so that I can get you more information. And you can see the paintings in person!

March 2012 Newsletter

Here's our March 2012 Newsletter. Right click on any of the pics below and choose "save link as..." to download the pdf.

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QR code scanning info -
* What is a QR code? It's kind of like a bar code but it can contain much more data, contact info, web addresses, etc.

* How do I scan this on my device?

• Windows 7 Phones with 7.5 (mango) update can use the bing vision search. [if you don't have this update try PhraseMeme Scanner (found on the windows marketplace)].
• Android phones/tablets try QR Droid (found on the Android marketplace).
• iPhone/iPad try QR-Reader (not tested personally).
• Blackberry try QR Code Scanner Pro (not tested personally).

* How do I read it on my device? You'll need a reader with pdf support (PDF reader).

New Storytelling Project For Oral-Based Cultures

I transitioned from our missions ministry in Italy to a missions ministry using creative arts to spread the gospel less than two years ago. My most forefront goal has been to create resources, tools and art that can be used by any of the 320 Team Expansion missionaries around the world.

I have already had several highlights...For instance, developing a one of a kind missions focused VBS curriculum, JUMP VBS. Another has been creating illustrations for the first children's curriculum for a secure/closed country.

Now, I am really pumped about a new project that I am working on. It is to take a current, helpful training program and convert it over the next year into large-size illustrated flip chart that can be used to teach/train people in villages where it is impractical or improbable to use modern digital teaching methods. The end goal primary user is someone who wants to train/teach his tribe that is oral-based and uses the classic storytelling methods that have been passed down through the ages.

Once I start completing images, I'll place some on my art blog, Matt's Sketch pad. Now back to work that I love doing with a purpose of spreading the gospel!

Coffee at Doubleshot in Tulsa

At the beginning of March, I was extremely busy putting together our brand new display and booth for Edmond Christian Church's World Outreach Sunday. I needed a boost of caffeine and a place to work that was close to the hospital where my mom was having her first round of dialysis, so I went to Doubleshot at 18th & Boston in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The atomosphere makes it easy to create and the solitude makes it easy to concentrate. The bonus is the great coffee, some of the best in America that actually reminds me of coffee in Italy! Maybe it's because they have an Italian coffee roaster and espresso set-up? Here's a pic of the latte I had that day.

Has It Been That Long?

Eleven years ago today, we arrived in Italy to start a phase of ministry that went on for another eight years. We were privileged to be part of a church plant in Ancona, then followed God to Verona to help launch a new team there with the goal of another church plant in that city.

A couple years ago, we moved into a creative arts role based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma after a car accident in 2009 left my brother minimally conscious with traumatic brain injuries and in need of home care.

When we boarded that plane back in 2001 we had no idea what the future held. We had been raising support for one year and ten months and that flight was the culmination of much waiting and prayer.

Here's some pics from the days surrounding when we left Tulsa (March 6th) and the day we arrived in Italy on March 7th. From Rome we went on to Perugia where we would spend the next nine months in language study prior to moving to Ancona.

March 5th (Night before we left at Chili's for a Going Away Party)

Our nieces and nephews on the Crosser side (back row from ltor: Matt, Taylor and Angie; middle: Kohl and Brittany; front: Brandon and Jacob)

David, Mary Ann and our niece Shelby. Macy wasn't born yet!!

Angie with her dad, Steve

Matt, Angie and Angie's mom, Elaine

March 6th (At the Airport for our long awaited departure flight)

With Matt's parents (from ltor: Bill, Matt, Angie and Jeanne)

Brothers and Cousins (from ltor: Todd, Kevin, Matt, Kirk, Greg)

Best Friends (from ltor: Anita, Angie, Erin)

All our nieces and nephews (with the exception of the yet to born, Macy) (from ltor: Jacob, Taylor, Brittany, Brandon, Kohl and Shelby in front with the bottle)

March 7th (Due to a 7 hour time difference and length of flights, we arrived the next day in Italy, tired but happy)

Surprisingly couldn't find any pics from the day we arrived. Guess we were too tired.  I'll have to check with the Casey family.

Trip to Edmond for World Outreach Sunday

This weekend we made a trip to Edmond, Oklahoma. Edmond is only about an hour and a half from Tulsa. We went to be part of Edmond Christian Church's World Outreach Event. It is an annual event that highlights all their supported missions and focuses the church on God's heart for reaching the nations. Edmond has done a great job of hosting this event through the years from  getting the church goers involved to making it kid friendly.   

We got there Saturday afternoon and set up our display. I got the opportunity to contribute to one of their kids rooms. There was a room with a huge map on the wall for kids to write notes and draw pictures of encouragement to missionaries. The second room had a medical tent set up, complete with a medical dummy and nurse to take their blood pressure, heart rate, etc... In that room they learned about medical missions. It was in the last room which I got to help. The room was to help kids understand about servant missions, like building houses and painting walls. On one side of the room was a large beam for the kids to hammer in nails. On the other side was a big canvas draped over a pvc pipe frame. They asked me to paint a house outline so that they next day the kids could "paint" the house!

As we were leaving the parking lot after setting up we saw a really cool sign. Every church campus should have this sign as you leave to reenter the world.

Sunday morning came and we got to speak with many believers there in Edmond about the work and great opportunities that God was for us. We gave out many new prayer cards and added a commited prayer partner!  Kids came by and we gave them stickers that we made and stamped their "passport". The passport was something that Edmond came up with where each booth had a stamp and the kids took their little book with full color of the missionaries and we stamped the page with our name and picture on it. Such a creative way to insure that each child stopped at each booth!

When the service started we found a seat to worship together. During communion they showed a video of believers from all the world taking communion. Then during the offering they showed a companion video of believers taking up offering in countries around the globe. Great visual.

Then Angie and I went to talk with the children's church for about five or six minutes. We talked about the images and illustrations that I create travel all over the world to help missionaries tell people about Jesus. Then using my Motorola Xoom tablet, I drew them a picture based on a suggestion from the group. Afterwards the kids prayed for us and we rejoined the adults.

The message was brought by one of the missionaries, Nathan Lawson, missionary in Zimbabwe. Great sermon using the story of the master leaving three servants in charge of money while he took a trip. When he returned two had done something with the money, but the third buried it and hid it from sight. The thought that "what we have is not OURS" was impressed and other great ideas to reflect on.

After the service there was a lunch for all. The missionaries all went to a table in the front and after eating, we had a question and answer panel. Several questions were asked and answered. Then once the panel was finished everybody disbanded and we packed up our display. It turned out to be a great experience for us and the church.

As we left Edmond, we made our now compulsory stop at Pop's. It's on Route 66 and has hundreds of variations of pop/soda/carbonated beverages. I got soem root beer, grape soda, strawberry pop and a peach soda too!

Here's a video I created showing me drawing in CorelDraw X5 on my laptop. I did this so people at the event could see a little of how I do what I do.

February 2012 Newsletter

It's that time of the month again! Newsletter time! Enjoy ready about our ministry during the month of the groundhog.

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QR code scanning info -
* What is a QR code? It's kind of like a bar code but it can contain much more data, contact info, web addresses, etc.

* How do I scan this on my device?

• Windows 7 Phones with 7.5 (mango) update can use the bing vision search. [if you don't have this update try PhraseMeme Scanner (found on the windows marketplace)].
• Android phones/tablets try QR Droid (found on the Android marketplace).
• iPhone/iPad try QR-Reader (not tested personally).
• Blackberry try QR Code Scanner Pro (not tested personally).

* How do I read it on my device? You'll need a reader with pdf support (PDF reader).