Fellowship of Christians in Portraiture

Teresa Dittrich has acquired a growing reputation as a premier portrait artist. She paints portraits that are revelations of personality, capturing a moment of unusual charm with her own distinctive style.

A resident of the Washington, DC area, Dittrich is a Texan by birth. She has pursued artistic interests from earliest childhood. After training in commercial art as a teenager, she went on to study both mathematics and art at Texas Tech University, earning a BS degree graduating with honors. In addition to this training, Dittrich studied at the Scottsdale Artist School with Donald "Putt" Putman and Al Brouillette of Arlington, Texas.

An award-winning artist, the lyrical beauty of her work has captivated serious collectors from Virginia to California. She was the second recipient of the coveted $5000 John Stevens Jones Award presented by the Bosque County Conservatory of Fine Arts in 1990.

In 1991, she attended the National Portrait Seminar held in Atlanta, GA. Here, she was recognized by artist/chairman John Howard Sanden of New York and received the Merit Award for Outstanding Achievement in Portraiture.

In 1995, Dittrich was the Honor Award Winner at the Portrait Arts Festival in Montgomery, AL, sponsored by the American Society of Portrait Artists. The artist's multi-layered technique of oil painting combines the visual energy of impressionism with the realism of an accurate likeness.

Though many artists shy away from painting more than one subject, Teresa delights in the multiple portrait of two to six people. Dittrich remarks, "Sometimes the best way to show the relational aspects of various siblings and family members is to put them all together on the same canvas, but groups are always a compositional challenge!"

Teresa Gayle Dittrich
Clifton, Virginia

teresa@dittrich.net
www.portraits.net

Personal Testimonies by Fellowship Members

The Bond Between Spirit and Art
by Teresa Gayle Dittrich

o me, it has always seemed appropriate to link the artistic with the spiritual. This viewpoint came long before I ever visited the Sistine Chapel or saw a copy of one of Dore’s Bible illustrations. My earliest memories of church are as a toddler, perched on my mother’s lap during Sunday morning service. She drew simple picture of turtles, rabbits, and birds to keep me quiet and somewhat still. With my scribbles I would try to imitate the marks she made. So these early experiences perpetually fixed in my mind that art and spiritual endeavors belong together.

That They May Have Life
by Teresa Gayle Dittrich
(John 10:10)

My family never missed an opportunity to go to church as I was growing up, so it was fortunate that the church building was in the same block as our home. One day, as an 8 year old, I quietly stole away to the building in which my Sunday School class was held. The door was never locked, so I climbed the stairs to my classroom, sat at one of the tables, and selected crayons to color a picture of Jesus with the children. As I worked, I sang a song we had just learned the previous Sunday:

I think when I read that sweet story of old,
When Jesus was here among men,
How He brought little children as lambs to His fold
I should like to have been with Him then.

I wish that His hands had been placed on my head,
That His arms had been thrown around me
And that I might have seen His kind look when He said
“Let the little ones come unto Me.”

As I sang, I sensed and unusual presence in the room, and with that presence came the realization that I really meant the words I was singing. To be close to Jesus, to know Him, was what I really wanted.

After returning home, I talked with my mother about what it meant to become a Christian. There were, of course many things that I did not understand, but as best as I knew how, I wanted to make a commitment to follow Christ. There was a tremendous tug on my heart to come close to this Jesus, who was God’s Son, and who loved little children so much. I had to respond.

Many years (actually decades) have passed since then, but the tug is still there. Of course, we are always changing, and for that reason we must constantly take stock of our lives, make adjustments, and yield once again to that drawing of the Holy Spirit.

And this mysterious connection between art and Spirit is still there. In answer to prayer, God sent me a wonderful mate, Joe. We married, finished college, and became the parents of three sons in a whirlwind of seven years. Though I tried on many “hats” over a period of time - math teacher, art teacher, stay-at-home mom, kitchen designer, and general contractor - I still wanted to paint, to be an artist. Finally in the late 80’s it seemed plausible for me to drop my kitchen design business, rent studio space, and pursue my love of painting. As I sought to reacquaint myself with oil paints, brushes, composition and color harmony, I ran across a statement made by Lawrence Bullo in 1981:

“One seeks to become an artist by training the hand, then he finds it is the eye that need improving. Later one learns it is the mind that wants developing, only to discover it is all along in the spirit.”

What it all comes down to is that painting depends on the spiritual life of the individual artist. We are what we are devoted to, and that devotion motivates us to paint the way we paint. One could say, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the brush painteth.”

So you ask, “How has your spiritual walk with God impacted your painting?” Well, primarily it has affected the way I look at people, and what I want to say about them in paint. It is only as we begin to understand God’s viewpoint that we catch a glimpse of others’ significance. And it is only as we learn what He has planned for us as believers that we begin to grasp the value that He places on us. We, as human being, are significant because we, alone, are made in the image of God. And, secondly, we are significant because God, Himself, values us. If the creator of 50 billion galaxies (the scientifically estimated number in the universe) is willing to lay aside His crown in the perfection of heaven and become a human being, we have to ask, “Why?” What is it that God sees in us that He should be willing to make that decision?

It is difficult for us to grasp the depths of God’s love, but we encounter it over and over again in Scripture. In Matthew 13:44 Jesus is teaching by way of parables and says, "The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field; which a man found and hid, and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.” Because of the way Christ Himself interpreted other parables (see verses 37 & 38), it is reasonable to determine that the man in the parable is Christ and that the field represents the world. So what is the treasure? The treasure is the church, the true followers of Jesus, which He has such joy over that he “sells all that He has”, leaving His throne to come and purchase us. This parable ties in with Hebrews 12: 2 which says that Jesus, "For the joy set before Him, endured the cross." One cannot help but be transformed if he sees the truth in this one parable. We, as believers, are the treasure that God takes great delight in!

As God has unfolded this understanding to me, it has increased my passion to paint people - the human face and form. To paint them in such a way that conveys a sense of awe in the beauty, diversity, and worth of the individual who has been created in God’s image and has also been purchased by Christ Himself - this is my challenge! In all honesty, it is a challenge beyond my own capabilities. I pray that as I tune my heart to God’s own heart and rely on His direction, His fingerprints will ultimately be evident in my brushstrokes.

Teresa Dittrich
Clifton, VA
October, 2000