emilysodders

Howdy!

My name is Emily Sodders, and I am the owner and sole artist of Bird House Studio based in Gilsum, New Hampshire (though I was born and raised in Texas). I do have some formal education, but I am predominately a self-taught artist with many mentors (as it should be) and have been working professionally for nearly a decade. As far as my creative services go, I specialize in color pencil portraiture, residential and commercial murals, graphic design, face-painting, art parties, workshops, and have a handful of apprentices (part of my "Feathered Friends" program); all of which you can explore in greater detail on the Official BHS Website (however certain pages are under construction or are being updated, so please be forgiving! lol).

And while serving the creative needs of my community pays the bills and brings me immense joy and satisfaction daily (blessings far beyond what I deserve), my mission as an artist goes above my career goals and merges with my faith and spiritual goals as a Christian. In 2012, I began developing a series of sketches for an ongoing fine art collection which I have titled "EvangArts" because in many ways, they will serve as visual evangelizing. To summarize the varied complexities of the series, I will simply say for now: for all those who would rather "see" a sermon than hear one, this is for you, although, not to the exclusion of hearing and studying for yourself, of course! But ultimately, this series is what I believe God has laid on my heart to produce to further His kingdom, using the greatest talent He gave me. I'm not claiming to be "inspired" in the manner that God's prophets and apostles were; as I assure you I am quite capable of fallacies- but each piece will be the culmination of much prayer and Biblical scholarship. Lord-willing, these artworks and/or their printed counterparts will tour around the country (perhaps the world): an artistic mission trip in which church buildings become the galleries and souls might be won and encouraged to grow in the faith by learning from God's Word and not the vain doctrines of man, unifying the body of Christ.

I'm a pretty simple person. I live in a cute little house on some woody acres with my wonderful and wise husband, our two Black Lab/ German Shepard mix boys (known as the 'mini-horses'), and four cats. We enjoy working our land and creating a sustainable homestead. We are currently planning an orchard and extending our sizable garden. Because so many have asked over the past few years of our marriage: yes, we want to extend our family to include children in a few years, but we would like to secure ownership of our land and home first by paying off the mortgage early, as well as other small debts. Plus, some of the goals listed above, including EvangArts, would benefit by not having to change diapers every few minutes! My husband is also an artist- more specifically a martial artist. He is a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Shaolin Chuan Fa/Jui Jit Su and a 2nd Degree Black Sash in Shaolin Kung Fu training under Grandmaster Steve DeMasco and is chief instructor at the Keene, NH SDSS location. I webmaster for the SDSS NH Website. I love that we can share our arts with others every day. We are both very passionate about what we do. We enjoy hiking, camping, and many other outdoor adventures and activities. Snuggling up in bed together to read a book out loud with dogs and cats on either side is one of our favorite way to cap the night!

I really enjoy the artistic fellowship on Deviant Art. It is a pleasure to have DA on an open web tab while working from my studio and watch what others are creating in real-time, at all technical levels, media, and styles. I especially love artists who have a sincere purpose driving them to create artwork, outside of the general passion for creating. I believe God gave mankind the ability to create so that we could understand why He creates. And if you are in touch with your spirit, Your Supreme Creator, if you know of your higher-calling, what you create is only as important as why you created it. Who is the glory for? If you create for something bigger than yourself, I want to know about it. I want to watch you. I watch a growing number of artists who have mastered the art of pleasing my aesthetic preferences, and that is well and good. But I really want to watch artists that are "doing" something with their art. Their art clothes the naked, feeds the hungry, builds hospitals, educates, inspires productivity, strengthens the family, communicates truths, passions, love, and more. Those artists will receive so much support from me, they will think I am their personal paparazzi.

If you would like to network with me on other social media just click on the appropriate links below! Just "like", "subscribe", "add", whatever, and I will return the favor!

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Thanks!

God is good. <3