News from the Helpers' Network US for fans of Beauty and the Beast...

Below is an open letter to Beauty and the Beast fans, including information regarding prints of my artwork. Please feel free to post it on any fan site, and forward it to anyone who might be interested.

Blessings to you and all whom you hold dear.

- Kevin Barnes

From the studio of Kevin Barnes - gentleman artist

An Open Letter to Fandom

- October 2002

To those who keep the candles burning...

Remember me? Tall, scraggly, uncertain, smiling yet somewhat sad, singer of songs in paint on canvas. Time has passed, and much has transpired since my absence from the tunnels, so I thought Id drop by to say hi again.

Hi again.

For those who havent heard it tapped out on the pipes, my little life has gone through some significant changes in the past few years. In the Autumn of 1999 my first one-man show - Beloved: The Divine Romance - opened at a small local gallery in Southern California. The exhibition consisted of a series of images inspired by the beauty and mystery of the romance between man and woman, and how this relationship is but a shadow of the spiritual love affair between God and the human soul. It was a song the Lord placed within my heart, and I sang it with all my might. Yet, for all the insights and philosophies I had about the nature of love, I was still studying it very much as though it were through a dark glass. It was true and beautiful, but largely theory.

Fast forward to February 2001...

At a christian art show where three of my paintings were on display, the entire hue and movement of my life was forever altered. Her name is Courtney. Through the noise and commotion of that crowded gallery, her smile and the quiet, gentle purity of her spirit reached out and touched some shadowy place just beneath my left rib - a chamber laced with cobwebs, where no light ever shone. Like the only foot in all the kingdom that would ever fit the glass slipper, her heart slipped into mine that blessed, blessed night, and snuggled into a hollow which had grown cold and numb with longing, with waiting, with hope deferred. Its as if she were somehow always meant to be there. She just glowed (you should have seen her that night - I still do, every time I close my eyes) and slowly her light began to warm and thaw what had grown so dark. And as I woke from this enchantment, this half-sleep of wonder, I realized, to my utter awe and amazement, that my waking world had been infused with a dream beyond all imagining.

Because the birthday of my life is come - my love is come to me!

In the following weeks we would begin a courtship (we never did really date - we just knew) which could be described as nothing less than divinely romantic. Six months, reams of e-mails and over one hundred love poems later, my beloved and I were sealed and consecrated to one another in a ceremony attended by family and a few close friends. Neither of us ever imagined any labor so hard, any trials so difficult, any blessings so voluminous, any joys so deep and abidingly beautiful as those which come from this miracle of marriage. And above and beyond it all, the honeymoon continues to this day. We expect it always will.

If I could pluck any one jewel from this crown of blessings and share it with you all, it would be this: when it comes to what I will call - for lack of a better term - true love, the real thing does indeed exist, and it makes Vincent and Catherine or any other love story or fairy tale youve ever heard before seem like a teardrop on paper compared to the swelling roar of the ocean. To love and be loved in such a way is to know the heart of God, our Creator, the Divine Lover of our souls. If youre married, ask God to pour the fullness of his love into your heart, then turn around and give it all away, selfiessly, to your beloved spouse. If you are waiting for your soulmate, wait patiently (even 36 years if necessary!) and by all means wait purely, chastely (theres no adequate way of expressing in mere words on paper the joy of sharing your wedding night with your first, your last, your only). For those who have suffered the pain of loving and losing and being hurt by the very thing which is meant to bring joy, I weep for you - but through the tears I say that our God is a God of fresh starts and new beginnings, and that the very muck and refuse of the past can nourish the soil from which may spring the most beautiful white rose. And to everyone, whether or not you ever know the joy of earthly romance, I urge you to consider that there is a Lover, a King so passionate and devoted to you that he left his throne and crown and glory behind, put on the rags of a humble servant, and laid down his very life for you. His name is Jesus, and his arms are always open to you. None of us will ever know a greater love than his.

Now, on to the business of art

Art-wise, things have been quiet yet building. The Beloved series I started five years ago (with but a kind friend modeling for me) will most likely be left behind as but a preliminary sketch for the work which is now to come. After all, I now have the romance of a lifetime to illustrate and the most beautiful creature ever formed by the hands of God as a live-in model!

Due to the demands inherent in building a new career and a life and future for my wife and myself and - Lord willing, sometime soon - our children, I am no longer producing the 8 x 10 prints of my Beauty and the Beast art as I have in the past. I apologize for any disappointment this might cause. I am, however, now offering something which I feel far exceeds the former prints. Due to recent advances in the technology of reproducing fine art, I am (FINALLY! - for those of you who have heard me speak of it since the last convention in L.A.) able to offer genuine hand-signed canvas reproductions of my Beauty and the Beast painting A World of Our Own (winner of Best of Show at A Distant Shore II in 2000). The image area of the piece is about 12 x 24 (only a few inches less than the original painting) and it will be shipped rolled in a heavy mailing tube for safety, with enough extra canvas left around the edges of the image so that it can be stretched and framed in the traditional manner or matted and framed under glass. The cost for each custom made reproduction is $200 (less than one-tenth of what the original painting sold for), plus $5 for shipping and handling. If you would like to see the painting online, it may be viewed on both my own site (www.geocities.com/artshadows) and the Lauras Caverns website. To order or obtain further information, please contact me via e-mail at thecatacombs@hotmail.com. I am also currently offering the last limited edition posters remaining from my first one-man show - Beloved: The Divine Romance. The 13 x19 uv-coated card stock art print bears the image of my painting Seasons: Dissolution from the Beloved series (also viewable on my website) and is available while quantities last for $20. A brochure from the show, bearing multiple images from the series will be included at no charge.

Well, that's all the news that's fit to print for now. I will, of course, pass on information of any significant changes or happenings which might occur in the future . Otherwise, just assume that my beloved and I continue to explore and claim new corners of this Promised Land of Gods love to which hes called us in Christ Jesus.

May the Painter of all beauty and the Singer of loves song light the chambers of your heart, illuminating the truth of just how precious you are in his sight

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.

Love and blessings to you all.

Always rejoicing,

Kevin Barnes
(gentleman artist)

Helpers' Network US
Homepage: http://home.fuse.net/helpnet
News Contact: pipeline@cinemind.com