Gallery of Work
2022-
2024
Crystal Billing
Artist
I would like to emanate a sense of beauty, mystery, and awe in all of my paintings. I believe good art is beautiful while it also communicates something. I am attempting soft abstractions integrated within figurative work, with light touching the darkness in chiaroscuro form as a current direction. I am a highly sensitive and spiritual individual. I hope to be able to translate the intensity, beauty, and awe I feel when in prayer and deep thought along with the serenity I find in nature to the visual language of oil paint.
Bringing Beauty to the Darkness
Chiaroscuro style is the direction I am headed for my thesis exhibit with Houston Christian University in April of 2025. I will be attempting to emulate the Baroque painters with my own modern twist, and specifically looking at Rembrandt as my chief master using a single light source as a guide for the series.
Bringing Beauty to the Darkness involves making something beautiful and good in a world where deep lurking darkness resides in the corners of society. Modern America, and most middle-class Americans are naive towards the shadows that some people live with, brought to them by the people surrounding them or within the context of inside their own hearts and minds. Where there are shadows, there is also pain. Unless one has experienced some of this darkness it is hard to comprehend how oppressive the black can be, or that perhaps it can even exist. But raw beauty and straightforward truth, resides in the light and has the power to penetrate even the darkest corner and the darkest mind.
Widow’s Oil
2024
Oil on linen
16"x20"
$1200
In the book of First Kings, chapter 17 there is a quaint and intimate story of a widow from Zarapheth, who had enormous faith. This widow heard from God that she was to provide for the prophet Elijah although she only had 1 small jar of oil and a jar of flour left in her provisions for herself and her son. But God told her to do so, and she obeyed. After her obedience, God caused her jar of oil and flour to not run out throughout the entire drought Israel was experiencing. God provided enough.
“The Widow’s Oil” is a symbolic reminder that God’s provision is beautiful, and it is enough.
Pandora’s Hope
2023
oil on canvas
24" x 36"
$1200
Sold!
This painting now lives in Norway!
This painting is based on the Greek myth of Pandora opening the secret box the gods gave her. Out of the box fly the world's sorrows but Hope remains lingering at the bottom to stay with her and comfort humanity. I have represented personal sorrows within each of the globes surrounded by the dark cosmic swirls. Hope is represented through the classic symbol of the butterfly.
This painting had a life of its own, I felt. As I was painting it I turned directions many times, painted and repainted until I felt like it said what was needed to be said.
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Reflections of a Rose
2024
Oil on canvas
24"x36"
$1400
“Reflection of a Rose” has caused me to ponder the meaning of my rose. It is soft majesty opening for the world to see, while allowing its light and warmth to radiate even in the dark. I am reminded again of my King Jesus and Michael W. Smith’s song, “Above All,” with my favorite version performed by Randy Travis. “Above all kings, above all nature and all created things.... There is no way to measure what you’re worth.... You lived to die, rejected and alone, like a rose trampled on the ground, you took the fall and thought of me, above all.” Now I am left to ponder about him, my Lord, and my beautiful rose. This rose’s purpose in this life was to bless my kitchen table with its beauty, until it died. Jesus like the rose in the vase lived to die, illuminating and overpowering the darkness of the world and the darkness of our minds and cause instead, beauty and precious life.
I am currently working on a second series titled Still Waters. The focus is on water in landscapes narrowing in primarily on reflections and sky and water. My vision as I move along the series is to keep pushing the compositions toward highly rendered figurative subjects, integrated within abstraction: ethereal abstractions to figurative. I am hoping to fuse and explore humans internal dialogue and mixed emotions within the landscape settings. Psalm 23 from the Bible is a primary visionary goal, “He leads me beside the still waters,” as we are walking through a chaotic and often dark world. These paintings are headed to Latitude 28°02 Gallery in Rockport Texas unless sold from my studio first. Latitude Gallery website.
Happy Days
2024
oil on canvas
20"x 16"
$1020
wood framed
Happy Days is a journey into loose brushstrokes to create water movement and reflections. I was attempting extra vibrant colors combined side by side to create a sense of life and freshness. These birds are a white pelican family, native to southern Texas.
My Narcissus
2023
oil on canvas
20"x 16"
$900
wood framed
This painting is a study for the larger painting, Still Waters. As I painted through this I kept thinking about the Greek story of Narcissus, the young man who falls in love with his reflection in the water, thus its title. I was attempting through the use of only one layer of paint to capture peaceful swirls and visual beauty in the reflections in the waters below the bird.
Mi Familia
2024
oil on linen
20"x 16"
$900
wood framed
I love Pelicans. This bird family was photographed in Surfside, Texas in the spring of 2023. I was attempting to capture the friendliness and beauty of these majestic birds along with the warm murky atmosphere of the Texas gulf.
Seagull
2023
oil on linen
11" x 14"
$700 Sold! Thank you Latitude Gallery!
This is of a gull in the waters of Surfside TX. I was hoping to capture the beautiful reflections I saw in the skim of water below the bird and the airy feel of ocean waves behind.
This painting was in the juried show hosted by KBM Art Gallery out of Riverside California in summer of 2023.
Still Waters
2023
oil on canvas
60" x 36"
$2520
framed in a 2" gold colored frame
Still Waters is a large painting, my largest thus far. I was attempting to create an atmosphere of peace through soft brush strokes and visual depth in the reflections in the water. In the future I would like to paint more larger paintings, ones like this one that have the power to change the atmosphere of a room.
Psalm 23,
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.”
My Narcissus
Study in Watercolor
2023
watercolor
16"x 12"
This painting is a study for the larger painting, Still Waters along with My Narcissus. It is the same bird used in all 4 paintings. As I painted through this I kept thinking about the Greek story of Narcissus, the young man who falls in love with his reflection in the water, thus its title.
This painting was showcased in Aqueous Open International, 2023 through Pittsburgh Watercolor Society.
$800
wood framed
Still Waters
Study in Watercolor
2023
watercolor
16"x 12"
$800
wood framed
This painting is a study for the larger painting, Still Waters. It shows the full composition with a focus on the movement and depth of the reflections in the water.
Fisherman on the Gulf
2023
Oil on Canvas
36"x 24"
$1050
wood framed
Gulf Coast fishing at it’s finest. Quiet and contemplative is the mood. This painting is full of light and texture.
Blanket of Sun
Self Portrait 2022
2022
oil on canvas
12" x 12"
Not for sale
This was one of my very first oil paintings. I was attempting to capture the light and warmth of the sun through the use of subtle color over the shoulder and the sunlight dapples through the hat spilling over the face.
For Purchase Inquiries
Email:
clbilling@icloud.com
If you see a painting you love, whether from this website or my Instagram account @billing.crystal it may be purchased directly from me if it is for sale and not represented by a gallery. Please use my email to start the process. I will ask for your phone number and we will converse from there.
For gallery owners, I am looking for more gallery representation!
Along with the paintings for sale from the website, I also do commissioned pieces and portraits.
Bio
Crystal Billing
Crystal is an emergent artist. She started oil painting in 2022 but has been artistic and creative her entire life, dabbling in all sorts of mediums. She is currently studying to get her MFA at Houston Christian University with a focus on painting.
Education:
Liberty University, BFA in Graphic Design, 2021, Summa cum laude
Houston Christian University, MFA Painting, current student, expected graduation 2025
Gallery Representation:
Latitude 28°, Restaurant and Gallery, Rockport, TX
https://www.latituderockport.com/art-gallery
Juried Shows:
“Rising Eyes of Texas” 2024, Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, TX
"Show off Your Art" 2023, KBM Art Gallery, Riverside, CA
"Aqueous Open International" 2023, Pittsburgh Watercolor Society
Other Accomplishments:
Published Illustrated Book, "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" 2021
Artist in Residence, 2023, Sienna Ranch Baptist Church, Missouri City, TX, The artist in residence position included one large work of art (see five paintings in the "Book of John" series) and community adult teaching.