Chris and Jennie Higham met at Epsom Art School back in the sixties.
Following our marriage Jennie's art career was put on hold for a long time during which we first had and then brought up our six children. With time freed up over recent years she returned to her artwork. Jennie can do most things in art and a lot with craft but her speciality is in human and animal portraiture. She paints in all mediums but mostly in either oils or watercolour. Her subjects range from teddy bears to tigers and from Harry Potter characters to seascapes. Jennie's work is well finished and done with great care.
Chris became first an office junior in a London Art Studio / Advertising Agency then a freelance commercial illustrator. He is also qualified to teach art in Adult Education which he did for a few years in Dorset. He has also taught art on a few occasions at HMP Channings Wood, which was an interesting experience. Chris refuses to paint in any medium which baffles him so he sticks to oils, literally, since he is very messy. His faith life influences much of Chris's work, which is always illustrative. He looks to find the emotion and drama in any subject to takes on.
This is our first experience of having or sharing a studio, Please watch this space!
WHY CALL THIS PROJECT BUILT ON ROCK ART?
The simple answer to that question is that much of my early life had been built on sand, and it had produced a life marked by failure: an education that ended without a single passed exam or a good grade at anything. I was good at one thing only: art. My parents in near despair sent me to Art School and there I learned next to nothing. I was a natural illustrator but they taught me very little that helped my career in the art world. Having left school I got a job as a junior in a London Art Studio. After that I became a freelance commercial illustrator. I did this work for twenty years, trying to provide income for my wife and growing family which topped out at six children.
We only just got through that period, it was a life lived on the brink of financial ruin and I cursed my bad luck at being good at art. I thought if only I had been good at something, anything else. I grew to hate art with a passion and eventually was forced to get a secure job, so I became a postman. That was my life built on sand. I had my religion, but that did not seem to work or help or deal with the underlying problems. My God seemed distant and uninterested. I had stopped artwork completely, I still hated it and only rarely tried to draw or paint.
Then a preacher came to my Church. She so moved me that after the service had ended I asked for prayer. She asked me what I wanted. I said that I know I will become better when I want to paint again. I had no idea why I said that. This lady was a total stranger to me and me to her. She prayed over me and said, much to her surprise, that I would do prophetic art for the Lord ( Jesus ) and it would be seen internationally.
Jesus tells a parable about a house built on sand which falls when a storm hits, and contrasts it to one built on rock which stands through a storm. Did an immediate miracle happen as a result of that prayer? Maybe, maybe not, but something happened, a process began and what you see and can see more of on this website is the rebuilding of a life from the base upwards. It has been a long road that continues to lead, only God knows where. But the gift of art which I had thrown away was restored to me, and my life and art are now solidly founded, built on the rock of my faith in the one who saved me: Jesus Christ.
The one definite thing that was prophesied over me has come into being. I am close to being able to tell the Gospel Story from the beginning in Genesis to the end in Revelation. And looking back that seems to me like a miracle.
You can read more about what inspires us and explore answers to many of life’s questions on
the full Built on Rock Website.
