Dancing Before the Lord

Lately I've been pondering how we worship God.  Privately, or in a gathering of other believers.  So often we're distracted, or concerned with appearances.  Sometimes I wish I were invisible.  And in that invisible place, this is what my heart looks like.  Vibrant with color.  Blown by the wind.  Leaping for joy.

I'll be adding words to this.  I just haven't decided yet what I want this to SAY.  So you're seeing it in process.

Live Art

Last Sunday a friend and I did live-art at our church.  While the worship band played, and all the people sang, we painted.  It was nerve racking, to say the least!  But, now that it's all done, I think it was definitely a good thing.

The previous friday there had been a boy in our town who was killed in a car accident.  It's a small community, and a lot of people are heart-broken.  So Sunday's theme was particularly poignant:  that in the midst of our storms, there is Jesus Himself, saying "Peace, Be Still".  He is our only real source of CALM.

By the way, my painting friend is Lois Sprague....you can see more of her work here: 

http://www.loisrosiosprague.com

Have You Forgotten?

What have my eyes seen?  The faithfulness of God?  His care?  Specific answers to prayer?  Surprising evidences of His presence?  Truth in dark places?

"Only give heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen."  PAY ATTENTION.  Write things down.  Keep a journal.  Tell those you do life with.  Put a note on the fridge.  Just DON'T FORGET!  It's no wonder God set up so many feasts and festivals for His people.  They were memory aids!  Because we forget.

And frankly, remembering is good for the soul.

Speaking of Hope...

Another card.  This time a variegated tulip, with truth from God Himself.  The inside of the card says "Why are you in despair, o my soul?  And why have you become disturbed within me? HOPE IN GOD, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence."  (psalm 42:5....and two other times in verses surrounding this one...I've blogged about this before).

Here's the problem.  There are broken people in this world.  Sometimes it's me.  Sometimes is a friend or acquaintance.  We all get to a sad place of momentarily feeling hopeless.  And this is the TRUTH that must always be stated.  But if you KNOW the truth...and yet, you don't FEEL the truth...the last thing you want to hear is some pious person saying, "hope in God."  So I haven't mailed this card to anyone.  It sits in my drawer.  And instead I pray, knowing that only God can restore hope in Himself.

Crocuses

There's a small tub in my garage full of photos.  They're all old.  From back when we had film cameras, and actually had to have our photos PRINTED, for crying out loud!  I had almost forgotten it was out there, and today I went digging.  And lo, and behold....what a treasure trove of reference pics!!  Happy birthday to me, even though it's not my birthday!

This is a greeting card that I'm sending to a friend, also cleaning out her storage.  Why do we end up with boxes, and tubs, and more boxes of STUFF?  And it just sits for years on years!  Here's hoping a note of encouragement will add some joy to my friend's storage-cleaning efforts. 

One-Line Rooster

I seem to have a thing for roosters!

Not long ago I heard that a friend was in a sad place, a place of needing to wait on God, and I decided that I wanted to send her a card.  The grocery store NEVER has JUST the right card!  So I made my own.  This scan still shows some of the pencil sketch lines (which I erased before I mailed it!).  What better thing than to remember, even in the midst of the hard stuff, that God has done WONDROUS things for my soul?!

The rooster is drawn with one long line, with my pen never leaving the paper.

The Lord is My Shepherd

I love the contrast of how we tend to see ourselves, in our sinful state, and how God sees us because of the work of Jesus Christ!  I've been slowly working my way through a book called "A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23" by Phillip Keller.  It's poignant how LIKE sheep we are!  Like the smaller text in this drawing...stubborn, habit driven, fearful, needy, wayward, rebellious, ungrateful, foolish, panicky....!

Thank You, my God that You see me as BELOVED, PURSUED, REDEEMED!!  And that's the truth.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Well, not to me personally, but to my blog!!

Can you believe it?  Two whopping years, and still moving along.  So what was the point?  I went back and looked at my VERY FIRST post.  Way back then I said (among other things) that my hope was that I'd be encouraged to paint (or draw!) daily!  Well, "daily" hasn't happened.  But having this blog going has been a tool to keep me plugging away, and (to quote Winston Churchill) "never, never, never give up".

To all of you who have bothered to look...to read...to comment...THANK YOU!

On another note, I did this watercolor way back in 2006 (I think!).  I still love it.  It's tiny...3" x  5"...and it now belongs to my sister-in-law.  I don't know what I like more: the seed pods in the background, or the blue blades of grass cutting right across the face of the poppy.  Both are evidence that God FREQUENTLY takes ahold of my hand and brush, and the results are beautiful!

(ok....those aren't seed pods....I think they're poppy buds!)

From the Archives

I painted this WAAAAAY back, maybe in 2003?  I had just begun to paint, somewhat seriously, trying to decide if I really wanted to do this art-thing or not.  My grandfather, who was an artist himself, and had always encouraged my art pursuits, had died and I was left...bereft, almost.  So, it was a lovely shot in the arm to dabble with something and have it end up looking fantastic in a frame!

This particular piece ended up being a door prize that was given away at a women's retreat held by my church.  I'm mildly concerned about that, because I'm pretty sure I painted it on a block of wood, instead of on a canvas.  Which means, that as our Colorado climate dries out that wood, it's gonna split!  I might need to try to re-paint it on canvas if the wooden one goes south!

I called this "Picnic".

A Home-made Greeting Card

I finished this greeting card this morning, and it will shortly be in the mail.  It's a nice thing to be able to make my own cards....except that it takes far longer than running to the store!  No matter.  It's a good and beautiful thing to pray for the recipient while I draw.  It feeds me, maybe transforms me, and makes me slow down considerably.  Even the small moments like drawing a card, are moments when God is ACTIVE.  And I am thankful for that!

Who Are You?

I just finished a Christmas commission for a friend.  She asked me to do 6 canvases, all 12 inches square, each one speaking to some beautiful truth in the lives of her family members.

It raises a question:  if you were to choose one word, and maybe one image, to describe yourself....or to describe what God has done in your life, what would it be?  It's a curious thought to ponder.  I love how my answer would have been different 10 years ago from what it would be today!  God's activity in my life is SURE.  STEADY.  FAITHFUL.  KIND.  For that, I am thankful.

Oh, Boy!

Yesterday a friend of mine entered the presence of her Savior.  It's a glorious, heart-breaking thing.  Her suffering is OVER.

I was reminded of when my grandfather died.  His suffering was also over.  My aunt wrote this poem in tribute to his passing, and so in 2003 I was inspired to paint a response to go with it.  I picture any who follow Jesus as trapped on this dark earth, passing through significant pain, into God's glorious light, with arms raised in praise.  I find the last stanza of the poem so fitting for the death of my friend!

'Oh boy'

Spoken in dark

moments

at night,

on his narrow cot

the body tired

and sore

weary of this life's

weight.

Gravity, it seemed,

increased

upon the small frame.

'Oh boy',

spoken often enough

that dear friends

knew the phrase.

'Oh boy'

Whispered

in the quietest

breath, last minute,

upon his bed of death,

facing the unknown journey.

Tired,

weariness increased

beyond endurance to see.

And then....

'Oh Boy!'

As he enters the realm of heaven

and stands before his Creator,

in glory

standing among the throngs,

worship upon his lips,

gravity lifted,

arms raised, pain free,

in Adoration.

Oh, Boy!

-written by Diane Hintze

September 2, 2003

I Shall Again Praise Him

Today I turned on the news and my heart immediately broke.  This is my response.  Swept by the winds of a broken world, I KNOW I shall praise my God again.  I sat on the couch and inked this while listening to the news reports.  My Lord, glorify Your name.  Redeem even this wretched story.

Coloring Between the Lines

I spent the  morning coloring.  And I tried real hard to stay inside the lines.  Honest.  I sorta went out here and there.  The whole thing has this delightful childish feeling to it!

This is a re-make of a canvas I did for my church.  I liked it so much, I decided I'd do a smaller, tweaked version for myself.  You notice the "Peace" is in the stinging rain....and the "be still" is in the depths of the sea.  Both places prompt fear and doubt.  The words of Jesus speak today to our hearts just as much as they spoke 2,000 years ago to the literal sea.

Peace, my friends.