Faith and Creativity: In the Most Intimate of Spaces May We Bless Others

8.5x11 available now

To Purchase my Faith and Creativity Resources:

CLICK HERE

Faith and Creativity: In the Still Moments Where Do you Turn?

6x8 available now


I recently finished reading Lauren Winner's book Still.  The book focuses on the middle place in the Christan life.  The place where you no longer need to be convinced that God is real and you are a mess without his guidance in your life.

Nevertheless, it still kills you that the bad guys still wins and patience is viewed as weakness and heart felt intentional winner leaves you holding the short end of the stick in this cut throat world.  I am still processing all that I connected with in Winner's book but the most profound piece is her connection to poetry in the saddest and confusing of times.  I have wanted to read more poetry but have felt overwhelmed and almost a little embarrassed to ask for suggestions on where to start because I know there is so much to choose from.  I have written down some poets she mentions in the book and I have picked up my copy of Saved by a Poem and begin to read it again.


 
To Purchase my Faith and Creativity Resources:

CLICK HERE

Faith and Creativity: What is your Soul Longing For?

6x8 available now

I have been spending more time lately looking for pockets of quiet.  I need it.  I am craving it more than I ever have before.  I do not know if it is all those years of isolation while I was a stay at home mom or while my hubby was deployed with the military but I find I have to be diligent about finding time to sit and think.

Think about where my life is headed at the age of 46.  What my life means now that I am back to work and being a wife on a full time basis since my husband does not deploy as much anymore.  More than anything I find myself trying to find my rhythm with God again.  The structure has changed.  And I am in earnest pursuit to put it back in place.

To Purchase my Faith and Creativity Resources:

CLICK HERE

My Creative Peace: Waiting for the Whispers and Trusting They will Guide YOU

Black bird in the Woods 12x 12 CLICK HERE to Purchase

Sitting before a canvas and trusting that the paint and the marks and the colors will become cohesive.  I can honestly tell you that I still feel the fear of thinking the muse won't show up.  The creative juice is gone.  I had a few years of writing where it flowed in waves and waves.  I am used to how writing works.  I had a ton to say and I trusted the process of ebb and flow.

This genre is different.  I am battling with the need to let my voice come forth. In all its whimsy. And mystery.  The light and the dark.  Working in harmony.  Sharing the story and bringing it out of me.  But I have willing to sit.  feel.  wait. And trust that I have a voice in this area to share and have impact in the conversation of art and paint.

This lady finds herself fluttering. Floundering.  She watches as the birds mimic the urgings of her heart.  The birds show up to support her inner yearnings.  She didn't know what would happen when she finally came into agreement with her heart's sadness and search for hope.

To Purchase my Faith and Creativity Resources:

CLICK HERE

Faith and Creativity: Why Do you Pray?

::Prayer Girl Waiting for Wisdom:: Available Now CLICK HERE

The times of waiting are most interesting. 

 You are in a moment where nothing outwardly has really changed.  And yet you are experiencing some sort of inner comfort. 

 I have begun to really experience prayer as something more than lifting some words to your maker and suddenly the circumstances change and you are all better and things are all better.  

I have stopped praying specifically for answers.  Though I still want them.  Time spent in prayer now feels more like

help me to remember that my circumstances do not define me or how much God loves me. 

 The longer I take this life on as a journey and not simply a race to get to the most comfortable place possible, the more I am able to be in a circumstance and not allow the bitterness to overtake me. 

 

To Purchase my Faith and Creativity Resources:

CLICK HERE

My Creative Peace: The Inner Call of the Soul to Make a Difference

In 2013 I became a grandma.  My son is in the military and so his family does not live nearby.  I did not have a close relationship with my grandparents but I have heard from so many how deep and impactful their relationships with their grandparents have been.  From the moment I found out the news I have been invisioning how I would be a part of this little boy's life.   

Since he is so little I have had to be content with sending little care packages of children's books to let him know his grammy is thinking of him.  My daughter in law is fantastic about posting pictures on Facebook and I am so grateful for that.  This little painting came intuitively.  I have recently found the work of Mindy Lacefield and took her Soul Bird ecourse.  She is really igniting my creative heart with her style of teaching.

To Purchase my Faith and Creativity Resources:

CLICK HERE

My Creative Peace:: Finding a Way to Stay Hopeful in the Tough Times

::Grace and Friendship:: 8x10 print available CLICK HERE

Setting aside some childish notions of how life is supposed to be.  Definitely easier said then done.  The hardest part of moving forward after a disappointment seems to be allowing yourself to set goals again.. run after something with abandon... dream again.

For me I have found that I need just one or two close friends.  Ones that are willing to let their guard one.  Laugh with me.  Cry with me.  Be on my side.  Love me enough to not take my side sometimes.

Somehow this connecting allows us both to let the light shine on the dark places of life.  Enough to let the wounds heal without constantly feeling the need to pick at them.  

I hope you have one or two who do that for you.  I think each one of us needs at least someone that we can cut the crap with.  And get real honest.. that sometimes life is not so OK

To Purchase my Faith and Creativity Resources:

CLICK HERE

My Creative Peace: The Work behind the Desire to Get Better at Something

:Angels on High: 16x 20 CLICK HERE to purchase

I have wanted to commit to the craft of painting for a very long time now.  I have always been drawn to being more creative but for many years I would simply collect creative friends and allow that to be enough. I raise creative children.  I have a husband that went to art school.

But over the years  - really beginning in 2008 - I had this nagging feeling that there should be more to this gravitational pull.  I needed to look inward.  So it began.  Starting with what I knew - crocheting - and then taking a Kelly Rae Robert's business course for artists opened me up to artists that told that stories and shared their encouragement with me.

Three years ago I began art journalling with a vengeance. then I created a project where I created and mailed 100 postcards to friends and family.

I find that my heart is at it again.  2013 was the year of reuniting with many family members in a search for identity and connection.  2014 is the processing year of who this person is that STILL feels the call to create even in the midst of the busiest of times.

So here I am in on display.  And the goal is to create 100 paintings by the end of 2014.  Reading Chris Guillibeau's The Happiness of Pursuit has helped me to up my challenge from simply painting every day to finish paintings and let my intuitive heart shine.  I have created 13 so far since October 2014.  I am not sure I can complete all 100 but I am going to paint as if I can.  Join me on the journey?  You can also follow along by putting your email in the box at top of the blog that says "subscribe by email."

To Purchase my Faith and Creativity Resources:

CLICK HERE