Landscape “Out of my comfort zone”

 

 

I really have to thank God for helping me through this particular painting.  This is what I love to do more than anything, but it’s been so long since I’ve tried.  I’ve been dancing all around it for quite awhile now.

And there were quite a few obstacles to overcome.

First, I sawed and put together the wood slats myself, so it’s not perfectly square.  And the slats don’t fit together smoothly.

 

Then there were some places in the wood that, even though I love the grain showing through, were a bit unsightly and distracting.

                        

I just kept asking God to help me know what to do, help me stay relaxed and help me to know that it doesn’t have to be perfect.  Besides, I wondered how I could go wrong painting a picture with the beautiful colors and the creation He had made Himself.

I use photographs of actual places I found in magazines.  About five to be exact, and put them together to make the scene.  So I put a lot of studying into it before I even started painting.

I knew it wouldn’t be perfect and it isn’t.  I struggled down to the very last detail with that intense, anxious fear that someone would snarl their nose at it, because it wouldn’t be, “ perfect”.  Even with all of that, it began to come together, slowly.

From the hills in the back ground under the sky,

and the tree line at the bottom of the rolling hills with the red barn,

and the sweet country mountain road,

to the bright orange tree in the foreground, I struggled.

I wanted to add an element of surprise to it, something that made it mine, and I struggled with that too!  I thought someone would look at it and say, why, why would you do that?  But I did it anyway, I put glitter in spots, it made me so happy, I knew I had to do something else.

So I did, I put copper tacks across the top and across the bottom.  And that really made me happy. 

And so my painting is done. I learned a lot and I have to say, God held my hand the whole way.  I thank Him for that, it made me feel that it was just as important to Him as it was to me.  He gave me the ideas and created the trees, hills and beautiful sky that inspired me.  He helped me through  all the fears I faced even including this very post where I am actually showing it and sharing about my lack of confidence.

Thank you God for giving me the courage and the freedom to try, even down to the copper tacks.

No More Bah-hum-bug Valentine’s Day

 

 

I know Valentine’s Day is approaching.  I try to stay in sinc with the special days coming up and gear my crafts toward them just in case I might possibly be able to sell something on my craft site.

Even though I didn’t want to think about Valentine’s Day, I felt I had to.  Valentine’s is about romance and love.  Only when my children were small did I have the privilege of experiencing love.

But now, I am experiencing life on my own, alone.  Sometimes I catch myself feeling sorry for “me”.  I hear people talking about what they are going to get their sweetheart for the special day coming up.  I see hearts everywhere advertising Valentine’s Day.  His and her this and her’s and his that.  I try to ignore it all, but it’s really not possible.  So yesterday I did a small craft and it said “I will always love you”.  But, I wasn’t impressed with it or what it said.

This morning I was trying to steer away from the theme, but it kept creeping in.  I found out why as I began pondering what I was going to put on this canvas.  All these “love” things kept popping into my head and my response was, no, no, no.  Then a song came on the radio…………………………….

Yes, there it is……………. “my heart is spoken for”.  Covered by His love divine, child of the risen Lord.

My heart is spoken for

I do have a Valentine.  My Valentine is my Comforter, my Love Divine, my God, my Heavenly Father, my Teacher, my Friend, my Tear Catcher, my Shoulder to lean on, my Counselor, my Creator, my King.  My Valentine is the greatest Valentine of all, He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, my Rock and my Savior.

 

So………………………..

 

God is preparing you for flight……….

As we experience different aspects of life we grow, learn and begin to be able to say what we feel and think.

When my oldest was about 2 years old she obviously wasn’t feeling well and I kept trying to figure out what was wrong.  When I would try to communicate with her, asking her where it hurt, she would say “my tummy hurts”.  But when I finally decided it was time to go to the doctor, we discovered she had pneumonia.  She was telling me the only thing she knew to say, she wasn’t familiar with the location of lungs or phrases like, it’s hard to breathe.  But she was telling me as best as she could.

As she grew and learned she was more able to tell me exactly where she was hurting or uncomfortable.  This is just an example of common, basic learning and necessary for life.

But as we become older a more spiritual education begins to take place, an emotional journey I guess you could say.  A journey that God is in complete control of.  Whether your parents are believers in God and teaching you His Word is really of no consequence.  God is preparing you for flight, a flight of your own.  Whether or not your parents, or those who are in control of your life have it all figured out spiritually or not really doesn’t matter.  God is in control of it all.  He is preparing each of us for flight into this world as a spiritual being and our flight when we leave this world to join Him.

Rebellion, vanity and greed can get in our way of even the easiest lessons in life, as they can the spiritual lessons also.  Earthly and spiritual life lessons continue on a daily basis as long as we are alive.  The spiritual lessons will go on and on.  I’d like to get them as they come along so I can continue on to the next one.  But certain things in our lives keep us from getting it the first, second, third and sometimes even more times than we care to admit.

But through all the lessons and things we learn, we become better at articulating our spiritual feelings.  Here is where our wings come in to play.  When someone is hurting, you can say, “Can I help”?  Maybe you have gone through something similar and can lend a helping hand or just an ear.  Your wings are flapping now with the understanding of why you went through something, it was simply to help someone else and Glorify God in the process.  And you realize that God was preparing you for flight for this journey quite sometime ago.  Through the lesson, you learned how to help another.

Isn’t that what it’s all about?

If you like this art or enjoyed the story, click here to purchase a print.

The Butterfly Glorifies God

 

No matter how hard I try I just can’t get away from the “butterfly”.  I really wish I was one I think.  I am 99 % sure that every one would have to agree, butterflies are beautiful.

Most of all the process of metamorphosis is amazing.  Ever since I became a Christian I always think of metamorphosis when I think of the change that takes place in an individual when they accept Gods invitation to come into their lives.

We are born as humans learning all about the world, people, relationships, rules and regulations, acceptable and unacceptable behavior just as the caterpillar is crawling around.  We get our education and hopefully we have someone who cares enough about us to introduce us to God’s Word.  But even if we don’t, He has a plan.  People who have never even read the Bible have been known to accept Him as their Lord and Savior.  What a Wonderful Holy Spirit.

But as we begin that turn in our spiritual lives, the caterpillar is spinning that cocoon around itself and we are spinning round and round with decisions as God begins to deal with us to reach us, offering us His Love and Freedom. 

Upon opening the cocoon from certain death if the caterpillar stayed there or excepting Christ as our Savior in comparison we are freed from death and the chains that sin grips us in.  We step out into the same world as a new person, but with so much more potential to become even more beautiful, inside and out.

So upon exiting that cocoon, God gives us wings to fly.  We are free as individuals to work out our own Salvation and free to fly as high as we possibly can for Him, the One who gave His only Son to free us.

And there are so many other ways to compare the metamorphosis process to our Christian lives.  I believe God gave us the butterfly for more reasons than something beautiful to feast our eyes upon.  I believe He gave us the butterfly to help us to understand Him better.                                       

 

The butterfly glorifies God.

 

The Uniqueness of God

 

 

As I began working on this rose, I knew that my goal was to make it unique somehow.  Which took me to the dictionary to confirm what I already knew about the meaning of the word, “unique”.

I got phrases such as, the only one of it’s kind, special, different from all others.  Of course all these phrases and definitions led me to the conclusion that God is definitely unique.  There are others who have gods that they worship, but there is only One God and He is Unique.

He is unique because He created something from nothing.  No other God has created an earth or a person, a plant or an animal.  Without God Almighty, there would be no other gods for people to worship, for He is the Creator of all things.  He gives us the freedom to choose Him or other things to worship.

He is loving.  He knows that our lives will be full of mistakes, so He gave us a Book and the Holy Spirit to guide us.  Neither of which He holds over our heads to constantly tell us how terrible we are or to threaten to take our heads off if we don’t follow every single word.  But to guide us in love and to show us the need for good and pure things in our lives like, forgiveness for our on sakes.

Think about how unique God’s Word is.  Two people can read the same verse and get two different meanings, two different applications to their individual lives.  Because it is written for us all and we are to work out our on salvation.  We are all at different places in our lives spiritually.

What other God came down from Heaven in human form, died a physical death and rose again, alive.  Only the One and Only, True and Living God could have ever accomplished such a transformation.  That transformation is unique.

How about drug addicts, criminals and others who are in the depths of despair.  God can pull them up out of the pit and change their lives forever.  And from evil, He brings something wonderful out of it all.  Unique.

God was, He is and He will be.  Not another thing or person on this earth can be all of that.  No one can deny, that is uniqueness!

So, I wanted my little flower, even though it seems so insignificant compared to God, to be unique.  Something for your eyes to behold, unlike anything you had ever seen.  Something that would make you stop and wonder what the meaning of it was.  It could say different things to different people.  God takes our lives and makes us beautiful on the inside and it helps us become beautiful on the outside through the helpful and caring deeds we do for others.  The swirly little designs on my flower represent the peaceful, happy inside that glows through the petals to make them even more beautiful than they are already.

                                       

                   

I’d like to be a rose so beautiful and red,

and every day the sun would shine in my flower bed.

I’d like to be a rose that bud’s in the spring,

to stand up and pose for every living thing.

I’d like to be a witness so beautiful and fed,

and every day God’s love would shine from His Word’s I’d read.

I’d like to be an example for God, as the bird is when it sings,

to spread His love and hope and faith for every living thing.

 

And the tears?  They are tears of joy!

Paper woven with LOVE

Such interesting items can be created when the mood, setting and inspiration is just right.  The more natural the ingredients are, the more inspired I am.  This little crafty artwork consists of wood and paper.  There is a bit of wire and a few nails, but the basis is “natural”.  God has given us so much to work with, seems a shame to let it go to waste.  Do you have abilities or talents God has given you?  Do you use them to glorify Him?  What happens to our talents when we don't use them?  I almost let mine slip through my fingers, or I don't know maybe it did slip through my fingers and that is why I am struggling with it so.  Don't let that happen to you.  Realize what you have been given and use it while you have it.  I still keep trying and this is my latest attempt.

You can see through the woven paper, so the wall you hang it on will be the background color behind the woven heart.  The buttons are wood with an acrylic wash of the colors, lilac, green and orange.  Then white polka dots applied with a paint pen.

You may want to recreate it yourself.  Try it, put your own personality into it, use whatever word you would like.  Try putting a butterfly or a peace sign in the middle instead of a heart.  You can do it, it’s simple, here’s how.

You will need:  Check out the products in my store here.
Paper rush
Stretcher strip frame
Natural hemp
Wood buttons
Craft wire
Nails
Glue

Here’s the steps in creating this piece:
Put your stretcher strips together to make the frame.  Put a little glue at the joints.  Paint the front side of the frame with the color you desire using acrylic paint watered down to just tint the wood.

Once dry,  attach strips of paper rush from the top to the bottom of the frame on the backside with nails.
Then attach the strips of paper rush to the back side of the frame on one side with a nail, then weave in and out of the strips that run from the top to the bottom on the frame, then attach to the opposite side with a nail.  Do this until you get the fill you desire.  You might like less than I have in the piece or more.  It’s up to you.

Turn the frame over to see the front side, be careful of the nails.  Use the acrylic colors of your choice watered down, so you will only get a tint of the color and apply to the woven paper rush.

Choose your shape and use wire to apply it to the woven paper rush, wrapping it around the paper rush strips as you go to help it keep it’s shape.  I chose something easy for this first time, a heart.

When you are happy with your shape, use natural hemp to macrame’ using the wire as you inside cord.

Apply paint to your shape, which is the natural hemp.  Keep the paint watered down just to tint the shape outline.
 
Once the shape is complete, use more of the natural hemp to weave in and out of the paper rush inside the shape you have chosen.

To make your word, begin twisting natural hemp around craft wire, clamping the end of the wire over the hemp.  Once you have enough twisted onto the wire to shape your word, clamp the end.
Shape your word and attach to the woven paper rush with small pieces of wire.  If you desire you can also paint your word with the same acrylic colors and watered down technique as you used on the frame, the paper rush and the hemp.

Clip off the excess nail tips on the front of the frame with a wire cutter.

Paint buttons with your choice of acrylic colors watered down.

Using a strong glue, dab a small dot on top of the nails, lay buttons onto the glue spots.
Once dry, you can put little white polka dots on the buttons if you like with a paint pen.

When everything is dry apply a hanger to the back of the frame and you have a wonderful gift or a new piece to hang in your own home.

See what all you can do with this artsy craft.  I’d love to see what you do.

Here are some different views of this piece.  If you don’t like the open air look with out anything behind your weaving, you could put fabric, cardboard or even colored matte board behind it.  Use your imagination.


             

                   

Hope you enjoy making this.  Happy artsy crafting!

Free Art or Craft or whatever it is!

So I have a little bit of a difficult time deciding what the results of my ideas actually are.  What would you consider this particular piece to be?  Is it art or is it actually a craft?  Do you think it would fall into the collage’ category?

I’ll tell you a thing or two about it so you can answer the question and possibly win it, that is if you think you might like to have it.

This is a wood frame made from stretcher strips.  Stretcher strips are normally used to stretch canvas on to paint a picture.  You can buy these canvas’ already made.  But of course being “a bit different” I like them so much, I use them for frames.  You can get them in so many sizes, precut.  What I love most though is the way the natural wood shows through when I paint them.

I paint the wood with a very watered down acrylic paint.  In fact sometimes I can’t tell I’m putting anything on the wood but water, so I’ll add a little more paint to it, but not much.  Then I keep layering it on til I get the look I want.  Some lighter colors cover up the wood grain when you try to get the color to show up.  I like to keep it thin so I can see the wood.  It’s just natural and beautiful to me.  If you'd like to try some stretcher strips for yourself, click the link below.

Fredrix Stretcher Strip 10 Inch Single Strip


Ok, so I found some screen wire one day while I was out shopping.  It’s not the kind of screen my grandmother had on her screen door, it’s softer and it doesn’t prick your finger.  I thought I could sure use it to play with some kind of craft.  I got it and have been dying to sew on it.  Painting on this screen wire was not something I thought I could do and the paint actually stay.  But it does.  So I used paper doilies and a butterfly cut out of paper as stencils and decorated the screen wire.

Behind the screen I put some painted paint sticks.  Now that is what you ordinarily use to stir large pails of paint.  But when I thought of several things I could do with them, I just ordered about 500 sticks and I am so enjoying using them.  I have made stars for decorations,  painted pictures on them, a friend of mine made the sticks look like snowmen, I made a calendar holder and used them to write scripture verses on.  I even cut some and put them in a sewing hoop.  I’ve been having a blast with them.  See for yourself just how economical and versatile they are, if you'd like to try some just click the link below.

Perfect Stix PAINT9 Birchwood Paint Paddle Stick, 9" Length (Pack of 100)


So that’s basically what this particular piece is made with, paint, stencils, stretcher strips and paint sticks.  What would you say it is?  Is it art or is it a craft?

Oh yeah, I did sew a button on it.  I won’t go into how much I love buttons, but I did sew on it after all.

If you have read all the way down to here, thanks!  It is amazing that I have kept your attention this long, but I just might have something for you, to make it worth your while.  I would like to give this piece away.  I like giving things away and I have to face the fact that, if I don’t give things away, my house gets kind of cluttered.  I don’t have a shop so this one is on me.

Just send me an email at southernskyartsandcrafts@gmail.com, put “giveaway” in the subject line and tell me what you think this is, art, craft or what?  On December 31, 2013 I’ll have my grand daughter pick a name for the winner.  I won’t even charge shipping.  That really irritates me when someone says it’s free and then you have to pay shipping and handling, then that’s not free.  But this is, Merry Christmas!
Oh and since I only have 49 people on my facebook business page, if you could go there and like my page I’d really appreciate it.  Just go to Southern Sky Art Studio.

Art: Flag on cheesecloth

 

 

I wanted to share this interesting technique with you. The overall affect is quite pleasing to the eye in my opinion.  It is a perfect setting for our a tattered American flag.

All you need is….

1.  Paint sticks (or some sort of flat surface to attach your cheesecloth to).

2.  Cheesecloth (enough to cover the surface and wrap around the back).

3.  Sewing hoop 

4.  Gesso

5.  Acrylic paint

6.  Mod Podge (or your favorite glue sealer)

7.  Frame (I used painted stretcher strips)

As I was working on this picture I was thinking about the blood that has continually been shed in the name of “freedom” throughout our history.  You can begin reading of the blood shed for freedom in God’s Word.  The ultimate blood shed was Christ on the cross.  This blood shed freed us from laws we could not keep.  No matter how hard we try, we are humans, not perfect like God, so we will always fail.  But God made a way for us to be free.  His Son Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross for us. 

Throughout history men have shed blood for the right to be free, to live and worship as they believed.  That is what the flag represents to me, freedom.

Try your hand at duplicating this project, all you have to do is……………………

1.  Place your cheesecloth in the sewing hoop, pull gently to tighten, close the sewing hoop.

2.  Apply the gesso to the area where you are going to paint on, thicker specifically in the focal point area.

3.  Once dry, (I let mine set for several days), use a watery acrylic to paint your design.

4.  When dry, gently remove the cheesecloth from the sewing hoop and lay on the flat surface of your choosing.  Position it where you would like it to be and seal with the decopauge technique.  You’ll have to use gently strokes on the parts of the cloth there is not much gesso on.

5.  Once your sealer is, dry frame it and your done.

If you try painting something else besides a flag, I’d like to see what you come up with.  Here’s the picture after it was framed.

 

Art: God’s Incredible Sky

 

Of all the different things I admire in God’s Creation, the sky has to be the one scene that constantly takes my breath away.  No matter what time of the day or the weather, the sky always seems to have a mysterious magnificence about it.  I love to put the sky in my paintings, it’s a personal thing for me.  It makes me feel like I am including God.

Most of all though, taking God’s Word literally, this is where we will see Him return, the sky.  We are suppose to be watching. 

Isn’t it wonderful that He gave us such a beautiful view to look at while watching for His return.  And if it takes our breath away now, imagine when we see Him coming for us!

Collage: Tattered Pieces

 

This piece was actually done some time ago when I was really struggling to accept some things in my life.  At the time I wasn’t tuned into the significance of it all.  But now, reflecting back, God was in it the whole time.

This is a collage’ on cardstock.  The flower (if you see it as a flower) is made up of torn pattern pieces.  The butterfly is also cardstock and they are all glued together by the decopauge technique.  The doodling all around the edges (and you will see this on quite a bit of my art and crafts) is just therapy.  It’s a process I just started doing one day and was amazed at the time I was able to pass and the thought process it provoked.  It also gives me reflection time and a long conversation with God.  But since (somehow out of the blue) I began doing this, I noticed that it wasn’t such a revelation, many are doing it.

This piece really stood out to me this morning, the bits and pieces of the torn pattern and the beauty of the moth shining above it all.

The torn pattern pieces, as you might also be thinking, represent our lives as we live on this earth and experience events that, well, feel like they are tearing our hearts into pieces.  How it all comes together to make a flower like shape, tells me of how God can take all those pieces and mold and shape them into something that makes sense.  Into something that can become beautiful, but not perfect.

The moth, as it stands out in it’s beauty, represents the power of the Holy Spirit, how He is there at all times in our lives, watching over all those torn bits and pieces of our hearts, all the while letting us know that He is in control and everything is going to be alright. The battle has already been won!  He takes all those bits and pieces and keeps them together, refining us.  We may be torn and tattered from some of the decisions we have made in our lives or by the hurt others have caused us for no reason we can think of, but God will mold all that together into something useful, if we will just let Him.  He will be glorified and out shine all the tears and tragedies that we have experienced.  He is standing in front of that torn flower, shielding it, protecting it and showering it so it will know that His Grace and Love are sufficient.  It is important and can still be used.  We are important and He can still use us for His Glorification.

That flower may be torn, but it can still be used, as a flower.  It may not be perfect, but it is still has a purpose.

Have you thanked God for keeping the broken pieces of your heart together?  I pray He will use my tattered heart to do something good for His sake that will Glorify His name, spread His Living Word and cause someone to smile and acknowledge that He is Lord and King.

Have a wonderful day!

God, Grace, Glory

 

 

 

God’s Glorious Grace!  Thanks so much for that!

There was a law at one time that no one could live up to.  God sent His only Son to die on a cross so that we could be freed from that law. Blood was shed so that we could have the freedom to live our lives as best we could for God’s Glory without living in fear that we were always making God mad.  God will never take that away from us.

There was a law at one time that others felt would take their freedom away from worshipping their God the way they felt was right.  God put it in the hearts of those who believed their freedom was being threatened, to do something about it.  Blood was shed.  America was born and we were no longer under those laws.  Will we let these rights be taken away from us?

Just like God expected a Man to stand up and do what was right for His people, just like God expected men to take a stand one time against being controlled, He expects it now.

Will we let the freedoms we have had for years be taken away?  Those who are trying to tell us how and when we will worship our God will not win.  They will not prevail.  The battle has already been won.  I guess they didn’t get the memo!

Even though the battle has already been won, don’t you want to be on the winning side?

What are you doing?

God, Grace and Glory!

Art: God is Always There

As I worked on this painting, putting little dots of fall colors in the trees, I thought of moments in our lives that God has blessed us.  Each dot that is suppose to represent the leaves also represented to me, memorial moments God has given to me.  For times in our lives where memories are all we have of some of the people we love, we do at least have our memories.

While placing each little leaf on each tree, the bright leaves made me think of the wonderful times with each of my children.  As I put the darker colored leaves on the trees,  I thought of sad or stressful times in my life I wish sometimes I could forget.  I tend to dwell on the darker times, but as I painted each leaf, I realized that there are just as many great and wonderful memories as there were, not so wonderful memories.

So I asked myself why would I dwell on the negative?  The negative makes the positive all the more better and all the more brighter and all the more wonderful.  Even though, as I looked at the outcome with quite a bit of dark, it is overcome with a beautiful veil of the sky.  This bright sky makes me think of how God is there all the time.  We are so busy looking at all the moments and letting the negative take us over that we forget, He is always there, hovering over all those moments and loving us.  We forget to look up and remember that He is in control.  All the bright and dark leaves are necessary in our lives.  Mixed together they make a beautiful landscape, a beautiful life that God gives to all of us.  The striking contrast in the sky against the land still all blend together to make one wonderful life with God in it and in control of it all.

So don’t forget to look up, thank God, look at the bright side.  No matter how many dark leaves there have been in your life, there are still the bright ones to dwell on and be thankful for.  There is still that bright and wonderful sky, God is still there, always there, blending it all together for good.

Back to the Art

So here’s the dilemma with my painting.  Maybe you can help me.  It seems I am always doing something, out of the ordinary,  not the standard, traditional way others have always done it.  Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.  And so I have this…………………

I have a pretty picture that probably should have been on canvas, but I wanted to put it on wood (paint sticks) and in a frame I would paint myself (stretcher strips).

Here is the finished product.

 

Have a lovely day.

If you are interested in just purchasing a print of this painting, just go to the Purchase Prints link on the left of this page.

The Rhythm of God’s Grace Art

Is your heart tuned in to the rhythm of God’s Grace?

Hmmmm…..

What does that mean?  Well, I can only give you what it means to me and you can agree or disagree and take it from there on your own.

Many years ago as I sat in the choir beside the pastor’s wife, we were chatting before service time.  She confided in me that she had a sin in her life that she could not seem to overcome.  She named the sin and asked that I keep her in my prayers.  Feeling compassion for her I also shared a sin in my life that I was just beginning to have a struggle with and I too named my sin, hoping that it would make her feel that she was not alone in her battles.  Instead, she turned to me and told me that I must no longer sing in the choir that I had open sin in my life and it would not glorify God if I was seen singing in the church choir and then seen out in public “committing my sin”.  It was early in my walk with God and I was really confused.

Thank you God for your Grace, the greatest gift given to us through the loss of your Son, Jesus Christ.  Thank you for helping me to learn that there is no one so much better than the other as to call themselves a judge over our lives to decide whether or not we are worthy to do this or that.  Perfection is not something obtainable here on this earth, when we walk through the door of death and live in heaven with you, then we will be as perfect, in the way you choose for us, as you allow us to be.  That’s as close as we will ever come.  And I thank You for that.

I know that Your Grace does not give us freedom to do whatever our human desires tempt us to do, but as we struggle from day to day with those temptations it’s a wonderful thing to know You’ve got us covered.

If you’d like to know how to build this wall decoration just click here to see the instructions.

In addition to those instructions, for this particular craft, I used Apple Barrel Lilac Mist acrylic paint, wood buttons, a wood button heart painted with Ceramcoat Tompte Red by Delta.  I also used a paper doily as a stencil with Apple Barrel White acrylic paint.

Let me know if you make this craft, share your pictures with me.  I’d love to see what you make.

Have a gracefully crafty day!

Inspired by God’s Love

I guess when you first look at this crafty little plaque, you might not, at first, think about God’s Love.  I haven’t ran across many people in my life time that make me think of God’s Love.  But He still gives all of us many opportunities to see His Love for us.
He shows us His Love in the flowers, birds, trees, the air we breath, and the freedom to live our lives for Him as we see fit to glorify Him.  There are countless ways He shows His Love for us, too many to mention here.  He freed us from the law and replaced that law with Grace by giving the life of His only Son to free us.
As I groped to find a way to express what makes me think of love here on this earth, I thought of the beauty of God’s creation that He shows Himself through for everybody to see.
It might be hard to see God’s Love through people all the time, but as the bird sings, the flowers bloom, the butterfly flitters by, the sun rises and sets, the tides roll in and out, the trees sway in a gust of wind and the rain falls to clear away the dust and give life, we can definitely see Him and feel His presence.
Thank you God for giving me a way to share the love you have put in my heart with others.
Today, when a little bird calls out to you with a sweet song, I hope you will think about the only One that could have ever put that song in that little beating heart.  What a wonderful gift to give.

For a tutorial on how to make this sweet little frame and canvas to decorate for a gift or for your own home just click here.  You can have one ready to decorate in 5 easy steps.

Free From the Cocoon

Listening to Beth Moore this morning about law and grace made me, once again, compare our spiritual lives to the butterfly.  The metamorphosis is the one thing I always picture in my mind when I think about the changes that take place in us when we allow God in.
But this morning as I listened to her speak about grace, I just envisioned the caterpillar in the cocoon of the law, unable to move, to stretch, to spread it’s wings and fly.  Coming out from under the law represents our wings growing and once we begin to understand grace, we can finally spread our wings and begin to fly.
And this is what I thought of……………………

Thank you so much for freeing me from the law and giving me wings so I could fly.  So I could be free to worship You and live my life in accordance to Your will Lord, instead of man’s.  And I thank my daughter for sharing this with me, she knew I needed it greatly and would appreciate it.
If you have any comments please share them with me.  You can visit me on facebook too and we can get a discussion going about God’s wonderful, glorious grace.

If you would like to see the tutorial about how to make this crafty little frame and canvas to decorate for less than $5, just click here.

So, what if flowers could fly?

                                        Flowers have wings too!  So, what if they could fly?

I asked myself that question one day and as I contemplated just how I could pull it off artistically and make it seem real, this is what I came up with.  It doesn't hurt to let your imagination run wild, like a child, occasionally.  There were several other ideas, but this one was great for starters.

This collage' is an acrylic landscape on canvas.  The flowers are real, I actually picked them from a field and pressed them.  They came from Eagleville, Tennessee and have moved with me a few times, staying pressed between the pages of a book, laying quietly until their time to fly and live again.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to give them a breath of life and let them grace us all with their presence once again.

The flowers are glued onto the canvas using Modge Podge.

I didn't have to do anything to the flowers I made the butterfly out of (or maybe it would be considered more of a moth).  I just trimmed the rest of the stem off to help it lay down flat and arranged four flowers with the two at the top as exact to each other as I could find and the same for the two at the bottom of the butterfly.

It was basically already done for me, just actually acting on the idea was the the part I played.  And playing it was.  I was thinking while designing it how it just all seemed to fit together.  Because butterfly's are just flowers that can fly. 

 

Paint some sunshine today!

 

 

 

Paint your own Sunshine

In this world full of people who have no respect for our children, there should be a place they can go to find peace, joy and love.  Sometimes, for some children, that place can only be found in their imagination.  It's sad to think about it, but it is reality.

By creating art to motivate positive thoughts, I hope to be able to brighten up a child's life, to spark positive and pleasant thoughts and to help them realize that there is a place to go to get away from the pain they may be enduring.  There are good things and wonderful people in the world, but some children haven't seen much of that.  In the process, there just might be a chance that as an adult walks by and catches a glimpse of this encouragement in the form of art or words, he or she might remember what a child's life is suppose to be like, causing them to want to make a difference.

Shouldn't we want to be encouraging to children?  There are many wonderful and positive opportunities in this world.  Sadly, we hear about the bad more than the good.  Possibly that's why I felt the tug to promote more good, share some wonderful and uplifting ideas, help to bring a smile to someone's day.  Art is what God has chosen to give me, so I'm thinking I should use it, for Him, for good.


Paint some sunshine.

If you'd like to purchase a print of this illustration, click here to go to my gallery.