Hiking In Grace & Capturing My View

Back to School

09.19.18

This year I am doing something I haven’t done in 15 years.

I am educating only one child at home

My youngest daughter, the cats, and I are enjoying our quiet mornings together while the rambunctious boys are enjoying the local public high school. So far the school year has begun quite nicely.

While the kids are back in school, so am I.

I signed up for a Watercolor Summit class taught by a few artist I follow on Instagram. I am working at a rather slow pace. Even though my degree is in fine art it is always good to have continuing education.

One of my favorite exercises so far is the color mixing exercise. To mix colors and find the new colors that they potentially make. It is a task I could do a lot of and eventually will but I will reserve it for days when I want to do something mindless and just need to play.

Currently, I am working on several pieces and I am finding I need to work a little on each and put them away and come back with fresh eyes the next day. Besides, didn’t someone once say that variety is the spice of life? The following are still in process and unfinished.

I love the beach and I like the delicateness of Palm trees with their long slender leaves. However some of the hardest things to paint with watercolor are water, clouds and palm tree leaves. So I am taking my time and working until I am happy with it and then walking away instead of continuing to push to just finish it in a hurry.

The Iris I began some time ago. It started off a bit more maroon than purple so I am reworking it a little.

The other morning I woke up and the very first thought I had was not my own. It was the Lord saying,” work on THIS today”. I usually find that when my day starts like that and I follow … it usually goes better than normal.

Do you ever have mornings that begin like that? Do you follow His leading? Share with us your story in the comments below.

Resources For Following Your Dream

06.06.18

In Part 5 of my journey back to art, I mentioned a few books and studies that influenced me to move back toward my art. They all have one message in common: Figure out what your God given talent is and use it! As I was drafting this post it occurred to me that to individually review each one would be rather repetitive due to that fact that they all share the same message presented through words of different people.

One book that got my attention I have mentioned here a lot. You’re Made for a God-Sized Dream; Opening the Door to All God Has for You by Holley Gerth was a wake up call for me in more ways than one. Not only did Holley’s words speak to my heart about pursuing the talent which is God-given but my very own words challenged me as they stared back at me off the page.

The rest of the books and video series are as follows:

Restless by Jennie Allen (book and dvd study)

LIFE after ART by Matt Appling

The Truth Project, a video series produced by Focus on the Family (especially the section specific to Art)

A Million Things by Emily P. Freeman

Finish by Jon Acuff, and his Instagram feed for regular motivation to stick to it.

I was also inspired by a few other bloggers also. You can read about it here where there are links to their specific articles that pushed me along.

I also had a few dear friends question why I had ever given up art to begin with.

One thing I have learned: when God is trying to tell me something or lead me in a particular direction, the message always comes from several unrelated sources. Not just anybody, but from unrelated trusted brothers or sisters in Christ, a message preached, or even a book and the Holy Spirit “highlights” something for you,

Is there anything you are dreaming about? Is God sending you the same message from a variety of places?

Won’t you share about it in the comments below?

Recovery and Gratitude

05.02.18

Just an update for everyone on my recovery.

On Monday, April 30, I was T-boned in a CR-V, which was a loaner from a dealership while they were working on my Odyssey.

I praise God for His watch care over me. The airbags and seatbelts did what they were designed for and I came away with nothing broken and no internal injuries or head injuries. Things could have been much more worse than they are.

I am suffering from major whiplash. Whiplash is no joke. I truly though I would be going right back to work, (nothing was broken right?) and boy was I wrong. Today is the second day out from the initial accident and I woke up barely able to turn my head. My neck and back are sore, as are my left shoulder, arm, clavicle, and my left hip. I have bruises where the seatbelt was across my lap. My rib cage hurts and it hurts to breath.

I am truly grateful for all well wishes via text messages and on social media and prayer offered on my behalf. I am overwhelmed with the outpouring of love for me through this ordeal.

I have been blessed by messages from my sisters and brothers in Christ from around the world, including those I have never met in person but I interact with on Instagram. There is a special couple that live in Asia that I look forward to meeting one day in Heaven if I don’t get to meet them here in real life. They are both fantastic photographers and if you want some beautiful shots in your feed go follow them on Instagram, @William_tanhl and his wife, the lovely @MrsJoyful.

The good thing is, I can still use my right arm with no issues so I am hoping to do some painting while I recover.

Thanks again for all the love and prayers.

Getting Back to Watercolors

03.24.18

Last May, I purchased a special cup, for a dear friend of mine, as a birthday gift.

I was a cool “project cup” I bought at Starbucks. The cup comes apart so that you can design the insert.

This past New Year’s I made a resolution to finish one project a month.

The first project took me two months to complete. It took me way too long to finish, as my time painting usually ends up at the very bottom of the “To Do” list that never gets completed.

I finally finished it and it has been delivered to its intended owner.

My design was inspired by an Instagram post from @Coastal_Living.

The original photograph is by KickaWitte/Getty Images of Kauai, Hawaii.

I had to make two separate attempts of this painting as my beloved ZuZu decided to use the first painting as a scratch pad while it was drying overnight.

I liked the second attempt better in the long run any way.

Inserted into the cup, the completed project looks like this:

Getting On With Life

10.16.17

Hello.

It has been a long time. I know.

It was MY plan to get back to blogging over the summer and God had other plans.

Our family lost my father this summer through unexpected tragic circumstances and that kind of dictated how we spent our summer.

We are back into the swing of school and have stepped out on faith and put one in school and have two left at home. Our oldest is finishing up her last year in the local college and has plans to transfer to a university after graduation in the spring.

So last November… We didn’t just move.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

We have never owned our own home before. I am looking forward to blogging about decorating it and making it ours.

It has been quite a process, this moving business. We have accumulated so much stuff in almost 25 years of marriage.

This move has and continues to force us to face our STUFF and downsize and decide what we really need to keep and what can be purged.

A year later and we are still trying to wade through all our “wonderful treasures” that we seem to not be able to delete from our lives.

We moved from a four story house that had a full walk in attic and basement which were both full of clutter and books and stuff we have dragged halfway around the world and back again.

Our new house is a bi-level which is really a glorified rancher with an extra basement room. I always said I would never want to live in a bi-level but… this one captured our attention with it’s huge flat yard, shorter paved driveway, and wood fireplace and is perfect for us and is an answer to so many prayers. One being “Lord, please help me to clear the clutter.” I am still struggling with that one.

Our new home has a school area/studio area in the basement. I am overjoyed about this. I finally don’t have to clear school completely off the kitchen table to put our dinner on the table. Sigh of relief.

I am looking forward to using my new studio space more. Though we have been here a year and our house still looks like we just moved in. So many boxes.. still … in almost every. room.

There are things that have gone missing over our 14 moves that I am looking forward to finding as I unpack each box.

I am sure I sound like a broken record to many as I have yet to really reach any of the goals I set years ago in my blogging and art and life in general. But I am trying really hard to move forward and get out of the slump and now I have several Gorgeous Girls who are cheering me on and encouraging me forward in many areas of my life. I am so glad to have their support. God has greatly blessed me with some very good friends in Christ.