What I've been working on since we've been offline -

We went for a nature walk on Wednesday, before the storm and cold weather came in...

and the ice made a nice backdrop for the collection! 

The bluish tint comes from the ice, and I thought it made a nice natural touch...

Sun bleached acorns, cedar berries, oak leaf - digital painting

mistletoe, sun-bleached acorns with insect drilled holes, oak leaves

cedar branch with berries, sun-bleached acorns with insect drilled holes, mistle toe, flaming sumac pod

cedar branch with berries, mistle toe, sun-bleached acorns with insect drilled holes, wooly lambs ear, flaming sumac pod, loose berries from cedar and flaming sumac

sun bleached acorns with insect drilled holes and cedar berries

digital painting of oak leaves

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5 Gifts...

I titled the picture "5 Gifts" because each item represents something I treasure and we all need to live our lives:

the feather - our gifts and talents that we have been given, launching us out into the world...
spoon full of seed - faith and provision {found in Jesus}
egg - hope and new beginnings
tree {on the stone} - growth, and especially growth founded on the solid rock of Christ
nest - relationships and a place to call home...

Join other creatives at StudioJRU and Sneak Peek Friday

To Texture Tuesday

Reflecting on the need to collect...

I mentioned before that I am a collector:  I collect stories, pretty objects that catch my eye, interesting items that seem to speak of hidden meanings, vintage ephemera,  tattered quilts...it is not just my stories, but others' that intrigue me...

I suspect that is why I like Pinterest, I can collect all sorts of things 

and they don't take up any more space than my laptop!

I collect written words that unveil eternal truths {especially those that reveal the depths of God's love, His desire to speak to us, metaphors that well describe His dealings with us, His dearly Beloved...} - an attempt to help those truths become like marrow to me!

Journals and sketchbooks become repositories of more abstract collections...thoughts, ideas,  memories...places to experiment and "try on" new directions...they are documentaries of the ethereal, the soul and spirit...personal histories of places and people...investigations of mysteries that have captured our curiosity -

Like the picture above - when I see this small fraction of the whole, not only do I wonder what it is, but who took it, what was it they were trying to capture, what were they exploring?  Do you?

I am eager to discover more!