I wish I was painting...

Just a little update - very little painting has been done lately, the electric outage caused some delays as I had to do "catch-up" housework and counseling as soon as the electricity was back on...then our oldest son got out of rehab (and all the ups and downs of that) - a great time of inner healing prayer with a client (maybe I will journal more about that later) and then....SURGERY! Necessary, but I WISH I WAS PAINTING! Perhaps next week, when I am not on so many pain meds...this was a scheduled surgery, an abdominal approach hysterectomy and repair of lower areas. My husband and family are doing a great job of taking care of me...it almost feels like being pampered...almost! I seem to be capable of only watching TV, and now I have been able to check my emails and update this blog. **Yawn** bye for now!

No internet!!! No electricity!!!!

Hi all - sorry it has been so long - and I can't even post to my etsy shop yet! We are part of the 260,000 North Texans without power, but it has been great! I am really finding out what is important and what isn't!!! Though I love the internet, I can live without it! I have also found that I can live without air-conditioning, though in that regard I am very thankful for the warm water addition to the showers at our local pool! Everyone else is probably thankful for that as well!!! I can read, paint!!!!, sew by hand, garden, and play with and love on my family! And the other great thing is that there are no real expectations for cooking (another yay for easy meals and lots of fruit and water to drink!)...so, blessings on each of you - I am at a Starbucks presently trying to check emails, and then back to primitive living!

A Life Purified

I can't believe it has been a week since I posted! It has been full...

But here is a painting I (finally!) finished! I am trying to use up materials that I have lying around, and I found several old wooden embroidery hoops, thought they would make good frames for painted pieces, so "hooped up" some canvas paper, primed it, and proceeded to paint! The image is one that I will use to prepare prints from, so I purposefully didn't show the wooden hoop. The original will be available tomorrow in my etsy shop -

There are five crowns in the picture, can you find them all? One is a little tricky, but I bet you will find it! Below the picture I have included references to the five crowns of the believer in Christ...enjoy!



THE FIVE CROWNS OF THE BELIEVER

The believer’s life and faith are rewarded by Christ at His coming I Thess. 2:19 -20
Romans 14:10-12; I Corinthians 3:12-15; II Corinthians 5:9-10

1. Crown of joy for those who suffer - I Thess. 2:19
2. Crown of endurance for those who master the old nature - I Cor. 9:24-25
3. Crown of righteousness for those who long for and pray for the return of Jesus Christ
II Tim. 4:8
4. Crown of life for those who persevere under trial or even die for the sake of the gospel
James 1:12
5. Crown of Glory for those who are faithful in the leadership of the flock. I Peter 5:4

Art and Life

No pictures to post tonight...I am working on 5 small ones all at the same time, but tonight life needs to be tended to...I must compose a letter to our son who is making many, many, MANY bad choices...so if you read this and you are a praying person, please lift him up. So, here I am, in my easy chair with my lap top - "Under the Tuscan Sky" is on - I love this movie and I have watched it so many times that is won't be a distraction while I write.....well, not much of a distraction....mmmmm, ok, here's a comercial - no distraction here!!! Not sure that's what the advertisers had in mind though!

The Fruit of the Spirit is - Faithfulness

Another one in the "Fruit of the Spirit" series...Home is the best living illustration of constant love and faithfulness that I know of - thus a little treehouse for ... butterflies? Fairies? Birds? Or perhaps a highly imaginative symbol of your own home?!

I didn't start out painting a night-time scene...but with the deep blue and the circular strokes I used to put in some white, the background sort of shaped up like a moonlit night...I did an antique glaze over this one, too, still didn't like it, and realized that a guardian angel would fit in nicely behind the tree. I used a light wash for the wings. Her hair was black, but my little girl thought it looked too mean, so I added white streaks which my little girl really liked, and she really liked that it made the angel look holy and fierce.

I just noticed...the leaves are sort of heart shaped too! That will tie in nicely with the hearts in the robin picture for patience!

Patience is complete!!

Here is the final rendition of Mrs. Robin and the Fruit of the Spirit of "Patience". I think I will do a "mini tutorial" on the process of how I did this piece, and incorporate all the good feedback and help I got from feedback to help others through this...maybe after the holiday weekend!!

I got out some of my mixed media pieces I did last year (on discarded flooring tiles) and I can really see how I have grown...I can barely believe it myself!!! And tonight, in the midst of getting ready for the Artfest in Weatherford tomorrow (oops, I mean later this morning - Yikes!!!) I worked on these older pieces, giving them a little more "mix" - and viola - I have four more pieces to take with me!!!

heARTfilled blessings!

Patience revised - "Please be patient" - LOL

you can go to my flicker page here to review the suggestions I received on what might help my piece (shown again on the left). The piece on the right is how it looks after some more revising...what do you think now? It is amazing to see the difference in viewing them side by side!

The Fruit of the Spirit is - Patience

I would like some feedback on this piece - it is the mixed media piece that I needed that feather stamp for...

Maybe it is just because it isn't a face - I just am not satisfied with it, but can't put my proverbial finger on the reason why it doesn't seem right...

What do you think?

How many times do you have to try???????

Here is the answer; 30!!! But then you end up using one of the first four that you did! That is how many times I stamped this little feather stamp before I got one or two that I thought would work for the current mixed media piece...and I had to resort to doing that because the stamp just didn't like the texture on the canvas and REFUSED to imprint any semblance to a feather! Here are some of my other tries....




They are a little messy in places, but I think I can salvage a few more for other projects!!

Another input into the Fruit of the Spirit series

This one is self-control. She started out with a white dress, but with her auburn hair it just didn't look right. Also, she has gold metallic highlights around her halo and the collar of her dress. All of these paintings are on 5" x 5" gallery wrapped canvasses. I am hoping they work together as an entire installation when I am finished. Actually, I only have two more to go, and finishing touches on the rest!

Kindness - love showing itself sensitive to others

Just a little something for mother's day - another finished piece for my Fruit of the Spirit series...

My Big Find of the Weekend!!!!!

Here is just one picture of the wonderful book I discovered - and immediately bought! - this past weekend...an illuminated work of the entire book of Psalms from before 1910...almost 100 years old!! Honestly, I could have shown you any page in the book and it would have been wonderful! I am looking forward to using this for some of my daily quiet times, reading through it one Psalm at a time, being inspired every second!!!!

A wonderful post on copyright issues!

Oh, I have been swamped with homeschool activities and all the general "well" check-ups for my 8 year old these last couple of days, but I wanted to share with you this great post on copyright issues and art...it is just good information for EVERYONE to know!!! It is at http://lisacole690.blogspot.com/2009/05/copyright-stuff-or-much-ado-about.html - copy and past into your browser, or just click on the title of this post and that will take you right to it. Lisa has a great blog, too.

I can't wait to get to my scanner so I can show you all the great finds from the weekend - a trip to the local Half-Price Bookstore to find sheet music to use in mixed media resulted in "THE JACKPOT"! I'll show you soon!

heARTfilled blessings!

Butterfly peace!

Next installment in "The Fruit of the Spirit" (not necessarily in order!!)

The inspiration came from an old devotional in which the author was developing the list of the fruits of the Holy Spirit as different characteristics/facets of love (since the word "fruit" is used in its singular sense!)

Thus, peace is what you call love when it is at rest...I love the word play here and in all of the remaining fruit!

heARTfilled blessings!

The Fruit of the Spirit is - Love

Here she is, finished! Let me know what you think! She is the first in a series of 9, based on the Fruit of the Spirit...not every "fruit" is represented by an angel....hmmmm, maybe that is what I will do next!

Art and Life

It has taken me some time to decide how I wanted to organize my "blog world". Questions about what to post, how to be relevant and yet true to myself, should I keep it study oriented (I REALLY LOVE the study of the Bible), and even the question of "do I want to blog?" have meandered through my mind as I have dug deep into my creative side this year! Somehow, this week, it finally "clicked" on how to do it - before I was compartmentalizing each aspect of my life - now, somehow, I have integrated my life and my artsy side...thus the title!

I really enjoyed my online faces class that I took with Paulette Insall! Tonight I finished the first canvas of a little series I am doing on the fruits of the Spirit...if I can ever get my computer to upload the sketch, you can see that first, then after the painting dries I'll show that to you, too!!

Hey, I did it! The sketch got a little wet somehow - so there is some smeary shading on the chin...but no big deal...see you tomorrow!

Sophia Necklace - Symbolism represented in this piece of jewelry

Our Bible Study group was studying the Proverbs, and during the study, I began to envision this necklace as a way to remember all the things we were learning...I made one to be given away at a drawing at the end of the study...and I knew others would love it too!!!! You can find this necklace at my Etsy shop "finderskeepersthings" and look in the section titled "12 Tribes".



Symbols in the Sophia Necklace:

1. The pearl – represents the situations that God allows to come into our lives that, when faced, help to form wisdom in our hearts.

2. The 9 topaz gems – The topaz has been associated with the attribute of wisdom since ancient times when it was linked to the tribe of Simeon in Jewish history. Simeon’s name mans ‘hearing’. The Scriptures exhort God’s people to hear and to heed the call of wisdom, especially in the Proverbs. There are 9 stones – 1 for each facet of wisdom mentioned in the first 3 chapters of Proverbs. These characteristics will “adorn our neck” or are “bound around our neck as a necklace” as we follow wisdom’s ways (Proverbs 1:9; 3:3; 3:22; 6:21):

1. Listening to instruction (Proverbs 1:8)
2. Receiving teaching (Proverbs 1:9)
3. Directing your heart to understanding (Proverbs 2:2)
4. Discovering the knowledge of God (Proverbs 2:5)
5. Keeping the commands in your heart (Proverbs 3:1)
6. Remaining loyal (Proverbs 3:3)
7. Remaining faithful (Proverbs 3:3)
8. Maintaining competence (Proverbs 3:21)
9. Maintaining discretion (Proverbs 3:21)

3. The placement of the necklace itself: Why do the Scriptures exhort us to bind the attributes of wisdom around our neck? The following is the answer I was led to:
The neck and shoulders symbolize authority or government, and ultimately the condition of one’s heart. For example, people who showed rebellion or ungodly pride were described as “stiff-necked” as in Deuteronomy 10:16 or Nehemiah 9:29. Their authority, the ruler they submitted to, was themselves. Self was on the throne of their heart. A person who showed righteous humility would bow in worship of God (as in Psalm 95:6 or Psalm 128:2) showing a humble heart in which self is no longer ruler. (Bowing, whether the entire body or just the head, requires a flexible down-turned neck.) Proverbs also declares that ‘with humility comes wisdom’ (Proverbs 11:2). By placing the tenents of wisdom around the neck, one would be declaring that their decisions and actions were ‘governed’ by wisdom!


4. A final truth – the neck and shoulders are between the head and the heart.

In reflecting upon these images together, we can see that the placing of the facets of wisdom around the neck like a necklace is a beautiful representation of wisdom guiding the mind (knowledge) and the heart (intuition and emotion) to function in perfect balance!

Most days, my house looks like the remains of an art explosion! Tonight, I noticed it has finally begun to leak into the kitchen from the dining area (a.k.a. as my sewing studio) and the garage (a.k.a. my stained glass studio). My paint and pen and ink "studio" moves from room to room, and even into the car in order to be close at hand for any extended waits!

I have been playing around with all sorts of arts this past year...and if you look in my Etsy shop, you will find a 12 Tribes section that isn't totally filled yet! But it will be - and I will be adding more posts as my study and research comes to an end..

History of the Moravian Star

The Moravian Star


A star as part of the symbolism of Christmas must be as old as the celebration of the festival itself, since the Star of Bethlehem figures so prominently in the nativity story. There is nothing unique in the use of the star among Moravians. However, a particular type of star originating in Moravian circles in Germany over a hundred years ago has so caught the fancy of the church that it has come to be associated with the way this denomination celebrates Christmas.

The Moravian Star is also called the Advent Star or the Herrnhut Star. The first is appropriate because the star is hung in the church beginning with the first Sunday in Advent, preceding all other decoration. Because for a long time the star was exclusively manufactured in Herrnhut, Germany, the name of that community was attached to it.

It appears that this many pointed star with internal illumination was first a product of the evening handicraft sessions of the Moravian boys' school in Niesky, Germany, about 1850. Years later, one of the alumni, Pieter Verbeeck, began producing it commercially in his home. His son Harry founded the Herrnhut star factory, which soon developed a thriving business, its product being sent to all parts of the world. Chief outlets were Moravian communities on the Continent, the British Isles, America, and the scattered mission fields.
The Moravian Star is popular both in church and in the home. Its use has spread to hotels, stores, schools, hospitals,, community displays, or wherever it has become customary to have Christmas decorations. Today perhaps more non-Moravians are displaying the beautiful star at Christmas than are Moravians themselves.