let go

Letting go is difficult.  It can break your heart, break your spirit, and send you in a whirlwind of new, and sometimes very familiar, emotions.  Letting go is also freeing though.  As you release what you cling to, you are also being released yourself.

Letting go doesn't mean giving up. It is simply giving God control. An act of surrender. Thus allowing him to move freely in you, and allowing you room to breathe and relax.

 I often have little to say about HOW I create what I create.  It's hard to explain I guess.  It just sort of...happens.  This painting began with little direction.  I had no ideas of what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go with it. I chose to focus on a word: "breathe."  I love that word.  So often I the most important thing I can do is remind myself to breathe.  Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. In letting go, I sometimes find myself holding my breath, fighting emotions or bracing myself for what is to come.  Conscious and intentional breathing relaxes me.  It helps me to focus.  It helps me remember that it's okay to let go because God is in control.  And there is so much freedom in knowing and believing that. I don't have to have it all together. I don't have to find a way to make this happen. I don't have to know what the future holds, because Someone is already holding it for me and preparing me for it.  

All I have to do is breathe.

"Relax in the knowledge that the One who controls your life is totally trustworthy." [Jesus Calling, May 5th]

blue

I created this painting last week.  Unfortunately I don't have very much to say about it.  I was feeling sad and lonely at the time and decided to paint despite feeling this way.  This is what I came up with.  Painting for me can be somewhat of a therapy.  It's a pretty cool experience.  Through painting I am able to leave my emotions on the canvas and move forward.  I hope you like it.

new

This painting is based off of Lamentations 3:21-23.  It simply represents God's faithfulness.  The sun rises each morning, and each morning we are given a chance to live and breathe in His mercy.

Breathe it in today.

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:21-23

enough

I love Joe Cocker's song "You are so beautiful." If my life were a movie, that song would be on the soundtrack.  The lyrics are so simple yet so full of promise.  

This piece is meant to encourage and speak of a true sense of beauty and self-worth.  It is titled "Enough" simply to say that you are enough. Who you are is beautiful. Who you are is enough.

You are so beautiful to me

Can't you see

You're everything I've hoped for

You're everything I need

You are so beautiful to me

bubbles of hope

My son, Landon, has had a recent fascination and obsession with bubbles. I love it. Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles. All day long.

I spent the past weekend in Florida with my mom attending a women's conference.  It was awesome to see and feel God move in me as I discovered and remembered his reckless love for me.  This painting is the cry of my heart-- the cry for freedom.  I hope you get a sense of that when you see it, not only because of the words, but because of the bubbles, rising, like bubbles of hope. And because of the butterfly, that screams freedom in its metamorphosis.

This is my metamorphosis.

self-portrait

The thought behind this piece, as the title reveals, is a self-portrait.  It's a mixed media painting, using acrylic paints, a broken mirror, sea glass, sand, painted rocks, and popsicle sticks, among other things.  I tried to get an accurate photo of the painting, but let's be honest, it's really better to see in person.  I don't have very much of an explanation for this piece (sorry!) -- someone asked me to do a self portrait and this is what I came up with. 

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time" -Thomas Merton

desire

I'm beginning this blog for two reasons:  1) I have been advised to do so and 2) to share my life, my journey, my dreams with you, through my art.

My hope is to have a place to share my creativity and the thoughts behind my work.  I hope to inspire and to be inspired.

"A sincere artist is not one who makes a faithful attempt to put on to canvas what is in front of him, but one who tries to create something which is, in itself, a living thing." -William Dobell

enjoy :)