Wednesday, December 28, 2011

My Head in the Clouds

I have an obsession with clouds.
I'm always looking at them.
And taking pictures of them.
And making art with them.
For me, clouds reveal God's artistic nature in His creation. Form may very well follow function, but in God's creation, form is beautiful as well as functional.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Art is Incarnational.

“…To paint a picture or to write a story or to compose a song is an incarnational activity.”  Creating art is taking Love, Truth, the spiritual, and making them ‘in carne’–in the flesh.  Creating art is taking Love, Truth, the spiritual, and incarnating them that we might see them and experience them more clearly.

Madeleine L'Engle, Walking On Water: Reflections On Faith and Art


In the beginning God created. God is the Creator. We are created in His image. Thus, we also are creators. Whether we are decorating or working with wood, baking or planting a garden, quilting or taking a photo, restoring a car or painting a picture ~ we are creating. Some call these things hobbies. Some call them work. Others call them play. But in them all we are expressing something of God in us.

Over the past few years I have explored art journaling and have found a place where I can create and express myself. It combines the many things I like to dabble in ~ collage, painting, photography, paper arts, digital art. It has brought new expression to journaling by adding image and texture.  Drained by the stress of daily life and ministry, art journaling has become something that replenishes me.  And it has given me new ways to express my thoughts, my ideas, my creativity and my faith. 

Yesterday, on Christmas Sunday, we completed the season of celebrating the incarnation ~ Advent. God came to earth in the form of a baby. God expressing himself in human form~visible. Art helps us express who we are: our emotions and feeling, our character, our faith, our struggles,  joys, pains, experiences ~ how we see life. 

This blog is a place for me to share my art, my thoughts, and how I view life.