Restoration

Restoration. Transformation. Renewal. Renovation. It's all about change. Heart change. Soul change. Life change. It's a constant throughout life. The season right now is such a wonderful visual example of change. The gray, barren landscape changes each day as flowers bloom and leaves appear and the world becomes a green and colorful place once again. As difficult as it is at times, I actually like change. It's uncomfortable. It's a journey into the previously unknown. But passing years and a faithful God have shown time and time again that change generally brings about something better, something more authentic, something new and more colorful. Change often feels like winter ~ dark, cold, barren, but just around the corner is a fresh, new, colorful season. I'm art journaling as I go.

My Nest, My Heart, My Soul, My House

Back in March (see this post http://mewithmyheadintheclouds.blogspot.com/2013/03/heart-journey.html) I journaled and blogged about the many paths of my journey that are converging. This continues to happen to me and it feels like God is speaking to me and leading me to a place that has the potential to bring healing. Where God leads will always bring healing. I say "potential" because I must be willing to follow where He leads me and to let what He has for me transform me.

What continues to converge?I continue to read Dallas Willard's "Renovation of the Heart". Our current staff book study is an excellent book by Ruth Haley Barton called "Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership". In the online art journaling course I am working through, Soul Restoration, the metaphor for our soul is a house. This month's theme for "The Art Journaler" community is nest. What God is showing me through all of this is that I have allowed the state of my heart and soul to become cluttered and messy by not paying attention to some areas. To continue the metaphor, I've swept some things under the rug rather than fully dealing with the mess. The above things are all serving to open my eyes to see the state of my house/nest.

I love God's humor and that He knows us so well. Using metaphors such as house and nest resonate with me and draw me in to what He wants to show me. I have always loved houses, even as a very young girl I was drawn to architecture. Restoring old houses and decorating have been life long hobbies of mine. I have also been fascinated by birds for most of my life. so these themes of house and nest serve to nurture me rather than push me away, and enable me to hear God.

Right now it seems safer to continue to speak of this journey through the use of these metaphors, but I want to continue to blog about them and share my art journaling. It seems to be a part of the journey; a part of the healing.

As usual, to feed my love of making books, I have made a little book to collect parts of this journey...actually two books (cuz two is better than one, right?).

Restoration Altered Book Journal

Journey Art Journal Binder

Recent Art Journaling Pages

This is the cover of another altered book journal. I made it this weekend after finding the book in a used book store. It's 7x7, which is a new size for me. 

I've actually been working on this spread for quite a while now. Every once in a while I add something to it. I'm not even sure it's done yet! Art journaling has become yet one more way I connect with God.

Collage

I have been so busy this past week with a leadership conference at our church and haven't had much time for art or for posting anything I did the previous week. Last week, while off work, I played with making some collage journal page backgrounds. It was fun to layer strips of paper that I would normally just throw away. I'm not sure what kind of art this would be called...kind of abstract. But I enjoyed playing with it and I like the results of the backgrounds.

I love this quote by Soren Kierkegaard!

This is still in the background stage.

No scraps will go un-used with this type of collage!

First-rate Version of You

This month's challenge at Artists in Blogland's "Color This Quote" is to make a page using the following quote:

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." ~ Judy Garland

I'm off work this week and looking forward to some relaxation, restoration, and some time to play with art!

I completed another round of "30 Days of Lists" in March. It's a fun way to make an art journal. Some of my pages: