[Art] September - December

text:
the One who began a good work in you
will be faithful to complete it

text:
the One who began a good work in you
will be faithful to complete it

Yet another example of my wanting to work through negativity and having a piece end up looking just sort of nice and pretty.

Also: Jesus' Baptism (Matthew 3).

[I was Reflecting on the "Jerusalem, Jerusalem..." passage at Rest and Bread on Nov. 17.]

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I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this piece, and nothing presented itself to me

The text on the table says, "Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies."

Underneath is "because it is bitter and because it is my heart."

"The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." -Frederick Buechner

a time to acquire security and resources

solve your problems by doing what you instinctively know is good for you

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Nov. 19, Magpie Girl emailed:

This is your friendly reminder that tomorrow is the Full Moon. It’s time to set aside an hour to gather your (and your magazines) and make a collage for the next month. This month’s moon is the Full Beaver Moon and symbolizes a time to acquire security and resources and solve your problems by doing what you instinctively know is good for you. What are you dreams, intentions, wishes, or hopes for the next moon cycle? Capture them in color and image and use your Soulcraft to guide and inspire you.

Of course, the other thing at the forefront of my life is my need for a staycation, so maybe it's not so off-base after all.

And, of course, we're approaching Advent... (I am still thinking about Matthew 23:37-24:14 and Molly's recent posts "The Bridge" and "We Have Only Moments.")

Nov. 20: In today's "Self Care for Activists," someone referenced Howard Thurman's "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive," which made me think of Buechner's "The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

Which made me think of Dreamboard -- "a time to acquire security and resources and solve your problems by doing what you instinctively know is good for you."

In my Google image searching, none of the snowy tree scenes I was finding were speaking to me, so I decided to just paint snowy trees myself. The paint wasn't all that cooperative, and my drawing skills are minimal, so having committed to paper the basics of my idea, I moved on to a different project.

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Yes, I have referenced this before (art, sermon).

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I decided to try a mandala -- a candle, with an opening in the outline. And yes, the [not consciously intentional] vulval imagery occurred to me as soon as I sketched the inner flame (which was the first thing I sketched after outlining the mandala).

feathers of flame...

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There was some torn paper, so I played a bit.

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Text is from one of the readings we'd heard earlier in the day.

The photo doesn't pick up very well that the middle vertical stripe is greenish -- I liked the idea of the water nourishing the ground, but I also wanted to retain the idea of flux...

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IMing with Jules, I was recalling, as I often do, Easter weekend 2009.

Around the heart:
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)

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My second round of working with this poem/imagery in processing something that had happened near the end of the day on Friday...

At the top of the page are lines 1, 3, and 4 of verse 1:
"Comfort, comfort, O my people, tell of peace," thus says our God;
Speak unto Jerusalem of the peace that waits for them;
Tell them that their sins I cover, and their warfare now is over.

The graphic is one I stole from the Internet a while ago and added the text of Isaiah 9:2 from Messiah -- "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. And they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."

The blue tissue paper was left over from a project I'd done an earlier week.

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This last week in Advent, we've been reading from the end of Revelation in morning prayer.

I had initially intended the silver bit to be some sort of explosion of light, but then it kind of turned into a bird.

I imagined this as up/outsretched cupped hands, and then there ended up being something growing up from that.

The blue-gray line is the border between the desert and the Promised Land. The tan line is a stand-in for the desert and also "prepare ye a highway for our God." The cluster of flowers symbolizes the good things one leaves behind. The stream of blood is one of the Ten Plagues. The stones are the fallen walls of Jericho.