Time for REST

Wow I can't believe I haven't posted since the 15th of July. I need to get a handle on a schedule if I want to grow this blog.

I have been busy though. I now know why retirees say they don't know how they had time to work before retirement.

I am working on a queen size quilt for my grandson's wedding in the Fall. I have two grandsons getting married in the Fall and planned on giving each a quilt but I am not sure I can since I am hand quilting them. I might have to machine quilt one of them.

I am also making toilet tank toppers and table runners for my online shops and selling off my huge stash of fabric. It has gotten out of hand and I need the cash. Selling the fabric is time consuming since I have to take pictures, unfold and measure each piece, write a description and then copy everything to the two other selling sites. 

I am still keeping up with my artwork a day for a year and Praying with art. 

One of the Artwork a day.

I also am researching selling my art at art fairs and festivals. There is a lot involved with that venture not to mention the expense. 

Primitive acrylic art for art festivals and one per day.

Last week I meditated on Matthew 11:28-32. Specifically verse 28.

Sometimes we get so busy we forget to spend time resting in God. All the busyness I spoke of earlier can draw you away from the peace we find in time with God. I spent my morning time with God this past week, however I would quickly get distracted by all that went on during the day and only focus on God again at bedtime. 

This weekend God's Spirit has nudged me to get back to praying the hours. That is, reading Scripture, praying and short meditation in the morning, afternoon, evening (Vespers) and bedtime. I know many of you think this is for Catholics only but many Christians follow this rhythm of prayer. It surprisingly only takes a few minutes of your time each hour but it helps you stay focused. I use an Episcopalian resource by Phyllis Tickle but there are many books out there to explain and guide you. Of course there is Google as well.

Below is the resulting artwork that resulted from my meditation on Matthew 11

This weeks meditation focus will be on Acts 2:29-41. Will you join me in praying with art the message God has put on your heart this week using this or another Scripture passage. If you do I would love to hear how God spoke to you in his word.

I still plan to set up the Facebook group where you can share your art prayer but it has gotten delayed. I had hoped to have it up and running this week but my friend who is helping me set it up has had health issues. Hopefully we can get together this week and get it up and running. 

Until next time may God surround you with peace, rest and kindness.

Debbie

Christmas in July?

Every year I plan to have my holiday table runners and decorations made and ready to list in my Artyah and Etsy shops by July. I am always amazed at the number of people who tell me they are ready for the holidays and shopping is done by July or August. Well once again I didn't get anything ready by July. I did however start this week on a few Christmas and Halloween cards. 

Still hard to think of creative ideas when it is 96 degrees out.

How about you, are you one who plans that far ahead?

Let's talk about the reason for the season, Jesus. 

I had planned to blog about this art prayer on Monday but I blinked and it was Saturday. LOL Wow the week flew by before I knew what was happening, 

My stepdaughter, Ann, had been on vacation all week but between family problems and work calling her all week, she was stressed to the max and needed to make some hard decisions. That morning Pastor Ken had preached on how God doesn't test us that he doesn't provide a way out. How opportune was that?

We tend to focus on our problems and chaos instead of focusing on what God is trying to teach or show us. My prayer for Ann and all of us caught in the chaos is that we may have eyes to see God's way. 

Have a blessed day.

Debbie

Deli Paper

Welcome back Art Prayers. I tried  new, easy technique using deli paper for today's praying with art.  You know the thin paper they line those plastic baskets with and wrap sandwiches in at the deli. Very inexpensive and can be found in most grocery stores in folded squares or on a roll like wax paper. 

This week I decided to focus on the fruits of the Spirit for the next week or two. There is a lot of information in those verses in Matthew 

I will be taking one fruit of the Spirit at a time to focus on in prayer. This morning it was love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. The second love others. 

I started by applying aqua and Mediterranean blues along with a greenish blue to a scrap piece of printer paper.  I forgot the gesso so the water  in the paint caused the paper to curl. No problem though because it flattened out when it dried. 

I then mixed some dark pink with white to lighten it up and painted that on half a sheet of deli paper.

One thing I learned was that if you try to dry either the deli paper or printer paper with your hair dryer it is like fighting a mad cat. So I gave up and laid them aside to dry on their own and worked on another project.

After both papers dried I stenciled the background with a very light blue to give some texture and then set it aside to dry while I cut hearts out of the pink deli paper. This is a great use of for the deli paper since I can't draw. You can see through the deli paper to trace your heart or any other shape you want. Now I can draw a simple heart but mine are always lopsided so I thought I would try tracing. Problem is I forgot to trace it before painting it. But I lucked out and found a heart shaped container to trace around. 

I attached the heart using Matte Gel Medium, wrote God in one heart and Others in the second heart and outlined. It is all I can do to resist fixing the crooked outline but I did because the Spirit reminded me to practice what I preach about perfection. 

Here it is completed and ready to glue in my journal.

Simple, I like simple.

While I was creating and meditating I became aware that I had been understanding this to mean that I needed to try harder to love God and Neighbor, that I would be a sinner or not a Christlike follower if I didn't accomplish this. The Spirit opened my eyes to the true lesson, This is not something I accomplish or fail at. Loving God and others is a natural result of spending time with God and allowing the Holy Spirit to fertilize and prune my soul. In doing so my life will naturally produce these fruits. Big sigh of relief and smile of joy was the result of this realization. Why do we make it so hard? God must shake his head and smile lovingly at me every time I make this relationship so hard. 

Will you join me in this venture into the Spiritual gifts? I won't be blogging everyday on them but I will be sharing one occasionally. If you know someone who might enjoy praying with art won't you share this with them? 

Until next time, Blessings, 

Debbie

Wisdom

Last post we talked about how anyone can use art in prayer and how easy and inexpensive it is to get started. This post I am challenging you to take that first step and create!

This week I am meditating on "wisdom" God's wisdom to be specific. I had a big decision today and I wanted some guidance and where best to find that than from God. I did an online Bible search for wisdom and it came back with 219 results. I had no idea it would be that many. 
I chose James 1:5 
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

When I think about a picture of wisdom I think of an owl so that is what I chose to use as my art prayer. 

Above is the start of my art prayer. I am not quite done with this art prayer but I got my answer so I will be finishing this page giving thanks to God for his wisdom.

The technique for this page is mixed media collage. I received some pins from Pinterest on Sunday of collage art and it inspired me to try this. A little more time consuming but that was ok since I had a lot of praying and listening to do. 

Will you join me this week in art prayer? If you do and do not mind sharing would you share your theme or Scripture passage in the comments below? 

Blessings my friends, Debbie

Questions About Starting

Questions. I am sure you have many so I will strive to answer the most common ones. But let me tell you what I can't answer first. I can't answer questions on technique or teach anyone to paint or draw, I am not an art teacher. There are many wonderful art instructors in any kind of technique you can think of on Youtube. That is how I learned to do mixed media art. I can only share my experiences and limited knowledge about art, color theory and the like. Below are a few I and others have asked of the instructors I follow. 

1. Do I have to be an artist? Know how to Draw? Paint? and similar questions? All answered the same, NO! We are not creating masterpieces or museum pieces. Heck we do not have to show anyone our work at all. This entire experience is between you and God. Yes I am setting up a closed Facebook page for us to share our artwork if we like, but this is not a requirement. You can even join and only look at other's artwork if you like. 

Below is my first art journal page. I used magazine cutouts, Elmer's Glue and some inexpensive craft paints. 

2. Is it expensive? No.  I started with a hardbound book I bought at a thrift store. All you have to do is glue 2-3 pages together to make them heavier. If you are using paint you might want to get some Gesso to pretreat the pages. Gesso is a little pricey but will last sometime in a small journal. (I used Elmer's glue or a glue stick to glue the pages together). 

I recently saw a blog where the lady used the composition books you find everywhere, even the Dollar Store. She glued together two pages and she was set.  For Modge Podge I used a recipe I found by googling home recipes for Modge Podge. It is made with Elmer's and water. For color use children's crayons and watercolor paints. I was lucky to have some bottles of acrylic craft paint my daughter gave me. You can find different acrylic craft paints in small bottles at Michaels, JoAnns, basically any craft store and some big box stores that are very inexpensive. Use a coupon or wait for a big sale. Those little bottles last a long time. You only need primary colors of blue, red and yellow along with black and white to mix up a huge assortment of colors. Same goes for paint brushes. The inexpensive brushes and children's paint brushes work fine. I use my fingers more than brushes anyway. Remember we are not painting a masterpiece here. I use wax paper for a paint pallet, you can use old plastic lids, paper plates etc. I use the wax paper to cover my table too. That is what the blue tap is holding down in the picture above.

There are all kinds of "stuff" out there to tempt you but stick with a minimum to start with. You can use found objects for stamping and texture in your kitchen and yes, even the bathroom. Think toilet paper roll and makeup sponges. I recommend a standard pencil and white eraser as well. To sum up, this can be a very expensive process or an inexpensive process. Just don't go for the really expensive stuff to start. The set of brushes pictured above are less than $6 from Amazon and there nice brushes to start painting with. Here is the name:

Heartybay 10Pieces Round Pointed Tip Nylon Hair Brush 

I have two cartons of "stuff" I bought when I started because that was what the Youtube instructor was using. I will probably never use all that "stuff" so take it from someone who learned the hard way, go slow in the beginning when it comes to supplies. 

3. How much space do I need? I use half of my small kitchen table. I even have used a small motel room desk when traveling. It mainly depends on the size of your painting/drawing/collaging surface and the tools you use. I know art instructors who have little travel boxes set up to use on an airplane tray. 

4. How much time does it take? It can take as little or as much time as you have. Especially if you can have a separate space dedicated to you and your supplies. I am a widow living alone so I have the whole house to myself. Well maybe not the bed. My poodle Malady only weighs 15 pounds but takes up over half the bed, right in the middle. LOL If you can't have a dedicated spot you can create a small drawer or box to hold your journal and supplies at the ready. Then you can just grab and set up anytime you have 15 minutes to listen and create.  I have even created a page in 10 minutes but I have my supplies set up and ready to go all the time. 

My current prayer journal.

I know I have probably missed some questions you might have so feel free to ask any questions you might have in the comments below. I will be happy to answer those I can.

Until next time, have a blessed weekend.

Debbie