IN FATHER'S ARMS

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; Isaiah 40:11

I hardly ever used to draw people, but recently have had a go again. With a Christmas Book Token I bought a fantastic book,"Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces," by Carrie Stuart Parks, which contained lots of helpful advice. It recommended using paper Stumps which are used for smoothing and blending large areas of pastel, pencil or charcoal. I use them with pastels but it had never occurred to me to use them with pencil. They made a lot of difference and instead of grainy sketches, nice smooth drawings appeared.
As a child after an evening car journey I would sometimes pretend to be asleep, so that my parents would have to lift me from the car and carry me up to bed. What a lovely feeling it was, just being carried in my Dad's arms. A friend who recently saw the picture on Facebook had exactly the same memory of pretending to be asleep as a child, wanting to enjoy that lovely sense of being carried, but her poor parents had to carry her all the way from from the bus stop.
The sketch above was not perfect in execution, but I loved the feeling it evoked of how much our Father in Heaven loves us. I was happy to almost capture the rest and security that we can experience being carried"in His loving arms." The good news is that we don't even have to pretend to be asleep for Him to carry us, because our loving Father loves to carry His children secure in His arms.

Focus of a Father's Love

LET YOUR KINGDOM COME

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Done using Encaustic wax on glossy card.

WAITING FOR A FATHER'S LOVE TO BE REVEALED

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." 1 John 4:9

I painted this Nativity backdrop about ten years ago and every year since then it has been hung in various schools and churches, waiting for the story of a Father's love for his children to be retold by excited children.
Apart from one unusual year, (when a three year old Mary dumped the baby "Jesus" into Joseph's arms, stripped off her costume and ran off the stage refusing to return and leaving Joseph as a single parent), every year as I watch a different Mary lovingly place a doll into a straw filled manger or cradling him in her arms, I think of our Father in heaven showing us His love by sending his son as a weak, helpless baby, who was both truly God and truly man; God becoming flesh and making his dwelling among us.
This baby, Jesus, showed us, even as he grew up into a man, what it looked like to be childlike and dependent on Father God, he showed us in himself the very nature of his Father, and provided us with the way to know our loving Father too.
The legendary Santa, we are led to believe, only brings gifts to children who have been good, but like the shepherds we have good news of great joy that will be for all the people, because we've been shown that not one of us is excluded from being a child of this merciful and loving Father. He loved us before we were ever born and had done anything , "naughty or nice". He IS loving each one of us right now, whoever we are and whether we know Him or not. Jesus, himself said, "For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” This is definitely"GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY that will be for ALL the people" ; a father's love for his children revealed; may we all experience it more every day through this season of Advent, Christmas and through the coming New Year..

I walked up to work one morning this week and gazed in awe at trees and bushes glistening white with frost. In one place I noticed a holly tree covered in red berries and then watched some birds greedily tucking in to some juicy bright orange berries on a frosty bush. I thought about the verse where Jesus encourages us not to worry about anything, but to trust in our loving Father's provision.
Luke 12:24,

"Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!"

I liked the sound of being valuable to God and being cared for by Him. I wondered if our Father in heaven made the berries such a bright colour so that it would be easy for the birds to find the food that He had provided for them on that frosty morning, when they must have needed lots of energy to stay warm.

I drew this sparrow after I heard two lots of rather sad news. As I drew it in pastel, I thought about another thing that Jesus said about sparrows in Mathew 10: 29-30, and just how much our Father in heaven is loving every single one of us all the time; every moment of every day, whether we know it or not.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered."

He even knows how many hairs I have on my head; even I don't know that. What an an incredible thought that he knows me so well.

FOR YOU ARE HIS MASTERPIECE

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10

A few weeks ago I took one of my favourite, large Bluebell Wood paintings into Sunday School. I asked the children where the painting had been planned before it ever had a drop of paint on the canvas. They soon worked out that it was in my mind. I spoke about how much I had loved to plan it, and paint it and how pleased I was with it and how much I loved looking at it on my wall.

The children and I thought about how much pleasure our Father in heaven took planning us in His mind, even before we were ever born on this earth. We are his work of art and He is so pleased with how He made us, that even if no one else in the whole world thinks we are wonderful, He thinks we are.

We thought about Eric Liddel (of "Chariots of Fire" fame) saying,

"God made me fast and when I run I feel His pleasure".

We thought about all the things that God had planned us to love doing; painting, running, playing football, building lego, being just a few, and how much He loves being with us when we do those things; how much He adores us and gets pleasure from us being just who He made us to be; just being His loved children; just letting Him be a father to us.

We think about some wonderful things in Sunday School.

AS BOLD AS A LION

Proverbs 28:1
......................................... the righteous are as bold as a lion.
Psalm 138:3
When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted.
(Done in encaustic wax and now sent across the Atlantic Ocean to reside in Vancouver.)

Our Father Loves Us

John 16:27 (Amplified Bible)
"For the Father Himself [tenderly] loves you..............."

So many people have been brought up with the view of God that He is a stern Father just waiting for us to put a foot wrong so that He can punish us; that could not be further from the truth. We have a Father who loves us so much that He sent His loved son Jesus, to die in our place, so that we could come to know Him as our Father. He longs for us to know Him and call Him, "Abba, Daddy, Father". The Bible says that He is a Father to the fatherless, that He lavishes His love on us and wants to come and make His home with us. That sounds like a really good heavenly Father to me.

I listened to this prayer called, "You are my Dad", this morning and decided it went really well with this picture.

OUT OF THE RUINS

I drew this picture to illustrate a word that was spoken a week ago. It spoke about how we are often imprisoned by walls of many types, but that as God frees us from these wall and gently leads us out, there is often rubble on the floor that we feel under our feet. It said not to be concerned about the rubble, that our feet might feel wobbly on it, but that we would just walk right on over it into freedom; into a spacious place. I could just see the image in my head and thought I'd have a go at sketching it. I was later reading in Psalm 18 and thought it went very well with the picture
Psalm 18

35 You give me your shield of victory,
and your right hand sustains me;
your gentleness has made me great.

36 You broaden the path beneath me,
so that my ankles do not turn over.

THE LEAP

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." Romans 8v15

When I was very small we used to go swimming and I would leap off the side of the pool into my Dad's waiting arms. Once the leap was made, fear soon changed to thrill as flying through the air felt so free, as well as a bit risky, and seeing my Dad's open arms, waiting to catch me, looked pretty good too. He never once dropped me and not once did I end up dunked under the water. He held me until I felt safe enough to "doggy paddle" off through the water in a pair of blow up arm bands. Even after I could swim like a fish, I would sometimes say that I needed catching just for the sheer pleasure of being caught.
Every one of us is a child of our heavenly Father. His outstretched arms look pretty good too, wide open and waiting for us to leap into His protection and love. As we make a leap of faith towards Him we can be sure and certain that He will always catch us in His loving, everlasting arms.

I drew this silhouette a few weeks ago using a black Sharpie pen. (A bit like a felt pen) . I then scanned it into the computer and altered it a little more just using a simple "paint" programme.

WAITING FOR DAD

This sketch was a response to some video teaching about the Father Heart of God, that I listened to on the Internet. The speaker, a man called Barry Adams, talked about how our Father God doesn't just want us to know about Him, but to know Him; to have that knowledge drop from our head to our heart. It made me start to want to know Father God like that.

When I was a child I often used to wait at the end of the road to meet my Dad as he walked home from the station after a day working in London. Sometimes it seemed like a long time before he came up the hill, but he always eventually appeared and his smile when he saw me made it worth the wait.

This sketch, "Waiting for Dad" described the longing to meet with Father God. A Father who always smiles when He sees us waiting for Him, not because of anything we've done, but just because He loves us and we are His children.

The Largest Painting I have Ever Done

Two weeks ago I painted a backdrop for a play as a gift to the school that my daughter teaches at in Oxford. The play was, "The Tempest" adapted for children and was performed by 9-11 yr olds. I saw the dress rehearsal and it was fantastic.

It took me two whole school days to paint the picture. I was given just a line drawing with two horizontal vertical lines to represent sea and sky with about six vertical lines with things sticking out the top to represent trees to work from. I was also told that the sky had to represent storm, calm, night and day which is no mean feat. It was fitted over climbing apparatus at the end of the school hall. As I looked up at the vast quantities of blank white material I wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew. As it turned out I loved doing it and thoroughly enjoyed chatting to children who stopped for a look and to ask questions as they passed by. I became the unplanned "artist in residence." Everyone, including me, was delighted with the finished piece and it looked wonderful as a setting for the children to show their acting skills.

THE CHRISTIAN IMAGINATION TOTEM

During my last term in Canada I audited a course at Regent College called, "The Christian Imagination." I thoroughly enjoyed, amongst other things, singing workshops, a visit to a sculptor's studio, watching films, hearing lectures and I successfully joined in with a play reading even though I thought I wouldn't be able to do it. I wasn't required to submit a piece of art for the end of the course as I was auditing the class but decided to anyway. I was fascinated looking at other people's paintings and photographs and listening to their writing and music on the last evening, which also happened to be our last evening in Canada.

I had a go at doing a totem style pole that told the Christian story which you can read more about later if you are interested. It ended up looking quite scary in it's own way but it was meant to be in a roughly First Nation style and one thing I discovered in Canada was that eagles are magnificent creatures but never look cute and friendly.

An edited version of what I read to the class about my "Totem"

The journey towards this picture began a few years ago whilst wandering around Winchester cathedral. I was puzzled when I looked up and saw carved pelicans over some tombs and wondered why such a strange bird had found a place in the cathedral. I later discovered that according to legend the pelican pierces it's own breast in times of famine to feed it's own blood to it's young. As a result the pelican came to symbolise Christ's sacrifice on the cross. I began to wonder how many other symbols I was missing when looking at historic buildings and paintings so I started reading the book, "Signs and Symbols in Christian Art" by George Ferguson. (A lot of my information came from this book.)

On walking around the Museum of Anthropology at UBC I was interested to learn that totem poles were not entirely the religious idols that I had thought but represented a family's histories, stories, and beliefs using the animals and mythical figures associated with each family. I wondered why it was mainly animals used to tell the legends on the totem poles, then I realised that there are numerous animals that we use to tell the story of the Christian family, from creation to eternity. We end our year in Canada tomorrow and I wanted to try out the red and black colours used in a lot of the First Nation art. I thought that it would be fun to see if I could create a totem style pole using mainly animal symbols described in the Bible or regularly used in historic Christian art.

The evil serpent creeps around the foot of the pole just after the beginning of time. Hidden above him is the butterfly who is sometimes seen on the Christ child's hands in paintings of the nativity. It symbolises the fact that hope for mankind will come through the death and resurrection of Christ. An ox and ass stand watch, as in many nativity scenes, linking to the prophecy in Isaiah 1v 32 " The ox knows its owner and the ass his master's crib."

I especially like the pelican in this picture looking down lovingly towards its young. It reminds me of God's heart towards His people,

"Jerusalem .......how often I have longed to gather your children together , as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings"

The lion has become associated with the resurrection and Christ the Lord of Life. The lion is also one of the four animals that appear in Ezekiel,

"Their faces looked like this: each of the four had the face of a man and on the right side of each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle."

The eagle, historically has been a symbol for, the resurrection, new life begun with baptism and strengthening of tired Christians. The eagle also appears in Revelation 4 v7,

"In the centre, around the throne , were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes in front and back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like and ox and the third had the face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle."

These animals were thought to represent the four evangelists and in a more general sense the inspiration of the gospels

.

At the top of my pole rests the symbols for the Trinity. The lamb and dove are widely recognised as Jesus and the Holy Spirit. For the perfect, architect of the universe who is our loving and merciful father I could find no animal that symbolised Him with the honour He deserves so I drew a crown to represent the almighty ruler over all.

A FOLK ART DOLL'S HOUSE

On our return from Canada I found a doll's house in need of some major restoration in the garage. I decided that a type of Folk Art Style would be fun to try. I found a box of furniture and bits left over from previous projects and had fun painting them to look authentic. I also enjoyed using my glue gun to securely attach buttons to the front. (Glue guns can become a bit addictive I find; it's not the "smell" it's the "power". I find I start looking around the room for anything else that I can glue anywhere! ) Restoring the house was lots of fun and it made me start thinking about how God takes pleasure in restoring the damaged and run down places in our lives and that whilst He doesn't sell us on eBay as I did with the house, He does restore our knowledge that we are precious and of value.

Vancouver Art Gallery

Yesterday I had a really enjoyable visit to Vancouver Art Gallery. It isn't all that large compared to other Art galleries that I have been to but they seem to have regularly changing exhibitions to make up for this. I joined the art gallery as a member so will be able to visit and see the changing exhibits.! There was a fantastic exhibition of paintings by Maurice Cullen and his circle called, "Exploring Light" Canadian landscape paintings. It was wonderful seeing paintings of Canadian scenery and all the different ways that the artists had tried to capture light on snow. There was also a collection of paintings, sculptures and collages by a German artist called, Kai Althoff which I found puzzling. I had timed it just right to hear a talk by someone who worked there, which helped me to understand the exhibits, she also encouraged discussion amongst the listening people which was fun. There was also a room where you were encouraged to participate in weaving while someone taught you, so I had a go. I thought that the entrance price to the gallery was fairly expensive at $17.50 for someone only going once, but the membership with free entrance for a year and two complimentary passes was much better value especially as we are here for a year.

A Snowy Start and Some Art

Our time in Canada so far has been great we have an amazing amount of snow, rain and snow with rain! Before Christmas I enjoyed a trip to Seattle Art Museum whilst visiting friends in the USA. I enjoyed the variety of art there but especially a group of paintings called "Edward Hopper's Women". You can take a look at it from HERE. A lot of the pictures seemed to have been done while observing ladies in restaurants and I did wonder if nowadays he would have been considered a suspicious character, sitting and looking at ladies who were often sitting alone. I also enjoyed a gallery of Native and Meso-american art which included a lot of historical information.
We also went to the Olympic Sculpture Park. There were all sorts of amazing sculptures there. One was meant to be an eagle but we looked at it from all directions and none of us could see anything Eagle like about it , more sort of dinosaur! I liked a huge tree that was made from a silver type metal, at first we didn't even register that it was a sculpture!
I enjoyed a book from the library on the life and works of Emily Carr. I had kept hearing her name mentioned as one of the most famous British Columbian artists, but had no idea who she was. She did a lot of pictures of Totem Poles and painted in a variety of styles one of which looked a bit like Van Gogh.

Living in canada

We have the amazing privilege of living in Vancouver in Canada for a year. What a treat for an artist. The scenery here is stunning, but I couldn't bring my paints with me, so I hope to buy some soon. The photo above is one I took of a lovely place called White Rock we visited this week.

Street Art at the Tate

I had an unexpected treat yesterday. While in London we passed the Tate Modern and saw their display of Street Art. Six artists had created art on the buildings facade. There is also a walking tour of other artist's work around the local area. A tunnel shaped building in front of the Tate had maps of the walking tour and videos about "Street Art" playing. It was also fun watching people drawing on the walls of the tunnel using marker pens provided. It's on until the 25Th of August and if you are visiting London well worth a visit especially as the display and the Tate Modern are free.

The Vikings Are Coming!

I am very lucky to have August off from school. Next term we are looking at the Vikings and have to do it in a very practical way. While clearing out a cupboard at home I found an old box full of Fimo. It was a bit dry but just usable. I started making one Viking and then got a bit carried away. I now have, Vikings, Settlers, a monk, Saxons, King Alfred as well as a small long ship, which I have to say was a bit of a triumph as I had no idea how I was going to do it. I commandeered my husband's box that his new laptop came in and created a tissue paper map of England and the Scandinavian countries. The Vikings now have a whole new land to conquer and I have had tremendous fun.

Don't Forget Your Sketchpad!

Now the holiday season is upon us and suitcases are being packed all over the UK, here is a little reminder, "Don't forget your sketchpad." Holiday times are one of the few occasions that we can sit somewhere beautiful or interesting and have the time to draw what is around us. I love taking a small sketch pad and drawing wherever I go. I have gradually gathered a book full of holiday memories that's much better than a souvenir. If you are taking children with you, pack a sketchpad for them and draw together, you may be amazed at what they produce and may provide them with a hobby for life. Don't worry if your drawings aren't perfect, (a lot of mine are pretty poor) just enjoy doing them and every so often you'll get a "gem".

Swan Art With Photshop

Last week we went for a lovely walk along the Thames at Purley on Thames. We love it there as there is a lock to sit by with an ice cream and watch the novice boaters struggling. Walking along the river we saw all sorts of waterbirds and a heron busy fishing. Swans came up to see if we had any food for them. They went away disappointed but I did get a chance to take close up photos. I don't think they were impressed! I like to play with Adobe Photoshop and see what effects I can create. Sometimes it's useful to get an effect to use in a piece of art, simplifying the picture without the effort. I used to think it was cheating until I learnt about the Camera Obscura. I remember watching a programme about Canaletto, (who I thought had drawn his amazing buildings with such accuracy), and being shocked that he had used a camera obscura to copy the scene in front of him. I saw one of the cameras at "The Vyne" a National Trust House near us and looked at how it reflected the scene on the riverbank opposite onto the paper. All you needed to do was to trace the image it showed on the paper. I decided that if the Old Masters used aids to "cheat" then I'll use all the photographic aids that I can.

Time to Paint Bluebells

Easter Monday in England, the weather is freezing cold and wet, every time we try to go out for a walk it seems to hail, but never mind the plus side is that it has given me time to finish the painting of bluebells that I showed half done, on this blog, on the 25th of March 2007! It's nearly taken me a year to finish but I have done lots of other paintings in between. I think I am pining for April and May when the Bluebells start to carpet the woods and there are few sights and smells better than a walk amongst them, especially when it's sunny and the light and shadows create a breathtaking scene. Roll on Bluebell time!

A Melted Wax Global Warming - Encaustic Painting

At the weekend we watched the film "An Inconvenient Truth" which had Al Gore speaking about global warming. It certainly made you think. We had high winds, hail and rain today in the South of England, I'm glad to say that even my plastic greenhouse survived the wind, although the news of coastal areas looks pretty bad. with lots of flooding. The painting above is done using encaustic wax on black card. I thought that wax was a very suitable choice for a painting about global warming. I did the earth and then heated the wax using a hairdryer, whilst shielding the lower half of the earth with paper. I was very pleased with the result, but its a shame that you can't feel the nice waxy raised texture on a computer screen.

PUBLIC PAINTING

A few weeks ago I had my first go at painting in public. I was asked if I would paint at the"Churches Together in Tadley" church service. The theme was about God's creativity. I sat with my back to the congregation and finished painting a picture that I started quite a while ago. I thought that I would be nervous but I soon forgot that there was anyone there at all. It was fun chatting to people afterwards and hearing their comments. I enjoyed listening to the "Proclaim Choir" made up from people who attend different churches in Tadley. There was a really good band and the children did a drama. I enjoyed looking at a selection of stands and displays that showed various creative activities pursued by people who are part of the churches in Tadley. It was a pleasant and interesting evening.


I started the painting half done.

My display of paintings above and other stands below.

Salvador Dali and a Generous Act

I am now working in a school for children with autism. I love it! This term the curriculum in art was meant to be related to dreams ,which I thought was a challenging topic. As part of it we were going to look at the work of Salvador Dali. I had vague childhood memories of going with my dad to see paintings by Dali in London and being fascinated by ants and drooping clocks, but I didn't feel I knew enough. Therefore my generous, non-art loving husband took me to see the Dali exhibition near the London Eye in the County Hall. It was fairly expensive but was well worth the cost. I enjoyed seeing the surreal pictures and objects and hadn't realised that Dali had done so many series of paintings. Even my husband enjoyed the visit and seeing all the eccentric but clever exhibits. I think he liked small statue of a swan that when looked at in a mirror below gave the reflection of an elephant.To cap the visit I found an unusual Dali finger puppet with a curly moustache, a wonderful story book about Dali for children called, "Dali and the Path of Dreams" as well as a Dali Colouring book, containing all sorts of wacky ideas, to take back to school.

SIDMOUTH SKETCH

On Saturday afternoon a few of us walked down to the sea, at Sidmouth in Devon, and sat on the rocks while we did some quick sketches of the view around us. It's always nice to sketch with friends.

Watercolour Workshop

This weekend I spent a wonderful time at Sidmouth in Devon on the Tadley Community Church Ladies Weekend. On Saturday morning thirty ladies chose between an aerobic, singing, creative writing and painting workshop. I thoroughly enjoyed running the painting one and we had a relaxing and fun time painting in the shade of a tree in the beautiful garden. Some amazingly beautiful flower paintings were done especially as some of the ladies hadn't painted since they were children. As you can see from the photos of the lovely English Country Garden there was no shortage of subject material.

AN ARTIST'S THOUGHT FOR SUNDAY- A Work in Progress

When I paint there is usually a stage where I have put the background on a picture and it looks a bit of a mess. This picture will end up as one of my favourite bluebell woods. I have a plan for the picture, I know how I want it to end up but there are various stages along the way before it is completed. Having a picture only part done always reminds me that we are a work in progress too.

"...He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Philippians 1v6

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

In the UK it's Mother's Day today so I thought that I'd put up this piece of clip art that I did with my digitizer pad and pen. I have so enjoyed my "computer" art that I haven't done much "real" art this week, hopefully I'll do some more painting next week. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! I'm just off to eat chocolates!

COMPUTER GENERATED FLOWERS

I have enjoyed playing with my digitizer pad and pen. These flowers were created using the brush and metallic paint setting. I rubbed away a few parts that I didn't want with the "eraser".

A Room Filled With The Paintings of Stanley Spencer

On Sunday we had an interesting visit to the Sandham Memorial Chapel in Burghclere near Newbury. We live nearby, and can get in free as we are National Trust members, but for some reason have never been there before. I knew there were some paintings by Stanley Spencer there, but didn't expect what I found. Every wall in the chapel room was covered with huge murals. They were about Spencer's experiences during the war. It was almost like being inside someone's mind and looking at their memories. It made me feel like I was looking at someone's private "art therapy" and was wonderfully interesting, but also mildly disturbing. If you are in the area it's well worth a visit, but the chapel only consists of one room so plan something else as well. If you'd like a look at some of the paintings you can view the photo gallery at the, "National Trust" site here.

VOLITO 2 My Wonderful Digitizer Pad

I have been given the most wonderful gift. It's a WACOM, Volito2 Digitizer Pad. (In the photo it's shown with my laptop, with the pad and pen at the front.) I think it's one of the most amazing bits of equipment for doing computer art. You use the pen, on the pad, just as you would a brush or pencil and it paints or draws onto the computer screen. It comes with some software called, "ArtRage 2" that enables you to choose types of background texture, type of drawing tool and a variety of colours and tones.





I did this palette on the computer. I find it amazing that it doesn't "exist" anywhere, only as a computer image. I could print it of course.
I enjoyed using the buttons that made the "paint" look as if it was squeezed from tubes, then smudging them with a brush. You can set the brush to be dry or wet, so that it goes on top of the paint underneath or merges with it, just as wet paint would.
The palette was done using a "roller" setting over a "canvas" background. You can decide how thick or thin you want all the strokes to be. Of course as I've only had it a few days I am just learning how to use it fully.