Creative Every Day

Just another page in my art journal, keeping up the Creative Every Day Challenge that I'm trying to participate in as consistently as possible.  This was a challenge started by artist Leah Piken Kolidas several years ago, she has a website, an Etsy page for her art, a huge following, and here's the link to her facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1538123513132267/permalink/1539457029665582/

She happens to be a great visual artist,  but her challenge applies to doing anything creative: photography, music, dance, whatever.  So I will try to keep up my creative endeavors on this blog, whether it's my art journal or a silly-ridiculous video I make with my crazy but too-smart-for-her-own-good videographer genius 12-year old daughter!

Anyway, this page is just a few cut-out magazine images to depict my passion: to go into overseas missions in impoverished nations.  Added some oil pastel borders and washed it all down with turquoise watercolors.  Simple, not rocket science, but it's better to get those pictures down in a display than shoved into a file in a dark metal cabinet for years.  Just like my dreams.  I'm tired of keeping them filed away in the dark.  Time to bust them open and see what I can do with them!
                                                                       GO!

Van Gogh

"I dream my painting and then I paint my dream." -Van Gogh

I just saw this quote and thought immediately of my previous post, sacred ground.  I read that portion of Brene Brown's book with the quote, "Don't shrink, don't puff up. Stand your sacred ground," and that's exactly what happened: I dreamed.  I visualized.  I saw this scene.  A watercolor pale mix of blues and greens, much more beautiful than I actually created, but it was like the morning mist was lifting, and there I was.  On a path. A natural, organic path, starting from my heart. A wide-open, honest, brave heart.  My eyes on my Maker and the path He is leading me on. 

 No more shrinking.  I am made in His image, I am uniquely and wonderfully made.  No matter what others make me feel.  No matter what physical limitations or insecurities try to tell me.  I am His.  I am the size I am, spiritually speaking, and I like it.  

I don't need to puff up.  Bragging is silly and stupid.  I will do great things for the satisfaction it gives me, not to prove anything to anyone.  

And then...I stand my sacred ground.  The ground that is holy because He who is in me, the One that is greater than the one who is in the world, is in me.  His Spirit resides in me.  This is a holy place.  My sacred ground.  

Whether I walk, whether I stumble and fall, I may or may not move forward in my journey at the rate I would like...but I will stand.  If not physically, I will at least be standing in my spirit.  

That was and is my dream.  So I painted it.  I love it when I see my picture before I paint it.  I love when God gives me visions of things to come.  It doesn't always happen.  Sometimes I'm just mushing paper and paint and glue around on the page and only eeking out a small spark of my heart.  And that's ok too. Because it means something else is stirring in my heart, too big and complicated to be released yet.  But it will. Just gotta keep practicing my art, my soul art.

Keep dreaming, my friend...

sacred ground

Creative Every Day challenge.

Just a quick page in my art journal.

Inspired by one of Brene' Brown's quotes from her book, 

The Gifts of Imperfection.

Mostly watercolor pencils, fine markers.