John 1:12-13

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  (John 1:12-13)

Today I decided that I wanted to do everything sitting here at my computer...while I go to church online (I listen better when my hands are busy)... I picked up a piece of card-stock and pencil, prayed about the scripture and within seconds began to draw.  Went over the drawing with a Thin Sharpie, erased pencil ... Done!

It wasn't until I went to scan it that I realized I had used a piece that had something printed on the back! WHOOPS!

About the picture:

• I put the words "Child of God" on each person's forehead because in II Corinthians 1:22 and Ephesians 1:13 it says that when we accept Jesus we are sealed.  I LOVE THAT!!!  Satan can't put his number seal on our forehead because we already have something there!! WHOOHOO!!! (thing is, I'm guessing the location, it doesn't really say where we are sealed)
• I show Jesus sitting at a table inside each heart to show that He knocked, and they opened their hearts to him and he took up residence in their hearts....in the form of the Holy Spirit of course, because we all know Jesus is sitting on the edge of his throne at the right hand of God ...ready to jump up at any moment to COME GET US!!!  YES!!!  I can just see him...looking at his watch and at God saying ... "Can I go now?!  Isn't it time?  I'm ready!"  Okay, he isn't really looking at his watch but he is getting excited I bet!

Now, I'll probably go downstairs and color it, cause you know I love to color :-)

Later today... 1st I tried watercolor ... way too muted, then I added marker especially to the large heart to make it darker.  I first colored the inside of the heart a darker red and thought. THAT'S NOT RIGHT!  Gotta glow...so I scanned and changed it to yellow and made some other minor changes to the black guys face...I know, it doesn't look good... but I couldn't control my mouse well enough to do a better job.  And then I cropped some of the heart...I just like things going off the page better sometimes.

Psalms 119:93

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“I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.” Psalm 119:93 NIV

Why this picture today?

Last night I got the idea to challenge myself, and anyone wanting to play, to do something artistic with the "Verse A Day" that Biblegateway sends out everyday. If you look at the top of this screen you will see the Verse-A-Day button...click there and see the details.  The challenge doesn't start until August 1st but I wanted to start today to have some examples and just to see if it was even do-able!


What does it mean?
Again the scripture is:
“I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.”Psalm 119:93 NIV
I wanted to show

• the "fork in the road" where we all have to choose, life or death, belief or unbelief...
• the Bible on the sign is the precepts with the "Life" to the left arrow and "Death" to the right...it is there for us to keep us from certain death.
• the "road" to the left is the road less traveled, the narrow road ... and I drew it close to the edge of the page because I wanted to show that we really can't see what is next...we have to depend on God for our every step. I didn't do a very good job showing it but the road is rough (gravel maybe) with stones on either side showing that it is a direction that isn't attractive to "the world".
• the road to the right is wider and the scenery is more beautiful with flowers and trees (ok, so use your imagination!)...but what the traveler can't see is the cliff he will drive off of going that direction...in the direction where he/she is their own god...they don't "need or want" ANYONE telling them what to do, "if it feels good, do it" is their motto.
• the text below is the definition of "precepts" (I had to look it up...I knew what it was, because everyone knows about Kay Arthur's Precept Training...  but it isn't a word you hear every day and I wanted to be certain and to put the definition on my page)

That's it!  YAY! I was able to do something!

The Book of James

You can probably tell by now that I REALLY want to do a journal... but I REALLY don't have anything to say!  I have tried my whole life to write in a diary/journal and get about a week into it and think "WHY?!"  Don't like that much "self focus"!!

I was thinking about all of the above last week and I was reminded "to seek ye first, the kingdom of God"... I don't do that very well either! Sure, I seek (some) but certainly not FIRST.  OUCH!  So, I decided then and there to make an art journal of books of the Bible.  I ordered new pads of paper to do it and they came in today... so, here is my first...James, Chapter 1.

I not really certain why I started with James...except it probably is one of my favorites.  It is the "meat" of how to live a life of righteousness...and I tend to camp there a lot.

I just started, one verse at a time and hoped I would have enough room to get through the chapter!  It was close...I may have done some things a little different with more room...but that's okay...I accomplished what I set out to accomplish....1 chapter, 1 page.  I wonder if anyone else can "read" it.  HA!  The good news is, I can... and it is forcing me to THINK about each verse.  MUCH needed discipline!

AND, I had FUN!

Added 7/20/2011

I finished all of James last night...

One thing I did that I would recommend if you want to try something like this...
I printed each chapter out and tape it to the back of the previous page so that I could take my pad and pencil with me everywhere and draw when I could.  I drew the horse and boat while sitting in my car waiting for a friend I was picking up at the airport.... no wasted time.

Lessons learned:

1. - Read the whole chapter first, not just one verse at a time.
2. - I used ZERO visual references, it was all from my head....soooooo, there are things that really aren't great representations of what they are.... Like chapter 3:4.... the thing in the water is SUPPOSE to be a rudder... a friend let me know quick, that is not what a rudder looks like...  oops... well, its a rudder to me...
3. - Every chapter was a little different... For chapter 3 I tried to incorporate the verse number into the drawing...so I can now look at it and know exactly what verse it represents...I like that...but I gave up on that by chapter 4... In chapter four there were main "word" ideas ... and by chapter 5 I was drawing stuff I never dreamed I could!  Hummmm....He does indeed "fill in the ability gap"!!!
4. - I now know why I started with James... first, James was a very visual writer!  Almost every verse could be drawn... second, I NEEDED to know what it said!
5. - I am AMAZED at how much I can remember of James now, and what I learned while meditating on it one verse at a time.  I came away saying...WOW!  I'm not "there" yet...gotta WATCH WHAT I SAY!!!
6. - The last couple of days I have been tempted to spend on things I don't need...but really want...and my little picture of the girl praying for $ with wrong motives, and the self-indulgent fat man pops in my brain... NOPE not gonna give way to temptation!

This was an amazing exercise!  I totally recommend that you give it a try.  No excuses!  I started saying "but I can't draw"...I really wish I could make you understand how much I don't believe I can draw....and so I don't.    Okay, I'm pretty good at Pictionary,but that's about it.  You may not have noticed, but by the last chapter, my drawing, and ideas got better... I never looked at anything for reference, I just sat on my sofa and drew ... THAT is a perfect example of God filling in the gaps ...where we are weak He takes over! 

You Have To Be Different

I just finished this last night... started it week before last... 

Lessons Learned:


- I don't like 9"x12" paper!  There is TOO MUCH space to fill!  
- A regular black sharpie works best to outline when everything is this large.

Today I Made a Yarn Stash Book

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HUH? What's that you say? Well, I have a friend that knits and yesterday was her birthday soooooo, I decided to make her a book she can track all her yarn in. (no, I'm not worried she will see this, she too busy knitting!)

Outside:

The guy on the bottom is thinking ... "I knew the new guy wasn't gonna fit!"

Inside pages: 

And I found this idea on Pinterest.com.  I thought I could put different colored solid ribbons so she could quickly find the "Reds" or "Yellows" etc.

Speaking of Pinterest.com.  OH MY GOSH!!!  I have found a whole new world!!!  I've known about it for a while but only just last week started using it.  OH MERCY!!!  I have found one of my "happy places!" And I'm having a hard time not just living there!  Come follow me there... click the link below and see what I have pinned already: