Creating in Faith - Loss and purpose

At some point in your life you will experience loss.

 

I have been finding in my 40’s that there is an increase in people I know who have either passed or have illnesses with very serious prognosis.  You never imaging yourself to be in that position, can’t prepare for it and when it comes it leaves a hole that seems impossible to fill.   

Almost 20 years after my father passed I still have dreams about him in totally new situations. In the beginning the dreams would be of him during his illness.  As the dreams progressed he would get stronger until one dream he was lifting a wardrobe and I asked him if he could be more careful because of the illness, he laughed and told me he was fine.  In my most recent dream he came to my mum’s home and had a friend with him.  He was dressed really smart and looked like the picture I have of him in his younger days.  

 On waking I realised the friend he had with him was my mum when she was a young woman. 

The loss of a loved one takes time to come to terms with, the intense pain softens, you carry on, but you never forget.  I still think about my first son who passed at 3 days old, he would have been 23 now and I often wonder what he would have been doing now, thinking about all that he could have achieved with his life.  

While we can’t bring back those we have lost we can celebrate their lives, we rejoice at the lives they touched the impact they had on this world and we look to our own lives and hope that we too can make an impact on the lives of others and be the blessing we were called to be.   

I imagined as I got older I would be sharing more times of laughter with tales of grandchildren and aching joints, alongside the creative adventures with my good friend Barbara who I had known since I was 16 and who passed in 2011 and is so dearly missed.  

 From time to time I dwell on the shared experiences, and conversations we had about our journey as artists, the love she gave to her family and the love she shared with others.

 me and Barbara in our early 20's

Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for everything and everything in its season: 

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

As we draw close to the end of the year, let us make a decision to live our lives on purpose.  Take hold of 2013 and aim to make an impact on your own life and that of others.  Whilst we will continue over the years at some point to suffer loss, let us hold on to the blessings that each individual life shared with us and celebrate their memories with joy, and let us live our lives to the full and not take one more day for granted.

  He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power...Isaiah 40:29

Come join the group - Creating in Faith, show us how you will be incorporating the words and scriptures and reflections in your art this week.  Step out and be a blessing and you will also be blessed!

Gratitudes - Seeds

It’s amazing where some plants grow.  I inherited my green fingers from my mum and love growing new plants and a lot of the ones I have were grown from seed.  I have also been blessed by the passing birds who often drop seeds as they fly by.

 What are you grateful for this week?

21 Secrets - Tracie Hanson

Creating backgrounds and pulling out shapes, defining what feels right and allowing the painting to tell its story has over the past year been a method I find quite freeing, and have really come to enjoy starting some of my paintings this way.

 My journal paintings depicts a group of women who are supportive of each other within a community sharing time with the younger generation...

Tracie Hanson encourages us in her Journal Quest workshop to experiment further with colours and backgrounds that compliment each other and let the painting flow, pulling out the shapes, this takes practice and perseverance but it is a delight to see the finished pieces and what they have to say. 

I used charcoal pencil to draw the shapes I could see, then started muting the background colours as I wanted to bring emphasis to the figures. The story develops and unfolds the more you look. 

This was another lovely workshop where you can take or leave some of the techniques.  I encourage you to check out her website, she has some amazing paintings that she has produced.  Blessings..

52 Weeks of Colour - Knowing your treasures

A thought for the week.....
  
Life is what you make it.  Every day we have to grab hold and treat each minute as if it were our last.  There are many who didn't get to see today and our thoughts and prayers go out to the Sandy Hook Elementary School community.  

As we look back on our lives those things that bring a smile are those shared memories that we get to experience with others, the differences that we can make in each others lives.  You have an important story to tell and should value it.  As you reflect on your week ahead treat yourself like the treasure you are... Blessings, Amanda

 **************

Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you knowhow, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.  ...Agnes de Mille

  "(Nothing can) separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:39

Gratitudes - The Garden

Garden

I have worked on my garden for 15 years and it has some beautiful established plants and those that need nurturing - reflecting the delicateness of life - give a plant care and it thrives.

What are you grateful for this week?

52 Weeks of Colour - Happiness

Reflection
What do you want more of in your life, make plans to receive.

Quote
A birthday is your own personal new year, your private mark in time between the past and future, your own farewell to yesterday and welcome to tomorrow. ...Hadin Marshal

Scripture
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you." John 15:16

Creating in Faith - Foundation

Having a good foundation allows you to know that you are standing on something solid.  A house won't last if it doesn't have the correct foundation, before long it will collapse and with the slightest wind fall over.   

 

In bringing up our children we want to pass on our wisdom, we don't want them to experience the hardships that we might have faced, but we know that there are lessons they must learn for themselves.  With a solid foundation we equip them with the tools they need while at home so when they go out into the world and have to stand on their own feet they are prepared. As a child my father used to encourage us to carry ourselves with a certain amount of grace, and confidence as we never knew what opportunity we could be stepping into.

As artists we spend many years learning techniques, making them our own, deciding those that we will hold on to and those we will let go.  Sharing with other artists and being a support to those who embark on the road that we have gone down.  It is building on that foundation that enables us to define our style. 

In our spiritual lives our foundation is the word of God.  The bible tells us to renew our minds; it’s not a ‘one off’ but a regular practice so that when the time comes and our faith is knocked, we are able to stand because we have that solid foundation.  Building on our foundation begins at home, with the practices and the habits we foster.  I hope as my son grows up to be a man that he looks back on the foundations that we tried to lay for him and is able to reach back into many nuggets of wisdom we gave him.  Stay blessed!

Thinking of your life are there any areas could more effective and what can you now do to give it a more solid foundation. 

No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light; but you will have the Lord for an everlasting light..Isaiah 60:19

So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it  will never be stricken with panic.  Isaiah 28:16

Come join the group - Creating in Faith, show us how you will be incorporating the words and scriptures and reflections in your art this week.  Step out and be a blessing and you will also be blessed!

Gratitudes - Earl Grey Tea

Earl Gray 

One of my favourite teas, the taste of bergamont invokes feelings of yet to be seen countries.... 

What are you grateful for this week?

Katherines Corner - Blog Hop

Took a delightful trip across the bloggasphere to Katherines Corner, she is running a favourite things blog hop Thursday - ok, its Friday morning here in the uk - better late than never!  There are many lovely blogs who have signed up to share and I encourage you, where possible, to pay a visit to as many blogs as you can.  Blog Hops are a great way of connecting with many talented individuals.  Check her out on pinterest, she has some great boards!

Gratitudes - 30 Day Challenges

30 day Challenges

I started doing these challenges back in April 2011 and since then have seen how a small action on a regular basis can achieve so much.

What are you grateful for this week?

Creating in Faith - Mustard Seed

 

^... “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Matthew 13:30-32

Sometimes if we work on the smallest idea and nurture it, and enable it to blossom it can turn into something much bigger.  When we plant seeds we do not see the work going on in the soil, in total darkness or the nutrients that are drawn into the seed to enable it to grow.  How many of us have seen the very moment the plant first pops up out of the soil and the continuous work taking place within the roots, it happens and we see the results in the growing plant.

We all have ideas, some good, some bad and some really great. If we nurture them they grow and develop and have the potential to reach the world.  Others can be inspired by the work that we have put in to our ideas, collaborations can be formed and ultimately lives can be changed, all because of one simple idea that we decided to do something about. 

What have you been sitting on that if you put your mind to it could mean something great to someone else?, what efforts can you make behind closed doors, in the dark of the night that could be the next ‘big thing’ to impact on the lives of others?  Take a moment to examine the mustard seed and see what form your next idea will come. Take a chance to put in the effort and surprise yourself!

....if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there,’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.’ Matthew 17:20

We have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.. 1 John 3:21-22

Come join the group - Creating in Faith, show us how you will be incorporating the words and scriptures and reflections in your art this week.  Step out and be a blessing and you will also be blessed!

Gratitudes - Jacket Potato

Jacket Potato

One of my favourite comfort foods, it’s nutritious filling and hits the spot with cracked black pepper and a dash of salt.  I could have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

What are you grateful for this week?

Creative Interventions

I recently took part in some Art Therapy sessions for carers and found it really great to work with art materials in a space and time that was just for me.  It has been a regular feature in my work as a mixed media artist and I would recommend that you give it a try.  In this video I talk about the benefits of taking part in the sessions alongside what I learned about myself and how through creativity I deal with aspects of being a carer.

52 Weeks of Colour - Awe

Reflection

You are braver than you think you are

Quote

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue…. Live the questions now.  Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. ...Rainer Maria Rilke

                                                                          

Scripture  

"You will not need to fight this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you,..." 2 Chronicles 20:17........