Illustrated Truths continued...

Psalm 56

Lord, have mercy on me; all day long the enemy troops press in.

So many are proud to fight against me; how they long to conquer me.

^3-4 But when I am afraid, I will put my confidence in you.

Yes, I will trust the promises of God. And since I am trusting him,

what can mere man do to me? ⁵ They are always twisting what I say.

All their thoughts are how to harm me. 

⁶ They meet together to perfect their plans;

they hide beside the trail, listening for my steps, waiting to kill me.

 ⁷ They expect to get away with it. Don’t let them, Lord. In anger cast them to the ground.

⁸ You have seen me tossing and turning through the night.

You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle!

You have recorded every one in your book.

⁹ The very day I call for help, the tide of battle turns.

My enemies flee! This one thing I know: God is for me! 

 ^10-11 I am trusting God—oh, praise his promises!

I am not afraid of anything mere man can do to me! Yes, praise his promises.

 ¹² I will surely do what I have promised, Lord, and thank you for your help. 

¹³ For you have saved me from death and my feet from slipping,

so that I can walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

 

1 Peter 3:3-4

New International Version (NIV)

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

I love this quote from Kid President.

It is similar to others I have heard.

 

"Nobody cares about how much you know,

until the know how much you care."

 

and

 

"It's nice to be important,

It's more important to be nice."

 

It all reminds me of what The Bible taught us...

 

Philippians 2:3-5

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

 Let each of you look not only to his own interests,

but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves,

which is yours in Christ Jesus,

Stormy Day Art

It's often that in the storm is where people find inspiration.

Watching the news on Hurricane Harvey, seeing people step up in love to help inspires me to help in my own way from home.

Through my art I hope to encourage people to help others out of love, without expectation of return.

I hope others remember what is important in life. There are temporary things in life  that can be replace and eternal things that last forever.

I will keep creating beyond the storm...

 

 

Instrument of your PEACE

My teacher friend, Rachel, gave me this cup a couple years a go before we were real friends. 

It was a "Thank You" gift she graciously gave for a mural I painted for her kindergartners. 

It is my favorite cup to drink from in the mornings. At the time she didn't know me that well, but her choice of gift really captured my style in may ways. I love this cup. I'm kinda particular about me mugs. It may be silly, but it has been a post of mine before. 

http://thelostsocklife.blogspot.com/2013/04/clouds-in-my-coffee-obsession-with.html

so.....

I love to look at the designs on this particular mug.

 The love the colors, shapes, variety of emphasis and patterns.

The Cup of Inspiration

Prayer of Inspiration

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.

My Color Pallette.

I used a painting that I had created before that I love. 

My dad had gotten the framed painting from an auction along with many many more. He offered it to me to use however I wanted. I challenged myself to take what was made before and build over the existing colors to create something of my own. 

This is what I ended up with. 

Before

 After

 

This picture always make me think of this song.

It's about taking old broken things, giving them to God and seeing what He can create. 

Listen... 

You Make Beautiful Things

Song byGungor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1spkhp41ig4&list=PL81E68F5A1F0FA410&index=57

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STARTING THE PICTURE...

I used ideas from the mug, but the words of the prayer for my text. 

I started with a brown Sharpie. I drew only the lines that I did not want to bleed away with the water brush that I planned on adding later. On the cup, some of the lines are dark and stand out. SOme of the other images (flowers, leaves) are blurry and light. This was my focus for the picture. 

I then used my daughters markers (washable in may colors) to fill in some of the details. 

After I filled some in, I applied a thin water brush to some areas in order to smear the color. It's kinda like a watercolor marker technique, but with non intended markers. 

 I am very happy with the end result. I have been staring at the mug many mornings, wondering when I would make art to reflect what I love about it. And I am even more happy that the meaning points others in the direction of my Lord and Father Jesus Christ. The greatest blessing is being able to be used as an instrument of Peace for Him. 

Illustrated Inspiration

 

Mercy Me, Rain

If you ask me what my FAVORITE thing to do is...

I will tell you that I love listening to my music and creating for my Creator.

This is how i imagine Heaven. 

I see it as a place where we listen to the angels sing and work with a joyful heart for our Father.

Only in Heaven I will have a wider variety of colors on my palette. 

I could sit for an eternity outside in pretty weather, listening to J.J. Heller, Mercy Me, or Kari Jobe. 

Music drives me to inspiration. I linger on the words and let them settle into my spirit, then they leak through my fingers to my pencils and onto paper.

My wonderful Hubby, Shannon Seaton, passed away 4 months ago.

I have been going through stages of emotions like a roller coaster.

This past week has been the worst! I just feel so alone and useless and as though I have nothing to look forward to. Everyone keeps telling me, "Live in the Moment!", but my moment is lonely. So, that makes me lonelier. I work all day doing art with middle schoolers, come home to my two wonderful but needy little girls, looking forward to night time alone after I struggle to get them to bed... then sit in bed wishing I had a companion to talk to. 

I have noticed if I am just sitting around idle worrying about my future and what I cannot control, 

I fall in a deep pit of selfishness, insecurity, and fear. 

God is lovingly keeping me in suspense of what my future holds, but I know it is going to be good. 

I just have to wait on His perfect timing for my dreams. 

But I can't stand sitting still! I need to move! 

So, a great friend noticed me in a pit and told me that i really need to find something positive to do. 

I told her about all of these cool inspirational posters on Pinterest that I look at to cheer up.

One of them said, 

"Life is like riding a Bicycle. In order to keep your balance you must keep moving"

MY INSPIRATION TO INSPIRE

It's contagious!

This was created by Jessica from Volume Twenty Five, 

it is exactly what I needed!

I need to move! Or else I will fall because of lack of balance. 

Just cause I am waiting on Him doesn't mean I have to 

SIT AND WAIT.

SO, i listen to my music, record the words that speak to me and create! 

Here it is...

What I do while I wait. 

Working on my Jamie Grace, Lead Me On design...

No, I am not "picking my nose" I am sharpening my pencil,

with my nifty nose sharpener... DUH!

Jamie Grace , Lead Me On

 J.J. Heller, Come Home

Jamie Grace, Beautiful Day (1)

Jamie Grace, Beautiful Day (2)

Jamie Grace, Beautiful Day (3)

 

God Girl, Jamie Grace

Speak Life, Toby Mac

                                                                Steal My Show, Toby Mac

 

 

Ginny Owens

 

Mercy Me

Rain

 

J.J Heller

Only Love Remains

 

J.J. Heller

Only Love Remains

Bible Verse Illustration (in my own words)

 

Sanctus Real FORGIVEN

 

Ginny Owens  

Illustrated Bible Verses

 

Maisy, my 6 year old daughter's illustration

 

My Illustration and Interpretation of 

Exodus 14:14

My Illustration of 1 Thessalonians 5:15

"A Happy Heart makes the Face Cheerful".

Proverbs 15:13

 

 

Just a thought about how Fatih is believeing in what we cannot see,

and that Faith the size of a tiny mustard seed can move mountains.

We look to what our eyes see and believe, but it is really what our heart sees that lasts.

For it is what we cannot see that will be eternal!

Wind moves the Mill...

Mrs. Raines,,,She Rained Love.

I started this school year off sitting through in service the same as I always do.

But, one thing was different. Our new Superintendent  Dr. Fuller, challenged us to think back to a certain teacher that made a real positive influence in our lives. 

I knew for sure who I would pick... but I was not really sure why.

I always loved my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Raines, the best out of all of my teachers.

To be honest, I really did not like 2nd grade at all. I was the chubbiest girl in my class, not the sharpest crayon in the box, and did not really have a friend to call my own. 

I spent that year hopelessly devoted to Michael Paul (front row, far left in space uniform) who was unfortunately not so in love with me. I know this because he gave me the nickname, Tubby Tabby. Ouch! But, he was not heartless. His heart just belonged to Tracey (front row, far left). Never the less, I chased him around the playground... and he chased her. One day, out of pure rage and jealousy, at recess I threw a rock at him. Mrs. Raines never sent me to the principal's office, my guilt was enough punishment.

In general, life was awkward and I did not have a whole lot of self esteem.

But Mrs. Raines saw something in me that nobody else had seen. As an artist and teacher, I get asked a lot by my students, "When did you know you were an artist?". 

I tell them 2nd grade. 

That is because of Mrs. Raines. 

My first grade teacher, Mrs. W (I tried to forget her last name, and her long flesh digging fingernails), 

did not make me feel like an artist. I do not remember her seeing any good in me at all. All she saw was the negative and that was all she gave in return. But 2nd grade brought new hope to my life. I remember my first picture that was on display. It was big eyed green alien. I loved the color green and had a soft spot for rare and strange creatures. As it hung in the room for parent/teacher night, I felt pride for the first time. I remember my mother coming, along with all the other parents, to this special evening in the classroom. We were all supposed to independently read a poem by Shel Silverstien and act it out. I was assigned "Lazy Jane". Now, like I stated before, I was not the sharpest girl. But, I think that Mrs. Raines gave me just the right poem for what she knew I could do. It was long, which made me feel very important. But, she did give me one that was simple as well. Just her doing this makes me realize how she thought about us as individuals. She took our abilities and egos to heart, being careful not to set us up for embarrassment.

Here is the poem. I still remember it by heart and will type it without even looking it up. 

Lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy Jane.

She wants a drink of water so she 

waits and waits and waits and waits and waits 

for it to rain....

I not only read Lazy Jane, but I read it was great genius... or at least that is the way I remember feeling about my performance. I remember laying on the ground, reading the words and at the end, opening my mouth up really big pretending to wait for the rain. 

I am the big girl, third from left on the middle  row.

This was the year I felt like somebody special, because Mrs. Raines made me feel life a star.

She made me feel good at something and it made it easier to focus on the good things about myself and elementary life. Kids still picked on my up until 5th grade, when I lost some of my weight and got a clue about my appearance.

This was also the first year I won the big art contest, Houston Rodeo Art. 

This was the picture I created below in Mrs. Raines class that year.

We all went to the Houston Livestock show to see it on display... oh, and to see the Rodeo of course.

Life's roads took me down the same road to being a teacher, just like Mrs. Raines. 

I try to remember to take the time to look deeper into my students, to pull out their best

while considering how they all have different abilities.

I am forever grateful to Mrs. Raines. Without her to encourage me and see the best in me, I may not be where I am today. 

God Bless Mrs. Raines and all teachers like her.

Read and see more about this special lady in my autobiographical comic...

http://thelostsocklife.blogspot.com/2013/03/supertab-autobiographical-comic-of-my.html