My spot...

I gave my life to Christ on October 8, 2017.  To celebrate the 2 year anniversary, I decided to create an drawing of my spot.

It began as a pencil sketch of the location where I was saved.  I then used black ink to deepen the darks and tree branches. The picture looked drab and depressing, not the vibrant and colorful autumn image that I always seen in my head when I think back on that day.

I decided to experiment and added watercolors to the trees, and sky, the beach area. 

Sadly, my experiment with the mixed media went awry. Watercolor on regular sketch paper makes the paper pill and peel, so the lake water itself was not able to be completed without completely destroying the paper.    While I feel like the piece itself is incomplete (the lake looks more like a snowy field to me), I did learn a lot about how the watercolor pencils I have acted with each other and I was really pleased with the resulting fall colors in the trees.

I have since purchased a pad of watercolor paper for future watercolor experiments, and I may make another effort at this same image someday.

Anxious for Nothing...

This piece was inspired by the August 2019 sermon series from Pastor Craig Groeschel of Life.Church called "Anxious for Nothing".  You can view the messages on the Life.Church app, or on YouTube.  Here is the first message of the series:

At around the 24 minute mark of the video above, Pastor Craig brings his lovely wife up onto the stage to demonstrate what was happening in 1 Kings 19: 11-13, when Elijah goes out to stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord.  Pastor Craig's visual demonstration of Satan yelling vs. God whispering because he is close to us really struck me.

At the same time I was watching this series, we discussed various birds in the bible (and who/what they represent) during one of my bible study lessons.  I envisioned Pastor Craig in the position of hearing Satan squawking at him in the form of a vulture, yet fending off the effects of the anxiety-inducing squawking by standing close to and in the presence of the Lord who is near.

I, myself, am guilty of putting too much weight on the words of the squawking vulture in my mind, and not enough focus on the Words of the one who is always near. I used to often say that I was my own worst critic, but I am working on focusing on the truth of who God says I am, not the random noise of my anxious mind.

This image started out as a pencil-only sketch, but as it took form, I added colored pencil (that I had purchased from the art supply store that were saturated with vibrant color) and added black ink and white ink to pop shadows and highlights.