ok i lied. one more post!

acrylic on canvas 5x7

ian worked 67 hours last week on a major project (can anyone say "gnarly?"), so needless to say there was an abundance of lonely hours as my best friend faithfully plodded along for us.  i sat down to paint out of sheer boredom and had finished the tree (from a picture taken off my phone of a tree near Cuesta) and the yellow part when jeff pyle called and wanted to see if he could buy a small painting for his mum for christmas.

"i want it to have nature in it"

"how 'bout this one?" as i texted him a picture of what i had so far, the paint not even dry on it.

he ended up buying it for his mum!  i love God's perfect choreography :)

merry christmas, see you next year!

see you soon

the time for art has diminished this month- big surprise right?  this is a busy season FOR SURE.

stay tuned though.  ian and i are going up to washington for christmas, so this will be my last post till the beginning of the year-

after that?

mas pintando. :)

in other news, i've been listening to a guy named J. Tillman recently (he plays in the band Fleet Foxes normally).  un-bloody-believable songwriting.  very much like iron and wine in cadence.  i highly recommend for those of you who, like me, like their music to be about the pace of a heartbeat.  sloooow and oh so meaningful and lonesome :)

peace out.

pics from the jen m's.

how do we begin to comprehend cuteness like Mateos?

beautiful sisters.  some people have all the gene-pool luck :)

old, old friends.

caught me eating again.  sheesh.  is that all she does?

that guy is HOT.  arent you jealous?

see.  he likes me. :)

cas andersen= best 5 months ever (so far)

;)

one of them might hit me in the heart

gouache on bookcover

dear Lord, help us to feel.

letters to God

this is a photo from LIFE magazine by David Silverman.  the caption reads:

      "Avi Yaniv of the Israeli Postal Authority sorts letters to God to be placed later in the day between the ancient stones of the Western Wall June 15, 2005 in Jerusalem, Israel. Every year hundreds of letters addressed to God, The Messiah, Jesus Christ, The Almighty, and other similar names are collected at a Jerusalem post office and are once a year given to the rabbi of the holy site to be placed in the Wall when, according to Jewish tradition, they will be read by God."

there's something very tender in this.  i'm imagining every one of those letters being held by needy or hurting or joyful or imploring hands.  each one with a signed name, as if God didnt know already who had written it.  a touchable manifestation of our childlike desire to talk with God.

i wonder if they realize He already knows what they say.  

He knew the pain that led to the thought that led to the words to describe it that led to the motion of the hand writing it.

He already knows what they say.

you can't assume.

gouache, watercolor and acrylic varnish on book cover

"the meek shall inherit the earth"

gouache on book cover

quail

gouache on book page

this little ditty is for my friend, naomi (sorry if you see this before i send it, na :).  i ripped it out of an old book- the pencil part was written by the first owner of the book and it says: Bertha W. Clausen, Winter 1933.

i think quail are amazing and graceful birds.  that embellishment on the top of their head kills me.

speaking of killing me, after 2 and a half weeks of sick sick sick, i am starting to bounce back.  this was one of those illnesses that just amazed me with how crazy it was.  i'm usual never sick over 5 days or so (and even then, not that often), but this thing TOOK IT'S TIME.  the slightest excitement would send me into it's throes again.  

i have come to believe that viruses are evil.  when you have a virus, there's not a single thing you can do about it.  not a single bloody thing.  whereas if you get a cold, you can hit it hard with vitamin C and water and whatever green healthy hippy juice you want and you'll actually get somewhere.  you can actually have the thrill of a fight with a cold.  with a flu?  tuck you head between your legs because the plane is going down wether you like it or not. 

the GOOD thing about all this is i havent had sugar except from whatever is in fruit and dried plums for over a week... a miracle of God that i'm gonna milk for all it's worth!

anyway, it's good to be back.  i havent gone on a run for forever... havent walked around outside in forever... havent blogged in forever...time to get busy!

yuck yuck.

oh, i am sick sick sick.

achy muscles... short of breath... slight fever...seriously, i cant do anything except watch movies.  the worst part is i think it is a relapse...bleheeeh.

what i have learned during this sick time:

*i have the best husband in the world, who brings me movies and juice and cooks me dinner
*i am more inspired to cut out sugar and other immune suppressing things in my diet
*i remember again what it must be like for people like my mom who have lived years and years like this with chronic disease.  how do you not kill yourself if this is your life?
*i heart tylenol pm


yep.  profound huh? :)

from the sketchbook vault: treeman

he runs and he has tea.

and he wears mittens, apparently.

from the sketchbook vault: tree and shadow

sycamore tree portion in pencil.

bidwell park, chico, ca.

sycamores are so elegant!  bidwell park is redolent with them.  i used to look at them and wish they could come to life like c.s.  lewis' trees in the chronicles of narnia.

sway

this picture is about influence.

how God becomes our example and how we in turn become examples (and SEE examples) in the world around us.

"...be imitators of God as dear children.  and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us..." -ephesians 5:1

too sexy for my shirt

these pictures are inspired by Anthropologie.

this is what happens when fro becomes mod:

(ps, i'm so proud at how my hair really rose to the occasion.  it was so huge...)

from the sketchbook vault: sally's light

there's a little history behind this drawing...

i drew it sitting across from ian outside sally loo's, all nervous wondering when he was gonna ask me out :)

from the sketchbook vault: the dancer

this is a full page drawing in my sketchbook from my first semester at Chico State.  it's very roald dahl, i agree.  drawing with pen is like that.  behind it are notes from printmaking class that i let show through intentionally.  it looks like he's stepping down off the notes :)

you do funny stuff when you move somewhere new and don't have friends... like climb into the ribs of the multi-story university library until you find the art book section... and you'll do stuff like spend an hour or two drawing a figure from someone else's two hundred year old painting.  it's strange what we'll do for comfort.

in other news, sally loo's loos is open again (can i get a holla!)

and i woke up at 4:30 this morning for the first time in a while to bake for them

(i dont care what anyone says, midday naps are gross.)

and my aunt is moving tomorrow :(

and my friend wren just had a baby :)

and my friend mo is getting married in a week :)

it all happens at once.

keys to the kingdom

pen and ink, watercolor on book cover

had to scan the two sides of the book cover separately to fit it.

banner

"i smile at my enemies because i rejoice in Your salvation."

1 samuel 2:1

i drew this during bible study last night (shhhhh.... dont tell anyone)

will not return void

acetone transfer, watercolor, ink on bookcover.

"So shall my word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

isaiah 55:11

recommend

i found a lovely, lovely blog-

it's about knitting and crocheting.  probably the coolest knit/crochet blog ever...
they have free patterns and sell yarn off their blog.

http://www.pickles.no/

feast your eyes.  i'm not much of a knitter, but i'm inspired.

yum.

making the cowl FOR SURE.

from the sketchbook: 1

for some reason i am alway interested in drawing long, narrow, tall things.

these are elegant, oniony type plants drawn from sara's backyard

miss robin was very brave

pencil, conte, ink and acrylic paint on book cover

it was too big for the scanner, so i had to use photo booth to get a picture of it.  

hey.  it works, right? :)

real and boy

ink, acrylic, varnish, hymnal bit on bookcover

(the scan kinda cut off the left side of the drawing)

light shade

acrylic on bookcover

time flower painted

acrylic on bookcover

light rain

i cant remember if i've posted this one or not.  i painted it last year for ian.

8x10 acrylic

found you

pencil, ink and watercolor on book cover

redheads are starting to influence my art!  

(janelle and ian know what's up)

(the scanner sometimes doesn't do so well with delicate lines and tones in pictures, so it's just an idea of what it looks like)

night

acrylic on panel

bday card

birthday card for nancy.

watercolor resist.

the lee

you shall hide them in the secret place of your presence... you shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

ps 31:20

time flower

"all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.  the grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever."

-1 peter 1:24, 25

my ian

cas: "a few days ago at ruby rose i saw this vintage paint-by-number in a frame and it was so rad.  we should do paint-by-numbers and then hang them in our house.  the irony would be awesome since we both can paint."

(cas waits expectantly for response...)

ian: [note positive and cheerful intonation in the tone of voice] "that sounds amazing.  i think we should do paint-by-numbers this weekend!"


how could you not love that.

so this weekend, we'll be painting-by-number.

we already went and picked them out.

shy

watercolor on bristol 8 1/2x11

johnson trail

"plein air" watercolor exercise from johnson trail (off lower higuera).  the actual colors are a little duller than the picture, but whatever.

i love slo...it's so pretty

dawned worth mentioning

acrylic on book cover

tripled

"but concerning brotherly love you have no need that i should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in macedonia.  but we urge you brethren that you increase more and more." 

1 thes. 4:9-10

ginger bench

9x12 watercolor on bristol

your "art"

"let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."  colossians 3:16

you're not off the hook, either, if you aren't a singer or propagator of some type of discernible art.  to make an inference from the verse, God gave us gifts and creativity to influence in a way that only creativity can: deeper and better than just being told something.  

God gave you what you're good at because people respond to it.

some people are good with numbers, or people, or living practically or language or music.

if you find yourself free in any area, it is your creativity, and it has a purpose: to influence and to remember your God.

no one was ever bummed out because someone else was creative.  if you understate your influence and your gifts, you cheat the people around you and neglect part of your humanity that blesses God with praise...praise for simply being His and alive.

you're "art" isnt about you.  it is quite the opposite, actually.  you have a responsibility to divulge it.

amaranthus.

10x12 acrylic on panel.

this style of painting is so fun.  it's not original and doesnt take a genius to do it, but it's very free and very painterly.

i heart brushstrokes.

hurry up and orchard

10"x12" acrylic on panel.

rain is good for art :)

the San Louie and the gaggle of geese

look for my painting in the upcoming issue of the San Louie magazine in november!

notes to myself: cure

"walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh...if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.  let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."

galatians 5:16, 25, 26

care full

watercolor and pen.

the meek shall inherit the earth

cutting out letters for a bulletin board (it actually will say, "checking in with children's ministry")

113 degrees is way too hot.

i grew up in weather very similar to england's in the coastal north of this state.  the only way we knew it was summer was because it rained LESS.

when, in a freak fit of nature, the last throes of summer lashed thick tentacles of disgusting heat out into san luis county, i did not embrace it.  the whole thing actually made me angry (real mature, i know).  

our house is like a toaster when it's hot outside, which leaves me as a wanderer, exiled from my dwelling.

while i was pitching a fit to ian about it, he reminded me in his sweet gentle way that if i had a better perspective about it, the harsh weather might be a blessing.

i ended up driving up to my my church in morro bay (figuring the coast was the only place that would be not hellish on such a hot day) and asking them to put me to work just so i could hang out in their huge, naturally cooled building.  it turns out that there were a couple large informational bulletin boards that they had wanted to do for a while.  

all this to say, God, in His sweet mercy, proved me wrong and actually turned what i thought would be a wasted week into a peaceful, useful, and bearable (temp wise) week.  i dare say that this week has actually been a huge blessing that would not have happened if the heat had not driven me out of SLO.  i got to serve God, hang out with my friends and do art like the third grade art major that i am/was.

i'm convinced that God seriously uses everything... especially after God took the time to re-convince me this week :)  if you find yourself pitching a fit about something... He probably has such a rad purpose for that very thing that is irritating you or stopping your plans that it's worth the trouble and trust it takes to remain calm and walk in whatever new road He has laid out for you.