'This is the day'

I don't really have a lot to say today.  I do believe today is the most tired i've been so far and the hardest it's been to make myself to not take a nap but rather paint.  I know that it is no where near what aunt carla endures on a daily basis, but even just feeling this way and having to push through it gives me all the more respect for her and how well she handles the things that come her way on a daily basis.  I know that God is obviously with her for her to be striving through this.  God please continue to be with aunt carla.  Bless her mind and her body and Lord anything that the enemy tries to tell her or make her to believe through whatever attacks that come her way, Lord I pray that you will keep her from believing that, but that rather she would continue to believe you and your words to her. Give her life.  Amen

Steady as She goes'

I must admit that there feels like a certain amount of pressure to perform at this point.  I guess that is just the natural human reaction whenever you know people are watching you.  but it can also be a bit of a weight to carry, so I hope that i can push through that like the ship merging out of the fog in todays painting.  I continue to have to remind myself that my painting is not about me, but rather about my spending intimate time with God in prayer.  I tend to notice the days when I have trouble keeping focused on that, the paintings don't flow out of me as freely.  It's almost like when your in prayer with God and your reciting words, rather than really having a conversation.

'Humbled Today'

well today was a great day for painting.  There are some days that it just doesn't feel like when i get done with  a painting that it is complete...there always seems to be something or many things missing and i'm always very critical of them.  Today was different though, it was just one of those times where it felt like the paint was working with me, sure i was doing the usual...sometimes talking to my paint...sometimes asking God to help to show me what i'm missing but today it just all fell into place so nicely.  After I was done  I even stood back and sort of 'proudly' said to myself wow..i like it.  haha but as God always has such a graceful way of showing us our faults and humbling even the proudest of peoples so he did with me!  when i finished the painting i took it outside as i always do to coat it with a clear acrylic sealant, i looked up at the sky and saw the MOST BEAUTIFUL clouds i've seen in a long time...and I heard God's gentle voice say..this is the work of my hands.  Of course after that i look down at my little canvas that i'd just brought outside and it didn't seem near as wonderful as the glory i beheld when looking up into the canvas of God's sky!  So that is why i named todays painting 'Humbled Today' because i was humbled by the glory of God's hand and how that he so magnificently displayed it to me!

'Faith' bridges the gap between us and GOD

(The exerpt below was taken from verseoftheday.com.)

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

— 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

What do you see most clearly today? Is it what is seen or what is unseen? No matter our belief system, we ultimately have to trust what we can't see. Even the most atheistic scientists trust gravity, breathe air, and depend upon principles they cannot see until these realities produce results in the tangible world of human perception. But as Christians, we don't believe the seen world is any more real as the unseen world. In fact, most of the seen world is subject to death, disease, disaster, decay, disorder, and death. I don't know about you, but if it isn't any more permanent than that, it's not going to be very real for any of us for very long. I want to hang on to something that allows me to look past the seen and to find my Father who is unseen. He is the one who guarantees the unseen!

This is what I read today before starting my painting.  So I decided since it was so fitting a verse for the cause in which I'm painting these 365 days, why not write it on my canvas. 

#5/365 'Can't Force a Mule'

'Can't Force a Mule' 12x14 acrylic/oil pastels on textured canvas.

I always love how God uses my mistakes to help make something that feeds my soul.  Let me tell you about how glorious he really is.
I started prepping my canvas today, should have done it last night so that the prime coat would be finished but...I'm a bit of a procrastinator at times and well that just didn't happen! so anyways I was just trying to get my textured layer that I put on the canvas today to dry faster and somewhere I read that with acrylic material it's better to use the oven that a blow dryer because it dries through and through instead of just the top layer.  So i did just that..stuck it into the oven.  10 or so minutes later I'm starting to smell a potent chemical type smell as it wafts through my home in all it's glory and i say to myself "guess i better go check on the canvas".  I open up the oven door and the stuff is bubbling up on the canvas like a bad case of the chicken pox! OH DEAR.

#4/365 'Mary' Acrylic and Oil pastels on Canvas

'Iris' 20x24 acrylic on canvas