My children play carefree in the masses of colorful leaves. They are innocent and heartless in their trampling, heaping and jumping. I rejoice in their play, beginning to contemplate their future, their destiny in the light of this season.
fall
falling
fallen
fell
 felled
 The very idea Fall conjures up images of falling leaves, burning piles of them, and the  ringing of axes as they chop firewood.  While each of these images are positive, gilded by nostalgia, their analogies seem ominous, if not foreboding.
The burning after the falling, the imminent death and subsequent barrenness drives home a point, which in Biblical context is not without hope, yet bears heavy implications for the willful.
Yet the fall of Eden, and the continual falling is softened by the provision of forgiveness, restitiution.

The KARITOS and CIVA conferences were wonderful! I met interesting and genuine people, and benefited from the input of talented professionals who are serious about their faith and art.
I am encouraged to create MORE, connect with local artists MORE, include my kids MORE, and visit galleries as a family MORE, too! Here we come!
Perfect summertime art activities for parents with budding artists include: outdoor photo shoots, hiking through an art fair, sketching at the zoo or park,  sidewalk chalk art designs (take pics!), and ginormous finger painting (hose off afterwards). Plus, there is always collecting natural stuff for projects. Hope you all have a beautiful art-filled summertime.

Today is not warm, but it is sunny, and yes, it is officially spring! Thanking God for all the little things and for the wonderful feeling of emerging life surrounding us everywhere.
I have used this winter to plan attending art fests, a couple of shows and have signed up for two awesome summer arts conferences; Karitos and CIVA.
Hurray for spring!

Leaves fall. Rains fall. Stars fall. We fall, too. Then we get up and try again and again, until we finally get it. Some things are just meant to be left on the ground.
After months of  half-hearted attempts, I have finally abandoned Mona. She creeps me out. I tried to be interested and focus on painting her several times, but the joy I usually feel in painting was absent. I felt the humanism, the sensual curiosity leaping into my paintbrush and had to distance myself from the subject as I painted, which wasn't good for motivation. I came to a point of being afraid to smash the spiders in the basement. Now, with cobwebs dangling beneath the browny-green canvas, I am officially done with her.  Time to clean up and set up!
A new friend of mine came over today and prayed with me about my summer-long creative block, among other things. I repented for painting Mona.  And the result is that I feel free to stop, free to say this just is not working and it's ok to destroy something not birthed from the Spirit of God. I am so relieved. Now maybe I can enjoy the pleasure of God's company again as I paint what He wants me to paint.  After all, when He holds my hand, I won't fall so easily.

“How great Thou art!” I love the message of this song. There is no gift so great as the sacrifice He made for me, and nothing so great to look forward to as the day I will join all the other believers in Heaven in laying down my crowns at His feet in testimony to His greatness!

I love experiencing how God truly does delight in the creativity of this child of His. I am given opportunities to share God's love through art and writing. I pray that my legacy will be of a life path marked so clearly that other creative people will be able to follow with success.

Like many others, I started out on my own journey with a craving for a balanced life style. I learned to overcome many fears, to reach out to other people for advice and help in many areas and also to be available for people who were struggling in areas that I had struggled in. My dreams in art and writing never quite came together for me, though, because of a tendency to abandon a plan just before it became successful. Since recent prayer and counseling, I have experienced unprecedented artistic freedom. Suddenly I am creating more, meeting delightful artists nearly every day, and accepting new, lovely opportunities with anticipation.

Tom, the kids and I all attended a local art fair this weekend. We had so much fun meeting artists who do what they do because they love it! I think Tom might be inspired to invest in a tent and start doing art shows. Here are a few links to their beautiful work. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
www.AnastasiaMak.com www.susanelizbethdesigns.com www.kevinlahvic.me www.eheinz4@comcast.net  www.edcookminiatures.com  (one from our old home, Michigan; www.beyondletters.com and one from Wyoming, previously Michigan; www.johnrichterphoto.com)