Tuesday sweet Tuesday…

Today I started a new “book Club” but it’s not my “Australian” one it’s one through “His Kingdom Come” we are studying the book called “The Creative Call” by Janice Elsheimer

Here is the Blurb from Good reads…

Perhaps you’re a “closet writer” who’s been scribbling in journals for years.(Oh how did she know that?!!) Maybe you once had a passion for playing the piano or violin–a passion that is still flickering somewhere deep inside you. You may have a knack for photography, drawing, gardening, cooking, or some other creative gift. Or you may long to express yourself creatively, but have yet to discover your unique talents. 

Your creativity was meant be used. Whether you are an artist who has already identified your gifts or you believe that you have artistic talent that has never been developed, working through this book will help you grow closer to becoming the person God has designed you to be.

*LEARN TO CALL ON THE HOLY SPIRIT AS YOUR SOURCE OF INSPIRATION
* EXERCISE YOUR ARTISTIC GIFT REGULARLY AND BEGIN TO
THINK OF YOURSELF AS AN ARTIST.
* DEVELOP THE HABIT OF JOURNALING AS A WAY TO REALIZE UNLOCKED CREATIVITY
AN EIGHT-WEEK PROGRAM FOR FULLY DEVELOPING YOUR ARTISTIC GIFTS
AND ENTERING INTO A CLOSER UNION WITH GOD. INCLUDES A RETREAT GUIDE.
FOR INDIVIDUAL USE OR GROUP STUDY

We are working through the book a chapter a week.. do you know how hard that is for me? especially when it’s a good book that I can relate to and so far (Chapter 2) I am relating very well. At the end of each chapter we have a series of questions, prompts and things to do.. and also each day we must write for 20 minutes in the “daily pages” this morning I was thinking.. “What can I write about for 20 minutes and how much paper will I use?” and one of the tips she gives us if we get stuck, write that down.. “I am stuck what shall I write” and then let it flow.. well, good news ( and anyone who’s read my blog posts which can sometimes be long, can attest to that!) I didn’t struggle at all and in fact I was surprised at some of the stuff that came out of my pen!! It turns out 20 minutes is a double sides lined foolscap page (I am doing my work in a ring binder) and I write small… so it’s a lot!

Plus I added some quotes from the chapter and also a bible passage or two.

So far so good I am enjoying this new  experience.

Then I had my usual bible study.. I messed up so bad and it’s taken me a week or so to figure out.. How have I managed to get so far ahead of the group.. and then I realized. The Good Morning Girls are reading and studying Monday to Friday.. oh no! not Kim Hine… she does Monday to Saturday… Of course as soon as I realized that I stopped.. but I am going to be finished the Book of Exodus this week instead of next! Never mind at least I am doing it!! So when I am finished ahead of the group I shall read the Psalms and Proverbs until the group start their next study.. I think it’s the Psalms.

Once all my written goodness had been done, there was no avoiding the fact that I had to get up and get the day started, and you know what.. I struggled to get any art happening at all…I almost gave up on the idea until about 4.00 pm and then I remembered I wanted to start a piece that I am giving away to a friend. you know what happens when I do art for “someone else” OK, OK, I’ve only done that one piece the “Pugalicious“

Tanny with her Pugaliscious painting Easter 2015

and it was sooo good I struggled giving it away, and so I painted another one to keep… so this time to avoid THAT drama I am painting two at the same time.. Want a Sneak peek??

Now I can’t tell you who the “instructors version” is for because she might read this blog, but here’s a hint, she’s from America and is my penpal!

Also today, geeze, I’ve been busy this afternoon, I finally got around to painting or rather adding to my Intuitive painting that I did way back in February. I did the course with Perth artist Melani Parker and we did all kind of funky stuff.. so here is what it looked like when I brought it home from the Art class.

one of the backgrounds

 And then I highlighted the “crosses” I knew I wanted some kind of “Crucifixion” type painting, but I wasn’t sure how to make it happen.

And then I did this….

My husband is NOT a believer but he actually saw “Mary” in the painting before I did, he said one night as we were eating dinner “I see a lady in a headdress right there” and he pointed it out numerous times it took me a while to see her.. as soon as I did I knew who she was.

So it’s been a busy afternoon, and last night I posted a late blog with no photos I was in bed and hadn’t uploaded the photos then, so I promised I’d load them today for you all.. so here is yesterday’s (Day 6) art!

“Take me Deeper” is a Christian based class I am doing with Shonna over at “His Kingdom Come” and I am doing that in a ring binder folder with lined pages for journaling and also added some watercolor pages for any art that might show up, in the folder is also class work from “Book Club” and “Logos 365” other “His Kingdom Come” classes I am taking. Mindy’s class “Sunday Mornings 2” I am doing in an art journal with a bunch of other “Christian based art” all neatly together in one book.

 

So that my friends, is Monday and Tuesday art complete, amazing what I can get done with no babies!!

M is for Monday.. Grandma’s day off..

Well except for the house work, cleaning, cooking and numerous other things, what it really means is “day off from Squishy” So I woke up determined not to waste it, like I have so many other Monday’s.. and I didn’t by 9.00 am the whole house was swept and floors washed, dishes done and star Son sent off to school… and a load of washing going.. My ex Husband and my Son Jarrah and a friend of his came to visit Jarrah and Tim are visiting from Sydney and his dad picked him up from the airport and so since they were only 15 minutes away came to visit. So then we text the eldest “Squishy’s Mum” and she brought Chase around to his his “Poppa T” as they call that Grandfather. Then by 11.00am it was all quite, everyone went away to their own places and left Amber, Scarlett and I here in a super clean silent house.. I love that and it very rarely happens. So we hung out a load of washing and started a second one and then I decided that I would do some art.. I know right.. I almost tripped over my own tongue.. such a foreign word these days.. So you’ll recall I’ve been working on my first oil Painting which is a copy of Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” if you missed that news you can catch up https://kimlhine.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/u-is-for/ scroll right to the bottom of the post to see update photos.. As much as I love this piece and I am enjoying the oil painting process it is “more” than acrylic and watercolors. “More” set up, “more” clean up, “More” drying time and also “more” fun! So I hesitated and thought instead about starting my new Christian Art course.. I am working with Mindy Murphy Lacefield again, you can stalk her here: http://www.mindylacefieldart.com/p/online-workshops_4.html

I am doing “Sunday Mornings 2” because My first Christian Art was “Sunday Mornings” and it touched me and also shocked me at what I was able to create. So when she started number 2 I signed up immediately.. sadly I am yet to start it.. oh hold on.. I brought a new art journal for it..lame! But instead I decided to finish the Girl with the Pearl earring first.. so here’s today’s update.. We had to add some more glazing layers, blue into the shadows, yellow and a bit of red.. I almost think I’ve ruined her but then I keep hearing Lucy saying “we are going to add more layers” so I keep on keeping on, hoping it’ll get better!

So here are my “girls” as of today…

One good thing I did notice was that I was able to subtly correct her wonky eye, and in “real life” I’m not sure I love them.. but in these photos she looks OK-ish. The one on the right is the first one, done on board and I messed her up badly.. so I started a second one in my art journal and of course she’s better, so I am going to be doing a third one to implement the good things I’ve learnt in doing these two… watch for Mark-3. Oil is so different from anything I’ve ever used so it’s getting used to the mixing of paints and the layering and  how to “control” the paint, but considering I am doing it online and not in person, I think I am doing ok.

I also did some art on Saturday when my cousin and I attended a work-shop at “work-shop” see them

http://www.work-shop.com.au/

on painting Flowers in watercolours.

Again a new medium, but I thought I handled it well too.. I didn’t like the “Hibiscus” I painted but I am fussy about what I put out, maybe I should have chosen a different flower, I will however do this project again. I did enjoy the play “sheet” where we learnt how much water to use and different techniques for laying on the water and paints and different brush strokes and how to apply them…Selina was a great teacher she showed us the steps and then we went away and did as she had demo’ed and then Selina came around to us individually and offered suggestions.

 

Messy Desk.. look just deal with it.. I am a messy Artist and I am a messy cook.. I clean up so whats the big deal?!

The “test sheet” which I renamed the “Play Sheet” I had fun working on that very relaxing.

Finished “practice” piece, D’uh, I made it my best work.. I should have redone another one but I really didn’t want to, I was nervous I couldn’t improve on this one.

This work shop was run by Selina Braine by day she is a High School art teacher on weekends she teaches the rest of us. You can see more of Selina’s work at: http://icandrawwithselina.com/

So that was my Saturday and my Monday… I hope yours was as much fun!

NaBloPoMo December is joy… final December prompt.

 Wednesday, December 31, 2014
What do you hope brings you joy in the coming year?

For the New year my word is “Deeper” I have been having this theme word before I even knew it was a “thing” a few years ago I started an art class and we had to meditate on a word.. back then mine was “flow” it seems I was too uptight and a perfectionista, so the word for last year was “flow” and I just went along with whatever came my way I did some weird and wonderful things that year. This year it seems to have worked so I went with “Continue” because the “Flow” had lead to some good stuff so I decided to “continue with the flow” lucky I did because it sure hasn’t turned out how I imagined it would and so I am glad I continued to flow because I’ve ended up in a whole other place, like a fish out of water, I’m flapping along and figuring it out as I go.

So when it came time t think of 2015’s word I chose “Deeper” time to get that flappy fish back into some water. This year while I was doing an art class, part of the meditation for the class involved taking ourselves into a place.. mine was a strange place, we had to enter through a door and mine was a very old stone wall with crumbling mortar and a very huge old wooden door with metal clasps and a huge metal door handle, upon entering  it was almost kind of like a conservatory, with a metal framed roof but it was open to the elements and was full of luscious green ferns and flowers of every description except every flower was a brilliant white colour, I mean so white it hurt your eyes and we were instructed (Guided meditation is best for me because other wise my mind tends to wander to the shopping list or the dogs barking) to look around our space and look for a creature or a “being”. The first time I went to my “Secret garden”  and sat by the fountain with the musical tinkling of the water, a huge pure white peacock came to me. This is not the first time a peacock had visited me in an art guided meditation  but this time it was pure white. The next time I went there and sat in the same place I don’t know if the meditation was slightly different or what happened but this time an Angel came.

Back track a little.. at the start of this art course we would do our meditation and then we would take the message we had received and  paint a layer of our painting. So all the layer were not actually how the painting would be at the end. At the stage of the Angel appearing I had a beautiful Swallow bird with a banner in his mouth saying “Courage” which is very apt for me, but after seeing the angel, it all began to change and I painted over it all with a nice pale blue back ground and went away to await the next weeks lesson. Next week came and we went to the meditation and again into our “Secret garden” and again the angel came, and I was thinking “Okay this is different an Angel??!” and the image I got that time was a pair of hands holding an open bible. So let me tell you.. my painting skills are okish, but there was no way I was going to attempt to paint a bible, and I remembered that my daughter had one from her youth group which I’d kept and it was falling apart, and I remember another artist friend saying “She didn’t mind using Bible pages in her Art she figured that God would be happy for her to share his words” So I took some of those bible pages out and I painted on the hands. I had no idea where this was leading me and I was “going with the flow” so I left it, took a progress photo and awaited next weeks lesson…. next weeks lesson wouldn’t work, and then I tried it another day and all I kept getting was the Angel, the Bible and the hands holding it open… that paintng has never gone a step further.. why? I really couldn’t say!

I am yet to work out quite what it means and then again maybe I am not meant to, It’s open at 1 Thessalonians which I have not even read yet. But the following week I was inspired by a penfriend to have a go at reading the Bible and that was 1st July 2014. That was when I discovered God. Did he send the Angels because he thought I would scoff and not believe it was “God” Was this painting a visual command from him, “Go read My book!” I don’t know but I was “going with the flow” Since then I have read A LOT and I’ve done LOTS of studies, from books and online sites and different options and I have learnt where to find the answers to the questions that I have. I have made friends with the Local Lutheran Pastor and he has been a great help to me. But I think there’s more I can do so hence “2015- Deeper” I’m going Deeper in my Walking with the Lord, I am going Deeper into my art, somehow there has to be a link.. where? how? what? I’m going “Deeper” to find out. The Painting says “Discover” and it’s kind of like “Deeper” it’s searching for him.

What do you hope brings you joy in the coming year? 

My Discovery of the Lord, my searching for whatever it is and my Art, I am enrolled in a Christian Art class which is called funnily enough “Going Deeper” and they give us a scripture each week and we are to Illustrate it etc etc. I’ll be adding those here to.

What are you hoping for Joy in 2015?