Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Psalm of Light


Inspiration by Karen Mathison Schmidt
9 x 12 • watercolor on cold pressed paper

In a daily devotional sent to all the members of our choir, our minister of music encouraged us to write a psalm today and sing it to God in a time of personal worship.

Here’s the psalm I wrote:
God, my God, God of all,
Creator of me,
Creator of the universe,
there are no earthly words adequate to describe you.

There is no way I can even imagine in fullness how beautiful
how great,
how kind,
how loving,
how splendid,
how intelligent,
how strong,
how gracious,
how magnificent,
how wonderful
You are.

I can't grasp your perfection.

You know me completely, you know what I enjoy, and you provide it, though I don't deserve it – I am amazed by Your kindness. This morning I am filled with gratitude for light; I marvel at it.

Thank You for creating it. Thank You for waking me with it.
Thank You for giving me eyes to sense it,
the way it reflects,
the way it reveals color,
the way it dances with shadow,
the way my brain uses it to make sense of everything I see.

Please show me how to let Your everlasting Light, the Light of the World, the Light of Men, be reflected in my life so that others may see You through me.

Thank You for the light, Thank You for my life,
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

Monday, July 12, 2010

Summertime, continued


I will be posting new paintings soon, I will!

Meanwhile, here are some photos I took while I was out playing.


I love these black-eyed susans growing wild on the roadside. They’re all around here ... you can almost here them singing, they look so joyful!


Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,
you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
wild animals and all cattle,
small creatures and flying birds,
kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,
young men and maidens,
old men and children.
Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

Psalm 148:7-13

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Summertime


Hey!

Yep, it’s me. Looking at the date of my last post, I feel a little like Huck Finn. That is, I’ve been Totally Goofing Off.

Well, not totally. For the last couple of months I’ve been in “home-making mode”, and I have been working on a few projects around the house. I gave the parlor a face lift, fixed up the sun porch, and I gave our bathroom (downstairs -- still no plumbing upstairs yet) a mini makeover. Per my sister’s request, I’ll post pictures of that as soon as I get them off my camera.

And, let’s see ... oh, yeah! Our driveway is finished. No more mud riding through the yard.

And I took all the doors off the kitchen cabinets and scrubbed all the insides and and organized in there. Something that has needed doing for about three years now. I removed the doors for two reasons:

1) Some of them were warped and crooked and wouldn’t close properly, and kept coming open. Driving me crazy.

2) We had a little bit of a mouse problem. Itty bitty gray mice. Kind of cute, but not in the house, thank you. Taking the cabinet doors away left them with nowhere to hide from curious dogs and cats, and I think it’s done the trick. I think they’ve decided to move on. Eventually we’ll replace the cabinet doors, but for now I’m kind liking the open shelf farmhouse kitchen look.


I love the green color inside the cabinets. I think that’s the 1940’s paint job from the last time the kitchen was updated. A while back we painted the walls, which used to be a dingy blue, apricot yellow. The jury is still out on that color, though ... it may be just a tad bright. We’ll see!

Paul and I just got back from a wonderful trip out west to visit his parents in northern California, and my sister and her family in So-Cal. We attended my oldest nephew’s high school graduation and helped my sister and brother-in-law transform their back yard into a beautiful outdoor cafĂ© for a party. Here’s the invite ... my sister and I designed it together and everyone loved it. Here’s how it looks closed:


... and here’s how it looks open, with all Scott’s school pics, from kindergarten through 12th grade, and his favorite scripture, Proverbs 3:5-6.


We had a great time, and now we’re home and getting back into the routine. A few days ago Scottish artist Elizabeth McCrindle said she was having a “bit of a tidy up” in her studio, which had just gotten out of hand. I’m doing the same thing this week so I can be done with it and have a clean and orderly space to start work in on Monday. I don’t think I’ve ever posted studio pictures of my work space since we moved out here to the house, so I’ll do that after I get it nice and presentable.

Cheerio!