Dear Friends,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries this week!
Have you seen your friends make a good decision together in harmony?
Our Thursday morning painting group thought up a name for ourselves. It is "Wandering Creek Artists." Now I am Sue Trowbridge of the Wandering Creek Artists.
I like the word wandering because it shows the diversity of our group, plus it shows that we are open in our creativity and not stuck in a rut. I like the word creek, because water is a source of life. We are also working together in Battle Creek. Another reason I like the work creek, is because it has an honest sound to it and some of us are innocent or folklike in our painting style.
Love, Sue
Showing posts with label oil painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil painting. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Compositional Elements
Dear Friends,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries this week!
How do you know the composition of an oil painting is right?
Turn it sideways or upside down and see if it works.
I was unsure of a compositional element today and I used that trick. I was reassured my sky was right and I simply needed to add the colors I used in the sky, into other areas of the painting.
Love, Sue
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries this week!
How do you know the composition of an oil painting is right?
Turn it sideways or upside down and see if it works.
I was unsure of a compositional element today and I used that trick. I was reassured my sky was right and I simply needed to add the colors I used in the sky, into other areas of the painting.
Love, Sue
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Insights Into Prayer Painting
Dear Friends,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!
Do you ever surprise yourself with an insight that comes out of your mouth?
I taught a class on praying through art on Saturday at a neighboring church and learned some things by listening to myself teach! I said that Jesus stated that in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven one must come as a child; then I ventured to say that the same is true for the kingdom of art, because our inner child is the part of ourselves that creates.
So making art while we pray adds power to our prayers because we are praying with the part of ourselves that has childlike faith. This type of prayer is more affective than when we pray from our adult ego state, because of the doubts we learn by the time we become adults.
My students spent time in class painting and praying at the same time and were thrilled by how good it felt to do it. I can see that God is probably going to take me elsewhere to teach this type of prayer.
Love, Sue
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!
Do you ever surprise yourself with an insight that comes out of your mouth?
I taught a class on praying through art on Saturday at a neighboring church and learned some things by listening to myself teach! I said that Jesus stated that in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven one must come as a child; then I ventured to say that the same is true for the kingdom of art, because our inner child is the part of ourselves that creates.
So making art while we pray adds power to our prayers because we are praying with the part of ourselves that has childlike faith. This type of prayer is more affective than when we pray from our adult ego state, because of the doubts we learn by the time we become adults.
My students spent time in class painting and praying at the same time and were thrilled by how good it felt to do it. I can see that God is probably going to take me elsewhere to teach this type of prayer.
Love, Sue
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
painted prayers
Dear Friends,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!
Are you ever frightened when you start to draw or paint an image?
The great thing about praying through art is that it doesn't matter if the image looks realistic or not. For instance when I paint an image of a mountain in Haiti and cover it with trees, the thing that matters is that I am praying for the reforestation of the land, not whether my perspective or colors are "correct." When I paint a child it doesn't matter if the proportions are correct, what matters is the smile on her face and the joy in some unknown child's heart that manifests in response to God's touch as a result of prayer and faith.
This type of art frees artists to paint what is in their hearts and minds rather than painting what the physical eye or the camera lense sees. Remember when you were a child and drew both ends of the barn, because you knew both ends existed even though you can't see them both from the same vantage point? Prayer painting takes the artist back to that innocent way of thinking and creating.
In this style of painting life is wonderful, because whatever you do is right!
Love, Sue
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!
Are you ever frightened when you start to draw or paint an image?
The great thing about praying through art is that it doesn't matter if the image looks realistic or not. For instance when I paint an image of a mountain in Haiti and cover it with trees, the thing that matters is that I am praying for the reforestation of the land, not whether my perspective or colors are "correct." When I paint a child it doesn't matter if the proportions are correct, what matters is the smile on her face and the joy in some unknown child's heart that manifests in response to God's touch as a result of prayer and faith.
This type of art frees artists to paint what is in their hearts and minds rather than painting what the physical eye or the camera lense sees. Remember when you were a child and drew both ends of the barn, because you knew both ends existed even though you can't see them both from the same vantage point? Prayer painting takes the artist back to that innocent way of thinking and creating.
In this style of painting life is wonderful, because whatever you do is right!
Love, Sue
Friday, March 5, 2010
Healing Friendships
Dear Friends,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!
Where is your sanctuary?
Yesterday as I was getting ready to head out the door to my painting class, I received a phone call from the school practically pleading with me to substitute teach for them that day. I said, "I'm sorry, but Thursday is the one day that I am not available to teach."
All day on Thursday is the time I devote to my friends of 13 years to get together, paint, talk and of course eat! Yesterday, I did more talking and listening than I did painting, because that was what was needed. I sat and listened to my grieving friend who had been away on vacation for two weeks and couldn't wait to get back to our group to be with us, because we help to heal him from the horrible grief he endures daily.
We welcome new people into our group every season when the new class term begins and we instantly make them insiders. They bring new blood and fresh ideas to our group.
We pride ourselves on loving one another unconditionally, overlooking one another's foibles, focusing on everyone's gifts and graces, and empathizing with each other. We are genuine yet kind in our critques of one another's art and encourage each other in our creative endevors. As a result, we are getting to be better artists every week and the growth in our skills and our ideas is remarkable over a year's time.
We value our relationships so much and frequently recite, "We wish everyone had this kind of a group!"
If you have this kind of support in your life then you are blessed. If not, then how could you create it?
Love, Sue
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!
Where is your sanctuary?
Yesterday as I was getting ready to head out the door to my painting class, I received a phone call from the school practically pleading with me to substitute teach for them that day. I said, "I'm sorry, but Thursday is the one day that I am not available to teach."
All day on Thursday is the time I devote to my friends of 13 years to get together, paint, talk and of course eat! Yesterday, I did more talking and listening than I did painting, because that was what was needed. I sat and listened to my grieving friend who had been away on vacation for two weeks and couldn't wait to get back to our group to be with us, because we help to heal him from the horrible grief he endures daily.
We welcome new people into our group every season when the new class term begins and we instantly make them insiders. They bring new blood and fresh ideas to our group.
We pride ourselves on loving one another unconditionally, overlooking one another's foibles, focusing on everyone's gifts and graces, and empathizing with each other. We are genuine yet kind in our critques of one another's art and encourage each other in our creative endevors. As a result, we are getting to be better artists every week and the growth in our skills and our ideas is remarkable over a year's time.
We value our relationships so much and frequently recite, "We wish everyone had this kind of a group!"
If you have this kind of support in your life then you are blessed. If not, then how could you create it?
Love, Sue
Friday, February 5, 2010
Happy, Happy, Happy!
Dear Readers,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministry today!
How did you feel when you woke up this morning? I hope you felt good and if not, I hope you will feel better soon.
Today I woke up happy, for the first time in the last six days, since my husband's hours were cut at work. I attribute this joy to having spent a day painting with my friends at the Art Center of Battle Creek. We have been getting together for over 12 years and love one another unconditionally. We talk, we paint, we offer one another artistic advice, we eat and we pray a Native American prayer of thanksgiving before our meal.
I always feel good the day after we get together, because we support one another artistically and emotionally too. We discuss anything: politics, religion, etc. and we have a rule that anyone may express their opinion, but no one is allowed to criticize anyone else's views.
Some people are naturally cheerful. When our son was a toddler, he used to run around saying, "Hoppy, hoppy, hoppy!" with a huge smile on his face. It made me feel like a success as a mom to have such a cheery kid!
God must feel that way when we are happy too. I love the scripture in the wisdom literature that says, "God delights in his people." Some people see God as stern, but not me, because even we human beings look at our loved one's foibles as part of their charm and we are less perfect in loving than God is. God must love it when we smile, laugh, clap our hands and dance!
Of course, we can't be happy all of the time. But it sure feels good when we get back to feeling joy again after a period of sorrow!
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministry today!
How did you feel when you woke up this morning? I hope you felt good and if not, I hope you will feel better soon.
Today I woke up happy, for the first time in the last six days, since my husband's hours were cut at work. I attribute this joy to having spent a day painting with my friends at the Art Center of Battle Creek. We have been getting together for over 12 years and love one another unconditionally. We talk, we paint, we offer one another artistic advice, we eat and we pray a Native American prayer of thanksgiving before our meal.
I always feel good the day after we get together, because we support one another artistically and emotionally too. We discuss anything: politics, religion, etc. and we have a rule that anyone may express their opinion, but no one is allowed to criticize anyone else's views.
Some people are naturally cheerful. When our son was a toddler, he used to run around saying, "Hoppy, hoppy, hoppy!" with a huge smile on his face. It made me feel like a success as a mom to have such a cheery kid!
God must feel that way when we are happy too. I love the scripture in the wisdom literature that says, "God delights in his people." Some people see God as stern, but not me, because even we human beings look at our loved one's foibles as part of their charm and we are less perfect in loving than God is. God must love it when we smile, laugh, clap our hands and dance!
Of course, we can't be happy all of the time. But it sure feels good when we get back to feeling joy again after a period of sorrow!
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