Just Create

Since stepping out and doing what I felt I was called to do, in leaving the gallery, which was the only place I actually had my art, I panicked. It's not that I sold tremendous amounts of work there, but it was the only avenue I had to actually do that at this time. I was on my own, and I panicked. Where was I to sell my work, where do I go, should I utilize the internet??? All these questions resounded in my head and it was unsettling. I knew I did what I felt like God wanted me to do, and that was to listen for Him, to place my art where He told me, to do with it what He wanted, for the kingdom's sake. Soooo, that was it! Just listen, not to the nagging questions in my head, but to Him. Stop trying to figure it all out. Just create. That was what He told me "Just Create". It was a new time, a new season, one to just paint, listen and if a door opens, then fine, walk through it, but my job was just to do what I really enjoyed.

This new season is like spring for me. It is a time of the newness, a time of the Spring Song. So out of that came this mixed media painting.

I did a watercolor of two cute little birds on a branch a while back, now just waiting to be displayed somehow, not just remain sitting in the pile I was collecting. Birds are so wonderful to me, and so is scripture, flowers and music. This painting ended up with all of those, kind of a collage of my favorite things. One of my most loved verses is in Song of Solomon, where it talks about winter being over...spring coming...and the birds singing a new song. Well, how appropriate for this piece, and this new season in my life. Thus it's name, "Spring Song".

I hope you like it. I hope it sings newness over you, as I am letting the Lord do that for me right now. It is a new season, one filled with fresh life, and hope.

Blessings on this beautiful, bright and sunny day,

Jenny

I love my vintage Underwood typewriter and show off it's amazing skills on a lot of my work. Here is an up close shot of the verse and the cute little guy who sits so happily under it.

Seasons of Change

In some ways, I love change. In others, with things that my heart gets strongly attached to, it's hard. Very recently, I had to make a decision that was hard, heart-wrenching and scary, yet filled with peace and a bit of excitement.

I have had my work in a gallery for almost a year now, my first 'Art Home'. I absolutely loved it there, love the people, and working at it was a joy every Friday afternoon. But the Lord started to draw me in a direction that didn't flow with what I could do with my art while being bound to this, or any gallery. The seeds of change were starting to take root, and I knew I had to follow what my heat, and God were saying.

From the very beginning of God birthing this gift of being an artist, I've known that one of it's main purposes was to be for His glory, and in that, help those going out into the world to share about His love. I didn't loose sight of that, I don't think, but the focus of that purpose got buried a bit. It wasn't that I wasn't willing to give when He told me to, it was that I was restrained from being able to do with my art what I felt He wanted me to do with it. That was frustrating, but I just went along with it, loving the place I was at. Well, even when you love something, sometimes you're called to give it up, to do what God has called you to. For me, it was that I had to leave a place that I loved, to be able to fully do with my art what I feel is in my heart. That change was hard, but peaceful.

So, for now I will create, with my ears open, and the BORDERS gone for my work to do what it was intended to do.

I feel free and liberated.

In my next post, I will tell you about one of the painting I did and the story behind where it's currently making it's home.