Friday 15 May 2015

Take Me Deeper - May Week 3

Well, here we are again! After a week that has seemed to drag, it's finally Friday! After this week especially, I feel I need to be thinking about the self care that has been our focus this month in our Take Me Deeper pages. For all the hard 'stuff' we've been through this week, though, we have still been shown the kindness and compassion by others, including people who don't even know us! One more thing to be so thankful for!
So, on to TMD!
May Week 3 - Fearfully and Wonderfully Made - Know Thyself
From the suggested readings these were the ones I felt most drawn to and wanted to include the 'feel' of within my art:
Romans 12:3-8 - And because of God's gracious gift to me I say to every one of you: do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you. We have many parts in the one body, and all these parts have different functions. In the same way, though we are many, we are one body in union with Christ, and we are all joined to each other as different parts of one body. So we are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us. If our gift is to speak God's message, we should do it according to the faith we have; if it is to serve, we should serve, if it is to teach, we should teach; if it is to encourage others, we should do so. Whoever shares with others should do it generously; whoever has authority should work hard; whoever shows kindness to others should do it cheerfully.
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 - There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service. The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.
1 Peter 4:10-11 - Each one, as a good manager of God's different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God. Whoever preaches must preach God's messages; whoever serves must serve with the strength that God gives, so that in all things praise may be given to God through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
And probably the one that inspired me the most:
Ephesians 4:10-13 - So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence. It was he who "gave gifts"; he appointed some to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.
Having kept with the theme of hills and mountains, peaceful places, and calm-coloured pieces this month, this last passage gave me the kernel of an image.
I had the thought of being in a specific part of the hills and mountains I've used in my May pieces so far. I started to create the landscape using random brushes with various photos warped and blended in (bunches of flowers, old Victorian images of bouquets around a field of flowers etc - these images and the lady obtained from Antique Images and Graphics Fairy websites for this piece). I like to think of this process as the digital equivalent of journalling or drawing on a page and then covering it up with gesso and paints - nothing specific can be seen but it still contributes to the overall feel of the piece!

Then I found the beautiful image of the lady and her whole demeanour seemed to be exactly what I was feeling! She was within an image of the sea, so I got rid of that so I could use her as she is now, looking as if she is within a rather craggy landscape, perhaps amongst the hills or mountains shown in other pieces this month!

The white wispiness is back from previous months to represent the Spirit, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 - the Spirit is around her, shown in her, giving gifts. The rock she is leaning upon and actually the whole area where she is has brighter colours, the reds and oranges, representing the Spirit and the gifts and the fruit of those gifts spreading out around her and into the world.
The landscape further afield is kept in the peaceful, lonely place colours - she is there to learn about herself, to begin to know herself better. To me she looks as if she is pondering something, perhaps in prayer. However, that landscape does lack the brighter colours, representing the Spirit, that are around her - she is receiving gifts from the Spirit that she can then take out into the world and 'colour' it with the fruits of the gifts given to her.
I've kept the birds and stars in the sky from the earlier pieces this month to represent the entire universe filled with God's presence, spoken of in Ephesians 4:10-13.
TFL!
Bernie x


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