Take Me Deeper - November Week1

Well, it's here! Another month, a change in the weather, and of course Hallowe'en and Bonfire Night to enjoy - or contend with!! Having more pets this year, who don't like the loud noise from fireworks, it's definitely the latter in this house! His Kingdom Come has celebrated its 1st Birthday, there's been a blog hop and prizes won, and now it's nearing the time when we start looking ahead slightly to the start of Advent! I'm already excited for what will be on offer at HKC and am trying desperately to get into a set morning routine which will allow me to fully take part! More on that soon!

Back to Take Me Deeper, and here's my offering for this first week of November. The prompt was really something I was in need of.  Thank you to ALL at HKC who have written and provided these weekly Devotionals, which are such a help to so many!


November Week 1 - Family

Usually I prefer to read and create my art in silence, but once I heard Come People of the Risen King, on the list of suggested music, I just kept it playing over and over whilst I created!

These are the lyrics:

Come, people of the Risen King,
Who delight to bring Him praise;
Come all and tune your hearts to sing
To the Morning Star of grace.
From the shifting shadows of the earth
We will lift our eyes to Him,
Where steady arms of mercy reach
To gather children in. 

REFRAIN 
Rejoice, Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice! 
One heart, one voice; O Church of Christ, rejoice!

Come, those whose joy is morning sun,
And those weeping through the night;
Come, those who tell of battles won,
And those struggling in the fight.
For His perfect love will never change,
And His mercies never cease,
But follow us through all our days
With the certain hope of peace.

Come, young and old from every land -
Men and women of the faith;
Come, those with full or empty hands -
Find the riches of His grace.
Over all the world, His people sing -
Shore to shore we hear them call
The Truth that cries through every age:
“Our God is all in all”! 
Keith & Kristyn Getty & Stuart Townend

That's the feeling I was trying to capture in my piece - a worldwide family, a family of all creation. Blessings falling from God onto and around all of us, if we could but see them sometimes! And that definitely applies to me, especially over the past few months.

I'm now going to start a gratitude journal...even if it's just a list with no art as such...I want to keep it with me and ensure I remember the things that are often so fleeting. I think this will be good preparation for Advent especially. I don't want to get bogged down in all the 'hard' stuff that's around, but concentrate on what's really important! I think this rewind prompt came at the perfect time for me! 

This feeling of a need to make almost a new start, a more positive way forward, maybe that's why this piece feels a bit less gentle and more forceful that my other recent pieces! The texture images I used, one of them was quite hard and dramatic and I almost did away with it and tried to recreate what it added to the piece in my own way, more gentle, softer strokes. But it just didn't sit right, so I put the piece back to the way I'd had it originally. Not sure it's one of my favourites lol, but it really did want out and onto the 'canvas'!

Various textures and brushes used plus one of the HKC Praise Him Digital Images.
TFL!
Bernie x