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

Take Me Deeper - September Week 4

Well, this piece was so much fun to create! It feels as if it almost created itself, other than one sticky moment with the water when I almost gave up and started again! Love how it turned out and the little 'story' that appeared - it's an encouragement for me at this moment with all the 'darkness' that's around in our Parish Church.

September Week 4 - The Promise of the Holy Spirit

I think there's something about Isaiah that just speaks to me - it's as if an invisible hand has reached in and grabbed hold of my heart! So I almost had no choice about what to work with when I wrote out the words of Isaiah 43:2 - 

"Do not be afraid - I will save you. 
I have called you by name - you are mine.
When you pass through deep waters I will be with you;
your troubles will not overwhelm you."

That second line - wow! I knew straight away that I wanted the water in the image. I again used the same 5 textures that I've used all month, rearranging them in layer order, opacity and blend mode. I loved the shapes that appeared in front of my eyes with this last combination and which, once the water was in place, suggested the shapes of mountains covered in bushes and trees! So I enhanced the trees idea with some brushwork, and tried to give the appearance of darkness closer to the water. 

The lady is, of course, one of the HKC Digital images  (I've loved finding this subtle new away of working with them this month!). She has passed through the deep waters, the darkness at the water's edge representing her troubles. They have not overwhelmed her though as she has continued on her journey and reached the top of the mountain, when she worships and is bathed in light to represent blessings from God, and perhaps also being chosen. 

This 'story' of the picture didn't come to mind until I spotted it myself when the piece was finished! It wasn't a conscious story I built into the piece! Love it when that happens, and looking at this such an encouragement for me at this time!
TFL!

Bernie x

Take Me Deeper - September Week 2

What a difference we're seeing here in the UK as Autumn creeps ever closer! The mining bees are now out in our garden in full force, resulting in a retreat by all of us, even the dog! The mornings see a bit of a nip in the air, but our days this week have been wall to wall blue skies and sunshine!

I followed one of Diane Marra's videos yesterday, having bought some watercolour crayons a week or so ago after seeing her working with them, and have made a couple of backgrounds for pages! I really enjoyed myself!! So there IS life after digi lol! It's years since I last used paint/paper/glue and it was so much fun!

I'm rather inspired at present by what my youngest daughter (who is home educated) and I are seeing under our new microscope! The patterns that we never knew existed within nature as they're usually invisible to the naked eye are so captivating, I'm seriously thinking of buying another microscope for myself that can attach to my PC, and then using the images to create some digital papers/elements! They'd definitely be unique lol!

For now though, here are my artwork and my thoughts for this week's devotionals - very timely and apt considering my situation at present!

September Week 2 - The Promise of Forgiveness

This was very timely for me and I came back to it three times to re-read! From the reading I did I gleaned that God promises us forgiveness, but it is conditional upon our response. It is our choice to forgive and the Holy Spirit will help us.

I read John 6:37 - "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out" - whoever = anyone; He turns nobody away.

And 1 Peter 5:7 - Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

I wanted to encompass a feeling of freedom that can come from our forgiving, and also the blessings that can come from that. I wanted the piece to feel personal, with a real sense that we are cared for.

So, I used a solitary figure, alone on the hillside, 'coming to the Father', and the white light 'spots' around her are representing the blessings flowing from her forgiving another. There is a wispy smoke-effect raising heavenward, representing both the Holy Spirit helping her, but also the freedom she is gaining through her actions.

I kept to my personal little challenge and used the same 5 textures, just in a different order and with different blend modes. I like how the piece has the same feel as last week's piece but is different!

I used CU textures and brushes, and one of the HKC digital shapes.
TFL!
Bernie x