Lent 2016 - Wednesday 10th February 2016

Just a simple piece for the start of Lent. I intend to do some more of these...dare I say I'm going to try and create a piece every day?! This reading seemed appropriate for Day 1.

TFL!
Bernie x

Take Me Deeper 2016 - DNA - 5th February, Week 6 - I Am Made in the Image of God

Take Me Deeper - DNA - 5th February 2016 - I Am Made in the Image of God

 I picked out the main things I wanted to show...glorifying God, honouring our Creator. I also wanted to show "His shadow - cast over us - giving the image, the resemblance of God the Father!" At first this seemed a bit impossible to portray! 

Dark shadows just didn't work or feel right, so I played with light. It seemed to me that God's 'shadow' would be full of bright light rather than darkness; light which defines our image within the darkness. I also used the cross as another way to portray overshadowing and also to represent the price paid for us.

I bumped up the contrast using levels to really enhance the brightness and light of the piece, which spills over onto the girl, defining her, showing the Father's image to the world. She, in turn, gives honour and glory to God.

TFL!
Bernie x

Take Me Deeper 2016 - DNA - January Week 2 - Creative Prompt - I Am Forgiven

January Week 2 Creative Prompt - I Am Forgiven

My second piece for this prompt..attempting to imitate the glue gun technique, that Diane showed us, in digital. It wasn't easy! I tried a glass layer style but it just wasn't right and wasn't taking on enough of the background colours. It was too light also, and stood out too much from the piece. This is as good as I can get it, with a lot of playing and a lot of layers!! Not sure I even like it especially, LOL, but it stretched my brain trying to get it similar to the real thing!!

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

Take Me Deeper - August Week 4

Wow another week has sped by without me seeing it! I was so inspired by one in particular of Diane Mara's videos showing  how she created a page with watercolour crayons, that I actually bought some myself...along with a few stamps and other bits and pieces! So at some time in the near future I shall become a mixed media gal and be once more playing with paint and ink on real paper! My youngest was so inspired also that she wants to play too! I think we know what our Art studies will consist of once the home edding year starts in just over a week! For now though, here's my digital piece for this final week of August! It's rather different but I like it and feel it makes a good summing up page.

August Week 4 - Peace of God, God of Peace

Having done all the suggested reading, I think it was Hebrews 13:20-21 that stood out for me most:
May the God of peace provide you with every good thing you need in order to do his will, and may he, through Jesus Christ, do in us what pleases him.

I had absolutely no ideas for my artwork! Then I looked up at the plain wooden cross I have hanging above my computer screen and the idea came to me to use that image alone with the feeling of peace from last week's piece!

It's against a background of dark, scratchy, brutality that can sometimes be this world, with dark coloured birds and flames to complete that image. The white birds represent peace and are in front of the cross, closer to us. There are three of course!


So there we have it! A relatively simple piece - the b/g made from a few textures blended with some brushwork for the splats, the fire and the birds. A custom shape to create the cross, with a bevel added, and then last week's image clipped to it. Created the hole and the chain links myself with a CU layer style added to them.

Not sure if it feels a bit dark but after the past couple of weeks, I think I needed to display the rest of the world as a dark and brooding place, with Christ's peace a bright light of happiness in stark contrast!
TFL!
Bernie x

Take Me Deeper - August Week 3

As the school summer holidays seem to be passing way too quickly, we've been super busy with house decoration and garden reorganisation and decoration...the past week it seems there just haven't been enough hours in the day! So, here it is, my August Week 3 Take Me Deeper response! You can find the class HERE at His Kingdom Come if you'd like to join in!

August Week 3 - Put It Into Practice

Continuing with this month's nature theme for the art, I chose to make a piece depicting the kind of place we like to go walking! Inspired by photos taken last year of a forest covered in bluebells, I embellished a little more lol!

I think getting myself out and closer to nature is the fastest and best way for me to feel and keep feeling thankfulness! I really feel closer to God even just sitting in my garden under our big tree! As I tend to hide away indoors from the sun and heat in summer, I know I definitely need to get out there more at present!

The readings that really spoke to me were:

Romans 12:2 - Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God - what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.

Ephesians 5:20 - In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, always give thanks for everything to God the Father.

Colossians 2:6-7 - Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him.

Colossians 3:12-17 was also so meaningful, perhaps particularly the verses...You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

It reminded me of Week 1 and the grass being 'clothed' with the wild flowers - so I added in more wild flowers to the 'bluebells' in my piece to represent my attempts to clothe myself with these attributes! Then just added in a few butterflies to represent transformation.

Four CU textures and a load of CU brushwork!
TFL!

Bernie x

Take Me Deeper - August Week 1

Trying to get back to some normality after recent weeks' events with the rabbits and their sufferings! I'm so pleased to be creating again! It's school holidays now and so my time seems to be cut even shorter, but I managed this piece in a couple of hours!

August Week 1 - Thankful in ALL things.

When I saw what the theme for August was going to be I was really pleased as it felt like just what I needed! Then, of course, I came across the word 'joyful'!

For some reason I really struggle with that word when relating it to myself! I just don't feel that I'm a joyful person! I have fun, happiness, love, faith  but just can't make that leap to seeing myself as joyful! No idea why! Maybe I've just got this image in my head of a joyful person laughing and leaping into the air with gay abandon and I'm more of an introvert and sedate type.
But on reading Phil. 4:4-9 it came to me that being joyful could perhaps not only be about outward and obvious signs of joy but also about the asking God for what we need, asking with a thankful heart, not worrying and having our hearts and minds kept safe by God's peace. Inward signs and experiences and actions constituting joyfulness. A quieter, unseen kind of joy. Mmm I'm still working that around in my head!

So, I felt I might struggle a bit to represent joyful in my art - really feel it, I mean. Still, I pressed on!

I did the suggested reading and found Ephesians 5:15-20  really meaningful. Probably because of the ongoing situation in our Parish but also because of recent events with an online stalker (for want of a better term):
So be careful how you live. Don't live like ignorant people, but like wise people. Make good use of every opportunity you have, because these are evil days. Don't be fools, then, but try to find out what the Lord wants you to do. Do not get drunk with wine, which will ruin you; instead be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with the words of psalms, hymns and sacred songs; sing hymns and psalms to the Lord with praise in your hearts. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, always give thanks for everything to God the Father.

When it came to the art I drew a blank and then recalled Matthew 6: 28-30 which mentions the grass being clothed and the wild flowers. Which gave me the idea for this piece. I really hope it has a feeling of joyfulness within it as well as thankfulness! The wild flowers raising their heads to the light, growing from the darkness and still with some darkness around, but ever stretching upwards!

Two CU textures used along with a lot of (CU) brushwork.
TFL!
Bernie x

Take Me Deeper - July Week 4

July Week 4 - Honour Others

I tried to illustrate the many parts by using the HKC Praise Him digital figures showing one lifting up another. I had to play around with one of the figures to change the attitude of the arms and feet, by selecting, duplicating, moving and warping - that was fun!

When I started adding the white light, shapes within the b/g paper started suggesting what was to become almost an outline to represent the world and all its people. I went on, adding colours to represent honour and glory as well as suggest the earth and the varied people we have all around!

The papers are all mine, and I also used CU brushes and borders.
TFL!

Bernie x

Digital Faith Art Group Challenge - July Week 1

You can find the challenge details HERE! I had a great time making my own paper! I used 7 CU textures with a photo of mine of hydrangea flowers. Then I used the Find Edges and Watercolour filters plus a bit of blur and then blended the photo into the paper I'd created. Love the effect! Then just used some CU texture brushes to create 'birds', following the lines within the colours on the paper. Had a great time on this challenge!
TFL!
Bernie x

Inspired Digital Artwork

These are two pieces I made this morning and are part of my 'Inspired' Collection!

Not really sure where these pieces came from! This morning I just looked at the dog's bed and the creases and folds looked like human forms! So I snapped a pic on my phone and used that as a starting point! 
For 'Guardian' I added a texture, duplicated a couple of times with different blending modes, and then digitally painted the shapes to highlight the suggestion of form. Then I added various other textures and adjustment layers until I got something I was happy with!

'Prayer' was created from the 'Guardian' piece. Then I added lots of brushwork, with loads of different blend modes, over the top to make it a more painterly piece. 

I had a very relaxing and fulfilling time creating these!
TFL!
Bernie x

Guardian

Prayer

His Kingdom Come Book Club - The Creative Call

I joined the Book Club at His Kingdom Come - you can find details and where to sign up HERE!
We're reading and working through a book called The Creative Call and started Chapter 1 on Monday (4th May). It's very thought provoking and I'm feeling very inspired already!

I won't be blogging everything I create but I made this page for the Digital Faith Art Weekly Challenge this week and it uses the words at the start of Chapter 1 of the book! You can find the Challenge details HERE! - as usual there's gift from Hummie of a gradient this time! It's a great technique to learn!

I'm using stash from Createwings Designs for my Book Club pages.

TFL!
Bernie x

Take Me Deeper - March Week 3

Well, the strangest thing happened to me after I created this piece, so I'm not going to worry and overthink this!

I started creating this piece today just for fun, as my two daughters were both doing some art inspired by scissor metamorphosis...drawing a pair of scissors and then making them form part of another image. This was then linked to actual metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly...hence my image!!

I hadn't intended doing anything like this at all - the image in my head was much simpler and plainer and less complicated as far as Photoshop goes lol!

Now this morning I'd tried to start my March Week 3 piece and got nowhere, so just gave up.

When I got to the end of this piece, I just 'felt' this should be my March Week 3 piece! That worried me a bit as images like this can make people think of fairies - not anything to do with faith! I was worried what people might think. Then the thought came into my head to read again all the notes I made during my Bible study! So I did! And things started jumping out at me!

The girl looks pensive to me. The first verse I'd read was 1Cor. 2:16 - As the scripture says, "Who knows the mind of the Lord? Who is able to give him advice? We, however, have the mind of Christ." With that light shining onto the girl, it just made me think of the mind of Christ and her mind together.

The next verse I'd read was 1 Cor. 10:12 - Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test,he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out. I imagined that this girl could be facing a test of some kind...yet the landscape suggests she has a 'way out', a path to follow.

After reading several more verses, 1Tim. 2:5-6 jumped out at me - For there is one God, and there is one who brings God and human beings together, the man, Jesus Christ, who gave himself to redeem everyone. Again, the light shining on the girl just feels to me like the human being brought together with God.

I went on to read a few commentaries on various themes, but the one that really grabbed me was this:
Jesus Christ is our mediator, the connection, the bridge between God and us. Spiritual enablement flows from God through Him to us. God's power and God's faithfulness are the issues that are of supreme importance to us in these times. Are we constantly aware that our salvation lies in His hands? He has the power to save.
I like to think the light in the image is spiritual enablement; God's power flowing down upon the girl, bringing salvation.

Another commentary said: In the new creation, the spiritual creation, the sinner is perceived by God as dead and in spiritual darkness. Then God sends forth His spirit to draw the sinner to Christ and to spiritual life and light, making the sinner His child. It is God, by means of His Holy Spirit, who produces the new birth.

The original colours I was creating with were unexpectedly changed when I applied a texture and changed the blend mode. I instantly loved the muted tones, and I think it gives a hint of darkness. The light (the Spirit) coming forth to the girl is drawing her to Christ and into the light (the rays fall onto her, around her, enveloping her as a father might wrap his child in his arms).

So God produces the new birth...and the name of my piece...? Metamorphosis!

So I decided I could be comfortable with this being my piece for March Week 3! I think I've been TOLD!

The girl is a CU font; all the rest of CU brushes and textures!
TFL!
Bernie x

Take Me Deeper - March Week 2

The end of another week - or as I now think of it, the start of another TMD week lol! How time passes! I appreciate all the work that has gone into the creation of Take Me Deeper. The weekly devotionals are really making me think and read and helping me so much! if you'd like to join us, you can find details HERE!

March Week 2 - Take My Hand

Firstly I looked up the definition and synonyms for 'Worship'. Then I started reading with the thought of Take my Hand in mind.

Psalm 73:23 - Yet I always stay close to you, and you hold me by the hand.

Isaiah 41:13 - For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you.'

Psalm 145:18-19 - The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of those who fear him. He will also hear their cry and save them.

Prov. 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

I was then given an image of several paths, some in light and some in darkness, with shafts of light illuminating various points on the path within the darkness. People holding hands. Light shining through trees.
The image turned out rather different from what I'd had in my head...for some reason the predominately dark image didn't want to come forward, the light had to be in control!!

So I have my people holding hands on the path - I liked the one big and one small as it can also represent God holding us by the hand as well as humans doing so! The light is casting lovely colours and the path is so 'directed'. There are little gaps in the darker areas outside the pathway, little paths that could tempt us to follow them; distract from the main path; but they go nowhere, and certainly not towards the light up ahead. The Spirit is still represented; the people walk with the Spirit towards the Light. As in last week's piece, I coloured to the people with a warm colour to represent being filled with the Spirit. Whereas last week's piece was more of an introduction piece, showing those walking towards the Light as well as those not, this piece feels more personal...more about our own individual walk towards the Light.

For this piece, I created a landscape with CU watercolour brushes and then merged that with one of my own photos from the beautiful gardens in Walmer Castle, (here in Kent, UK).

Take Me Deeper - February Week 1

Well that's another week passed with me barely seeing it lol! Lots of late nights this week for some reason, which meant I wasn't up as early and lost my creating time, and time when I can easily go online to HKC and other places uninterrupted! Plus my dad was unwell, which when he's 90, is always cause for concern. As always though, head down, plough on, with prayer, and see where I end up!

So, February Week 1! I started at John 3:16 of course - For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.

Then I was drawn to John 3:8 - 'the wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.'
Well then I wanted to know more about what that actually meant! I found two commentaries: The first was saying that the Spirit sends influence where, when and on whom and in what measure and degree he pleases, leading to regeneration and transformation. God sent His Son to make us aware, accepting and believing.
The second commentary gave this: that in human minds the Spirit doesn't reveal itself, but its effects - we discern the Spirit's presence by its effects.

I then read John 3:21 - But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.

So somehow I was meandering through all these thoughts and readings and no definitive image was coming to mind! Which after last month was a bit disconcerting lol! So I prayed and opened up Photoshop and just started to put stuff on the page. I actually started with creating a word art around the word Believe but that was completely left behind once the piece started to form!!

The page has a hint of a representation of our world with the circle and the trees behind the hands. The hands are of course representing God giving the world His precious gift. I liked the idea of keeping the butterfly as an ongoing theme since my transformation is ongoing and it seemed to fit with the idea of the wind blowing in John 3:8. It also, through its gentleness, seemed to represent what I read in John 3:17 - 'For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but its Saviour.' There is a representation of the wind there, swirling around within the light, included for John 3:21. Of course, my Logos365 word, Focus, is easily represented here with the butterfly being the central focus of the image and of the readings!

Looking at this now I'm amazed how this came from reading one verse, John 3:16, and being led through other readings and commentaries towards this summary of it all! I'm sitting here almost in disbelief in what taking part in TMD is doing for me! If you're not already taking part, why not come and have a look and join us?! Doesn't have to be digital art, it can be any kind of creating you please! We have people creating beautiful pieces in mixed media, materials, photographs, poetry...it's wonderful and so inspiring! You can find take Me Deeper at His Kingdom Come here!
TFL!
Bernie x
(made with my own paper as background then the rest created with CU brushes. Hands with butterfly image is a brush from Spiritsigh at DeviantArt.)

The Beginning

So! Back in October 2014, I came across a Study from members of a Facebook group that really called to me to take part. I've been reluctant to commit to anything much for a while now simply because real life keeps getting in the way! But this was really calling to me! So I took the plunge and joined in with the Pause, Ponder & Prepare Study, which you can find out about here.

I managed to keep up with making a page of art a day, mainly thanks to the wonderful digital scrapbooking kits I treated myself to from both Altered Amanda's Studio (have a look here!) and Dawn Inskip (have a look at her stash here!). Most days in November (we created during November so we could use the artwork and devotionals during Advent) I was up at 4am and creating in Photoshop by 5am!! Then during Advent I made a set of tags for our Christmas tree - I actually got my hands messy with real paint and paper tags lol and printed and pasted on Bible verses. They looked so good on our tree and everyone seemed to like them!

I've posted below some of my pages for Pause, Ponder & Prepare. Managing to achieve this and enjoying myself so much inspired me and gave me more confidence for what was to come next! I'll carry on the story on the next post!

My Cover