I AM listen ing graffiti piece

Day six... running out of my cheap paint and am really wishing I had a choice of colors... I am excited to try new ideas.

we will have to see where this ends up...

I think I am going to leave it there for now.

"LISTEN."

A command given firmly, in love.

I look within and my attitude shifts...

"I AM listening."

A promise given... so steady, so true.

My heart leaps at this face of love.

and I respond, "I am listening too."

My soul soaks in the shared communion, 

the giving and receiving.

When I pause and look within

I am no longer where I once was.

I breathe deep and smile.

Holding hands

Journal excerpt... Jan 9/13

    Jesus, all I can see is them holding hands.  It is in the way that their hands move... desperate, clinging to life, reaching out for a foundation... and finding it over and over... it is the touch of connecting, a oneness. 

  There is something more, one hand says I am dying... the other I am living. 

   I can't shake it nor do I want to it replays over and over and at the strangest times of the day.  I want it to be our hands.

  

 

Finishing next graffiti project

Day four... adding a little more flare and practicing some techniques...

The end result...

Day three of graffiti

Day three of graffiti.  Finished my first piece.

So let me tell you the inspiration behind this first piece. In our church is a young man named Barney, he is seven years old.  After going to the VBS program this summer he tells his mom that he wants to be baptized... cause he just wants to follow Jesus.  So it was very exciting this last Sunday when he was baptized in the North Saskatchewan River.  He shared with us all before he went in that he just wants to follow Jesus.  Then adds... I have been looking forward to this since I was 6 years old.  How cool is that?

 My new project....

 ahhhh... my shop is shaping up.  Gradually.

day two of graffiti in my shop

Day two messing around with day one....

Looks a little different hey... having troubles with controlling paint and drips and I don't know if that is a paint nozzle thing or a type of paint issue or just me being a rookie but I will just keep practicing.  My mind spins with just so much more... the dream of getting a message out there in word and picture.

Here's a reminder what day one looked like...

   This whole thing is like an illustration of what I have been struggling to do with God.  He has called me to so much more and I have been dragging my feet.  I have been too afraid to step out and just do it.  Even just to try. Justifying it by claiming I don't have enough direction, I don't know what it is suppose to look like. But He finally pinned me down lol... on the roof of a shed at our farm to be specific.  We were reroofing the shed putting new tin on and there were some spongy parts of the roof (a little soft and not safe to stay standing on) so my husband asks for some spray paint to be thrown up to us and asks me to mark the spots.  Of course I dutifully marked them but then there was no stopping hahahaha!!!  Here was the canvas! A canvas that didn't matter! I could put whatever I wanted on it, no matter if it was horrible it was going to get covered up.  It felt so amazing I laughed out loud a lot... well until the paint can emptied out.  Something clicked as soon as I started and now I feel the pull even stronger.  It's funny I knew I was going to like it but it was more than that it was like a sense of freedom, of release, of life!  I don't know if you will understand what I mean but it was GOOD.

Not just stepping but jumping into the unknown

Dearest Reader, this and a few following posts may seem like quite a departure from my journal posts so far but I finally decided (thanks Shauna) to post it anyways because this is still my journey with Jesus.  

You may have noticed in a few of my journals including the one just before this I ended up before a huge canvas... there is a huge reason for that.  I am almost ashamed to admit it but I have felt such a weight and pull to create art ... BIG ART... for a few years now and I knew it had to be God pulling me because in my mind's eye it was different from what I had done before... more daring, more wild.  But I was overwhelmed and remained frozen there for a really long time.  Questions like how do I start? With what medium? Is it an image or emotion? 

       These pictures are from my first day of actual graffiti of any size at all.  This is a huge step for me I am one of those people that wants things to be good right away lol... and so the consequence is I either don't do things I really want to or I do a small controlled version of it.  Funny thing about spray paint though you are committed as soon as you start.  Hahaha!

These are my son's initials, he has been so supportive of my desire to speak through graffiti and street art.  

In my hesitating to actually step out and do this... I have been practicing while working in my shop with my lumber crayons...

                                                           Or on paper with pastels...

or just doodling on paper.... 

Hey Jesus, thanks for helping me take this leap.