Artist Tawny Chatmon is phenomenal!! I was introduced to her work today, and I just have to share it with you. My blog is about how we can increase our love for one another. Well, one way is to love and appreciate the shared talents of others.
The girls are soooo beautiful! I wish I could have copied the art work in its entirety… but you get the idea. Be sure and check out the blue link above because it’s the rest of the photo (the dresses) the show you the artist’s embellishments. So gorgeous!
Aren’t they beautiful??
I hope you enjoyed these lovely young ladies as much as I did. If you haven’t done so already, go to the link at the top and see the full photos. I could only show you the top of each!
Have a good day.
I have surgery on my hernia at 12:45 pm Mountain Time today. <3 Prayers appreciated! <3
I know a lot of you love art as much as I do. I am the president of our Ennis Arts Association. As such, I rub elbows with a lot of talented people. Today I met a new artist: Akie from Japan. I LOVE her art! Take a look:
Japanese artist Akie Nakata (known simply as Akie) transforms found stones into animals you can hold in the palm of your hand. Isn’t this amazing? You thought it was a real bird at first, huh? I did, too.
Here are some more of the rock art creations:
Which of them do you like best? Have you ever tried painting on rocks?
Today I am having a COVID-19 test. I have no symptoms, but the test is required before I can have surgery. I am scheduled to have a hernia repaired on Tuesday. Should be a simple in-out procedure.
Please keep me in prayer that the robot knows what it’s doing. I’ll keep you posted.
Hope you are having a Marvelous Monday. Love, JanBeek
Today my Writers’ Group friend, Janet Muirhead Hill, joined me to share what we’ve been working on. (I was disappointed that three others who might have joined us were unavailable today. Hopefully they’ll be here for our next meeting).
I was inspired to write the poem you see above. Janet shared the book she has just completed and published, Prism. It was started by her deceased sister, Joan Bochmann, who knowing she was leaving this earth before she could complete it, asked Janet to promise she’d finish it for her. Here it is… available on Amazon … I have my own autographed copy… yay!
Writing Together
During our time together, Janet and I used a prompt by
Do click on Clint’s link above and see how he finished those sentences. His site is a new discovery. Living in Africa, his photos are phenomenal, and the way he helps us glimpse at his beautiful country through his words and photos is such a gift!
I wrote the following using his prompts:
“It is the world outside where we find birds, trees, clouds, friends, travel opportunities, and space. It is the world inside where we find peace, God, self-confidence, acceptance, and opportunities. We are especially blessed when from the inside we can hear and see the birds, we can look out at trees, clouds and blue sky, we can feel peace and acceptance from friends, we can plan travel and invite friends to travel here, and from the inside we have space to grow spiritually and the self-confidence to capture opportunities to do so.”
From the inside, we remain child-like, free to paint as well as write, free to dance as well as stand, free to openly express our true selves. Free!
Dance and Create
After that initial activity prompted by Clint Bulongo’s blog, we tried our hand at creating “Eifchen.” This form of poetry was introduced to me this morning by bigskybuckeyeLifeElfchen
Using his definition of this German-inspired poetry, Janet and I wrote our own “Elevenies.” I wish I had saved hers to share with you. Richard, at bigskybuckeye had three of them on his post. Here’s one of his:
Change
Overwhelmed Life’s pace Quickens and races Time to reorder life’s Priorities
And here is one that I wrote:
Eleven
Numbers Bear meaning Forty is magical Seven represents God’s completion Prioritize
Try your hand at an “Eifchen”! Dance with it freely, like my Boston Terrier, Taze, is dancing up there. Don’t let anything stifle you!!
After sharing our “Elevenies,” we read to one another some samples we brought with us of writing we had been working on at home.
Share Your Writing
Janet shared an introduction she has written to go with her book, Prism.
Then I shared some of my journal writing. One of the things I shared was the peace prayer of St. Francis of Assisi sung by Susan Boyle. Janet was not familiar with Susan’s angelic voice. This is too beautiful to keep to myself. I’ve shared it with you before, but it is worth hearing again:
I sang along with the words to the song, written on a page in my journal. Janet listened – enthralled – to this gorgeous rendition of the prayer.
Then Janet said, “Oh yes, I used to have that prayer memorized. Haven’t thought about it in a while.”
Time to put those words in our souls, my friends.
Make Me a Channel of Your Peace, Lord. Help me seek to console, to understand, to bring hope and light, and to just love!
Do you have a place for writing, and people who love to write with whom to share your writing? Tell me about it – and them.
Nick J. Wood wrote on his WordPress blog, Artfully Bridging The Ages — The Nature Of Art, “… although the styles of expression change, it is the way it (art) touches the inner-self, the part normally obscured by mundane routine that confirms it as having artistic value.”
Architecture is art as much as creating sculptures or painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I believe “good art” preserves history in a myriad of ways.
Is poetry an art? Nick J. Wood posted this video on his blog. I love the poem and the voice recording it. Listen! You’ll love it, too.
How about gardening? Is it an art? Ask my friends, Lexi Sundell or Nancy Smrka, with their greenhouses… They’ll tell you! Ask Bob as he tends our spring flowers.
What about cooking? Yes, they call it “culinary arts” for a reason! My son-in-law, Andre’ is a chef who creates the most delicious, artistic plates imaginable. (This isn’t one of his… but you get the idea)
Music is an art, too. Through their gift of song and instrument, musical artists live on long after they have left this earth. Karen Carpenter died young. She suffered from anorexia. But she has overcome mortality – her voice lives forever in my heart.
Karen Carpenter “How Could Anyone Mean More to Me than You?” “One Love”
I love good art – art in all its many forms. And I love artists. They are so predictable …
Hah! Don’t be fooled. This is a cute little cartoon/meme, but with artists being as diverse as they are, believe me, they are ANYTHING but predictable!
Here is an artist I love. He has a special spot in my heart. He and his wife, Lexi paint, garden, make jewelry, and create art by their very existence. Bernie Sundell is one of the first persons we met when we moved here. He helped Bob select and buy and go to Idaho Falls to buy his drift boat. He tutored him on rowing and casting and catching fish on the Madison and he painted a fabulous picture of Bob that hangs in our dining room. Here’s artist, fisherman, friend Bernie:
And here is the painting of Bob on the Madison River. Bernie created it after one of their memorable outings. It’s a beautiful rainbow trout – but here it’s only catch and release! Toss it back in, Bob!
Can you see why this painting touches my “inner self”? Bob & Bernie will live immortally in it!
Do you have a favorite form of art? A favorite artist? Do you create art? Tell me about it.
Photo by Yaroslav Danylchenko on Pexels.com And these priceless treasures should not be tampered with! (Well, I guess a chuckle is needed in these trying times!)
There are some aged ones who are wise beyond imagination. They deserve to be heard! (Well, this grandma isn’t really aged… is she?)
Wizened aged ones deserve to be preserved and appreciated . However, I learned that my grandmother’s old Victrola was worth much more in its original state – before I had it restored!! Preservation and restoration are not always one in the same.
But, I believe every soul is in need of constant restoration. Just as we need to remove the rust from the old cars to restore and preserve them, we need to remove those rusty spots from our hearts. You know what they are:
greed
anxiety
lust
jealousy
hatred
grudges
God can help us replace the rusty spots with:
generosity
peace
Agape love
compassion
joy
forgiveness
Ask the Lord to help you. Train your mind – Restore your soul.
I’m like Vintage wine. I think I improve with age. God grants me wisdom.
“But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
Yes, the Bible is old … a Vintage Book … and the language of the King James version really is old.
Gratefully, the old scripture, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and ancient copies of the Torah or the Tanakh were not discarded. And as scholars are busy writing new, modern translations of the Bible, we still have the old language. It sings to me and rings true, and teaches me to study and keep learning. When I come to an archaic word that escapes me, I use http://www.dictionary.com and I increase my vocabulary. I may be vintage, but I am a life-long learner… constantly renewing my mind and seeking to learn.
Upbraideth: root word: upbraid to find fault with or reproach severely; censure
Like this wise, old owl, let’s keep our eyes open to new opportunities. Let’s keep our minds open to new learning. Let’s keep our spirits open to renewal. Let’s keep our hearts open to restoration.
I may be vintage, but I’m not old in my eyes. My mind and spirit and heart are ready for daily restoration. How about yours?
This morning was the first of six community Lenten breakfasts. We held it at our church. The next five will be at five other churches in Ennis and Jeffers, Montana. Our topic today was HOPE. About 40 friends from around the community gathered to kick off this Lenten season with food and music, and a message of Hope, delivered by our Rev. Steve Hundley.
Breakfast was in our Fellowship Hall.
Our faithful friend, George and his wife, Lucy, arrived about 5:30 AM to set up the food, make the coffee and get ready for the 7:00 AM crowd.
After breakfast, in preparation for Steve’s message of HOPE, we sang this wonderful hymn. It lends direction to our hopes for this Lenten season and everyday… especially in this world of hatred, injury, doubt, despair, darkness, and sadness. Let us determine to be the peace we seek to find.
So that’s the food and friends and music. What about the feathers? Yesterday I told you about my friend, Bernie, who is in the hospital and has set up quite an artistic “mess” on his tray table. Let me show you:
He has quite a menagerie of feathers there. Look at the flies he is able to create with them:
Yes, WOW!! That’s the feathers… and their creative use for catching some mighty big trout!
But what about the mustangs? Well, our Ennis High School mascot is the Mustang. When I drove by the school this morning, I had to top and take a picture for you of these MAGNIFICENT bronze mustangs. They were created by a local artist (Ennis is an art town with 6 art galleries in a place with a population of less than 1,000).
Aren’t they something?!!
I’ll try to find out the sculptor’s name and let you know later. It’s important to give him/her credit!
But for now, I am headed to my TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) group. I hope I didn’t gain too much with those scrumptious egg casseroles this morning. I had to try a little of each!
Look for that trophy again… I want to be the biggest loser. I have 6 more pounds to take off to get back to my goal weight.
I’m off to visit my friend, Bern, in the hospital. He has a creative mess in his hospital room… feathers and wires, hooks and string, paints and brushes, easels and canvases all over the place. But, instead of sitting or lying in his bed feeling sorry for himself because an infection has rendered his legs too weak to walk steadily these days, he is using his creativity to bring joy to life while his body heals.
You and I can do that, too. We can bring joy to life by using our ingenuity creatively!
What mess do you have that is waiting for resurgent rearranging and new uses today?
As I read, He guides me to new sources of His love and to fresh understandings.
I follow some WP blogs that add to my Bible experience. This morning I logged in to a WP blog titled “TheFather’sFeet.” The cover picture today is a WONDERful painting that the blog author, Donna Nielsen, found on the web. We don’t know who painted it, but isn’t it beautiful?
“… we are the clay and Thou art the Potter; and we all are te work of Thy hand(s).” Isaiah 64:8 KJV
I asked Donna Nielsen if I could use the picture and tell you about her blog. I go to it each morning to enhance the WONDER of my time up in the Angel Room.
She said, “By all means.”
She explained that her blog is titled The Father’s Feet because, “I want to draw my readers to the Father’s feet with me and receive guidance for our lives.”
Donna posts two or three scripture passages and then comments on them before ending in a prayer of praise, thanksgiving, and acknowledgement, with a call for help on a particular part of our walk each day. Her subtitle is FAITH.
