WP - Hope for a Tree

"For there is hope for a tree . . . 

. . . if it is cut down,  

. . . that it will sprout again and that its tender shoots will not cease.

Though its root may grow old in the earth, and its stump may die in the ground . . .

. . . yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant."  Job 14:7-9

Where then is my hope? Job 17:15

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy. Psalm 33:18

O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy,
 and with Him is abundant redemption.  Psalm 130:7

For in You, O LORD, I hope; You will hear, O LORD my God.  Psalm 38:15

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.  Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not, they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.  "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I hope in Him!"  The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.  It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Lamentations 3:21-26

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13


Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope . . . 1 Peter 1:3

.... rest your hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 
1 Peter 1:13

And you would be secure, because there is hope . . . Job 11:18a

WP - They Sing

"He sends the springs into the valleys . . .

. . . which flow among the hills.

By them the birds of the heavens . . .

. . . have their habitation, 

. . .  they sing among the branches.  Psalm 104:10, 12

. . . the time of the singing of birds has come.  Song of Solomon 2:12 

Sing out the honour of His name; make His praise glorious. Psalm 66:2

Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him, talk of all His wondrous works.  Glory in His holy name; let the heart of those rejoice who seek the LORD.  1 Chronicles 16:9,10

The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me - a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:8

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst", says the LORD.  Zechariah 2:10

Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the LORD . . . and they shall sorrow no more at all.  Jeremiah 31:12

I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praises to Your name, O Most High. Psalm 9:2

I will sing to the LORD because He has dealt bountifully with me.  Psalm 13:6

But I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, the God of my mercy.  Psalm 59:16,17

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; 
with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.  Psalm 89:1

I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.  Psalm 104:33

The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you in His love, 
He will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

A Life-long Calling

Short and sweet . . . my life has gotten rather hectic lately, so have not been around these parts very much lately.  Trusting things will settle down soon and I can post more often.  

Happy Mother's Day to you wonderful women who spend your lives pouring into your families.

You are a doing a great job!

P.S. Miss you, Mama . . . see you later.

WP - Foolishness of the Cross

And being found in appearance as a man . . .

. . . He humbled Himself . . .

 . . . and became obedient . . .

. . . to the point of death . . .

 . . . even the death . . .

 . . . of the cross.  Phillipians 2:8

And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him . . . now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross.  And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.  John 19:17-19

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him, to reconcile all things

 to Himself by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the 

blood of His cross.  Colossians, 1:19,20

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.  Ephesians 2:14-16

And you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And  He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.  Colossians 2:13-15

But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our LORD Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  Galatians 6:14

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  1 Corinthians 1:17,18

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:1,2

 . . . He said, "It is finished!" John 19:30

WP - Watering the Earth

Today I am beginning a project that will take some time but will make me very happy.  I have another blog, WORD Pictures, which has been sadly neglected for many long months (okay, it's over a year).  The format of WORD Pictures is a pairing of photographs and scripture verses on a single theme that serves as a peaceful spot to just be still for while and soak in the wonder of God's love letter to us. My plan is to integrate those posts into the Art of Life.

The WORD Pictures reposts and future originals will begin with the letters WP and will consist of just photos and pure scripture, no personal opinions or reflections.  I trust you will be refreshed and inspired as the Ancient Words speak to your heart.

"He shall come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth."
(Hosea 6:3)

"He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth."  (Psalm 72:6)

" . . . but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, 
which drinks water from the rain of heaven."  (Deuteronomy 11:11)

"He gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields."  Job 5:10

" . . .  earth-refreshing rain showers . . ."  (Psalm 72:6  The Message Bible)

"Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?"
(Job 38:28)

"Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving, sing praises on the harp to our God, who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth . . ."  Psalm 147:7,8

" . . .He'll take charge of sending the rain at the right time . . . "  
(Deuteronomy 11:13  the Message Bible)

"You visit the earth and water it,

You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water,

You provide their grain for so You have prepared it. 

You water its ridges abundantly,

You settle its furrows;

You make it soft with showers,

You bless its growth.

                     

You crown the year with Your goodness,

 and Your paths drip with abundance.

They drop on the pastures of the wilderness,

and the little hills rejoice on every side.

(Psalm 65:9-12)

For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven,

and do not return there,

but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud,

that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;

it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please,

and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." 

(Isaiah 55:10,11)

Photo Art Friday - Head to Toe

"Quirky Selfie" is the theme this month at the PAF Gallery.

I know selfie's are often a challenge for people and I am no different.

Here we go . . . 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I have always been able to see and appreciate the beauty in other people, in a myriad of plants, animals and even critters I am not particularly fond of. Exquisitely crafted books, poetry, music that stirs the soul and art that leaves me open-mouthed in awe of the creativity . . .   not difficult to pronounce them as works of beauty. Seeing it in myself was something I have struggled with much of my life.  

Believing we are all marked by our Maker with elements of beauty, it seems that I needed to shift my attitude towards myself and acknowledge and embrace my own beauty.

As I have alluded to in previous posts, for a long time I disqualified myself from using the word "Artist" to describe myself.  Having moved past that I have stepped out in a number of ways.

This Photo Art Friday link-up has been instrumental in releasing my inner child and giving me permission to play with no rules but lots of inspiration and sharing of techniques and processes.

And . . . this past Saturday, I went to a Prophetic Art Workshop and played with real canvas and paint and brushes.  Oh joy! All my life I have wanted to paint and have never done more than a few paint by numbers as a child.

Here are my first fumbling attempts at painting with acrylics.

It was really mostly about feeling the way the brushes move and how different strokes look but oh what fun I had and can hardly wait for the next workshop.

Come see what's hanging in the gallery over at Bonnie's . . .

Photo Art Friday - 7 March 2014

Well, a whole month has flown by and nary a post has been posted. Just working part-time has kept me so very busy and it seems there is little time to play here.  But PAF is something I am just not ready to forego . . . I am always blessed by my time creating photo art.  

This first piece started out as the gazania and marigold shot on the left below.  I did some basic edits to contrast and exposure, cropped it and added Bonnie's texture pdpa "Dropped Petals" (below right) blended in difference mode at 100%.  The resulting palette is a fairly accurate portrayal of the great outdoors at this time of year, before all the spring bulbs erupt in a riot of colour.

I was so delighted with the earthy colours of the first piece above that I couldn't resist going there again.

This time the original shot was osteospermum, cropped and textured with Bonnie's pdpa "Soft Light Overlay" blended again at difference mode 100%.

The cropped out section of this gerbera from the photo below left, has had Bonnie's pdpa "The Little Things" texture added but I cannot remember the blend mode or percentage.

That's all the play time I have right now so I will sign off and link up with Bonnie and go see what's hanging in the gallery.

Old Quebec City, Photo Art Friday on Sunday

The summer of 2010, on a summer break from school, I flew out to Montreal where my sister and brother-in-law were living at the time for what turned out to be my most enjoyable vacation ever. Our first adventure was a day trip to Quebec City to take in the historic sites of Old Quebec City. As I was thinking about this months prompt for Photo Art Friday, I remembered the abundance of geometric shapes and angular lines of many of the buildings we saw there, and so, I have put together a little show of a few of my photos from that day.  

The prompt that Bonnie gave us for this edition is Graphic/Geometric/Angular.

 This was taken at Place Royale in the Lower City.

I used a simple watercolour filter as well as some basic adjustments to brightness and contrast.

 This red door along the Rue du Petit-Champlain in the Lower City is one of my favourite shots from that day. This piece uses a Giger Fine Art filter.

 One final shot from the Lower City is also from Place Royale, a magnificent open square with cobblestones and a small cathedral across the square.

I used a watercolour filter and Bonnie's pdpa "Age It" texture.

 Back up on top of the citadel this building on a corner captivated  my attention. I used a Metropolis preset and Bonnie's pdpa Etched in Stone texture. I also took this into picMonkey and used a number of effects that I did not write down - one was a Warhol effect.

 Chateau Frontenac with Bonnie's pdpa "Yesteryear psd" texture and basic edits.

Finally the clock tower portion of the Ministry of Finance building with a Paper Cutouts filter and pdpa "Antique Me" in difference blend mode.

Collage of original images.

That's it for now . . . I hope to share some of the rest of that memorable vacation in the coming weeks. I am linking up quite literally at the last minute with Bonnie at Pixel Dust Photo Art.  I actually linked my post and then came back to do some finishing touches just to make sure I wasn't too late.

A "Fresh" Challenge for the New Year

Joining up with Adrienne for the first time for "Six Word Fridays".

Using the given prompt the challenge is to caption a photo or tell a story using just six words per line.

This week's theme is "Fresh".

Fresh fallen snow, grass bowing low

the towering blades unable to bear

the weight of the icy deluge.

Warmer weather returns, winter sun burns

releasing each stalk to resume its

graceful waltz in the gentle breeze.