Oh For The Love Of Succulents

Oh for the love of succulents, What’s going on???

Well for me, it started when I did this little thing.

I decided to see if I could save my neglected little succulents by putting them in an old tin box. (Okay, yes….I did pinch the idea from Pintrest)

As time went by my neglected little succulents came alive and I went an added more to the box.

They look so pretty 🙂

I then started doing this with some recovered cinder blocks with the full intention of putting herbs in them, however, as my love of succulents began to grow I decided to change my mind.

This is the finished result  of my cinder blocks

and now it’s time to begin planting and collecting

Today as I went for a walk down to the lake I found some more succulents for me to propagate.

This succulent love that I’m experiencing right now is making me feel all warm and fuzzy. Not only am I experiencing the warm fuzzy love of succulents, I can see  that at my core I am an artist first, then gardener,

Or should I say gardening is art?

Art Is A Journey

I know, that does sound cliché and I could probably use another word besides journey for my title but that is what art is….it’s a journey.

It has its ups and downs, it has its adventures, there are dry times and then there are the prolific times. That’s what creativity does, it takes you on a journey.

Lately this journey has taken me to some interesting places where I’ve been dong prophetic art for others. This has been such a fulfilling experience that I could not have imagined for myself, yet my own personal arty pursuit moments were making me feel a little frustrated. I even have been struggling to write words in my journal and have been annoyed at such inspirational lack.

So what did  do to fix this little conundrum?……besides looking at Pinterest! (which sometimes is not wise as it can make one even more frustrated by ones lack of action).

Well it all started with the Book Thief .

In one part of the story, Max the Jewish bloke who was hiding out in the book thief’s basement used the pages from Hitler’s Mein Kampf and then wrote his own story on the whitewashed pages. I know for a long time that artists have been working with old books to create wonderful pieces of work, however for me I’ve never gone there because I’ve had an issue with wreaking a book.

A couple of days ago I decided that it was time to get over my issue and just follow my inspiration.

I purchased two old books which came to $4 and I also purchased brown paper lunch bags because it’s all about following the inspiration. I then went and sat in a lovely space and commenced my “getting over my issue”.

I then went home and continued with my inspiration flight and did this

I’ve since added a few more pages and have constructed a book. Following this approach has been a huge relief and I can’t wait to see where it takes me. Lets just say my clogged up brain suddenly could see many open doors to more creativity and as a result of that awesome thought I drew this.

So what is my little takeaway message here? Go with what is nagging at your inspiration muscle, as you will feel so much better when you do and you never know where the journey will take you next.

1 Peter 2:9

The other day I took a walk down to my local shopping centre when I noticed this tag

I was immediately struck by the prophetic nature of the image, so I took a pic and proclaimed 1 Peter 2:9 over the person who scribed it

 ⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession,that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

I want to clarify that I do not condone tagging or criminal behaviour, yet looking at this tag gave me hope for this city. God loves the people who live in this post code and lets not forget it.

A week after capturing the tag we had our band  fund-raiser so that we can purchase equipment to record our songs. I had no intention of doing any prophetic art but after the prompting of one of our church members I thought, what a good idea.

As I started painting that night, I had no clue about what I was going to create until God reminded me of the tag.

The image down the bottom is a big symbolic hug. Not only does Jesus want to call this post code his royal priest hood but he wants to give it a big Heavenly hug.

I’m glad that I captured the tag, as today it was gone. It was white washed over and as we all know,  tagging is naughty.

Prophetic Art

Just recently I have launched out and have begun to do prophetic drawings for other people.

What is Prophetic art?

What I consider to be prophetic art is where I create from God’s heart to bless the person whom I am creating for. I’m not the only one doing this kind of thing. Here is what others say about prophetic art’ Worship Studio, Prophetic Artists,  Daniel Vogler and many more.

My journey as an artist began as a small child and I have always considered myself an artist. When I was 17 I came to the Lord and found a whole new and wonderful life to live. When it came to God and art I always saw the connection but I never saw myself as a Christian artist. I have always seen myself as an artist who loves God. Yes, there is a difference 🙂

A number of years ago I painted my first prophetic painting at church (You can read about it here) and I had no idea that it was prophetic until a few years later when one of our elders mentioned it. Oh yeah, that’s prophetic!!! So that was in front of a church and a word in season but what about individuals?

So strangely at the end of last year I had a compulsion to draw this picture about one of my friends

My friend is the one who is flying and I had no intention of ever showing him the picture until I had another sudden urge to show him. The very next day I received a word saying that I will paint pictures that will bring healing to the person I have painted for. Things are heating up people!!!

So I began the journey after one of my friends asked me for one

I then thought that I would draw a picture for the newly appointed elders of our church.

It’s important to note that this is not my style of art, yet it is a thoroughly enjoyable way to be creative. I think about the person and ask God what I should draw. I then get an image. Once I start the first part of the picture the rest just flows and God gives me an encouraging word for the recipient.  I also pray that what I drawing will mean something to the receiver and that it indeed shall bring a healing to them that is supernatural. This really is an exciting way to do art. I love it.

Today I drew another picture for someone. While I was drawing this I was reflecting on a word I had received the night before from one of our elders. she saw me giving away daisy’s to people. Oh yeah…..love that word. I then had a sudden Holy Ghost thought “I should draw daisy’s and give them away” So I did!!

 

I gave these two to the cafe workers who serve me coffee all the time.

 

 

 I’m so loving doing all this creative stuff.

This is just the beginning of an exciting journey and I am struggling to put into words but I’ll try because I want to keep a record of this awesome wave I am on.

I’ll shall keep you all posted.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Work of Art

For me art is a part of my life.

This is a collection of images where I have been able to express myself to create a

work of art

Sketching Excursion

Today I decided to take my sketch book to the lake to see if I can do some preliminary drawings. I firstly tea stained the pages of my sketch book to get a different effect.

As a painter I have been very frustrated with the works that I have been producing of late and it’s obvious that I need to take a different look or approach to art making.

I’ve been inspiring myself by looking at works of art that make my insides sing; such artist include

• Richard Diebenkorn
•  Ben Quilty
• Philip Wolfhagen
• Ian Fairweather
• Rosalie Gascoigne
• Wayne Thiebaud
• Colin McCahon
• Dennis Hare
• Andrew Wyeth
• Liza Hirst
• Sandy Ostrau
• Giorgio Morandi
• Wendy mcwilliams
• De kooning

It has been such a feast to my eyes and soul to ponder upon such works and I want to go and produce something that equally satisfies my soul rather than paint a whole bunch of stuff that annoys me.

Of course, I’m sure most artists go through these frustrating times and that’s where one needs to just keep pressing on.

Here is some images through photography that I captured on my drawing excursion.

 

Installation Art

For many years I have considered myself a painter, yet for the past year I have been exploring other art forms which have been incredibly stimulating. This week I have been doing installation works with torn strips of material and wool; first in my back yard then at the community garden.

I started on this tree branch on Tuesday.

The next day I worked on another tree and used strings of wool

I think you all need to join my tea party

I love being an artist!!!

Another Week of Painting

Last week I spent time painting at all of my community spaces. 

I was thinking before last week how I was craving to do some art. I’m so glad that craving was satisfied.

On Tuesday I got to fancy up some tires.

On Wednesday I got to paint at the servo with others

And on Sunday at church I got to do some Jackson Pollock style artworks with the teenagers

 

A Funny Thing Happened at The Servo

For a couple of months now there has been a group of community members who have been cleaning up a local eyesore to make it into a place of inspiration and creativity. Last month another community artist and myself started painting some murals on one half of the servo walls.

However, a wonderful volunteer with a spray gun got very enthusiastic when they were asked to paint the other half of the servo and ended up painting over our started murals.

Oops!!!

My response is “That’s okay, I can do it again. There’s plenty more from where that came from”

And that has got me thinking. It doesn’t matter how many times my work gets painted over or lost as there is always an abundance of where it came from. I guess the world can attempt to white wash me or quieten me down, however it won’t work completely as while there is creativity there will always be something to express.

It then occurred to me that I am indeed a very rich and wealthy person as I have an abundance of ideas that makes me have an interesting life. I have to say that my results are not the most important part for me, as the act of creativity is what gets my buttons pushed to excitement.

I’ll finish with this little thought and by saying so I hope that I can inspire a would be artist to just get started and give it a  go!!!!

 I am a prolific artist and work with the premise that I do 90% rubbish to get to the 10% genius.

Letting the Outdoors Influence the Inside

For over a year now I have been attending my local community garden and I never get sick of it. I have found time after time that it inspires and sparks creativity in so many different ways. Sometimes the inspiration is unexpected, like when I made a tee pee or when I decided to put a green sari on the wall to represent a tree house in my lounge room.

This leads me to talk about how the outside is influencing my interior design for my little abode. I have always loved green and I enjoy nature colours and by placing them in my house I have found that it really does make me feel good!!!!!

Last year I made the wall hanging from a stick and other collected  items from the garden. I did those little paintings while sitting at the garden with some music to accompany me.

I look forward to see how more inspiration comes as there is a turn of the season and I hope to create a legacy of some kind that will inspire people to love nature and to let your home be designed in a way that makes you feel good.