In the Art Studio: New Art + How I've Been Survivng

Thank you so much for the prayers and grace and love you gave me the other day, when I hit 31 weeks of pregnancy for the second time in nine months.  The time has been passing very, very slowly (s l o w l y), but I am surviving pretty well.  It's strange when you suddenly find yourself living in the thing that you've been dreading for so long.  I still haven't been anxious, but mostly feeling heavy and sad.

To occupy the time (and hopefully make it speed along a bit), I've been keeping myself sane with photo dates with myself (more on that another time), extra rest and reflection, and art.  After much procrastination due to fear and perfectionism (again!! bah), I finally finished the above piece.  I see this blonde woman as a warrior princess of God.  Her name -- as with all of us -- is "Chosen."  She's got lots of delicious texture, and hers might be one of my favorite faces that I've made, especially her nose and lips.

This piece was inspired by some of the concepts of value that I've recently been grappling with, as well as by the first chapter of Ephesians in the Bible.  I love the exuberance and delight we see in God as we learn that He chose us so deliberately and passionately:

"Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son."

~ Ephesians 1:3-6 (MSG)

The original of "Chosen" is up in the art shop (here), as are amazing fine art prints (here). 

In between waiting for "Chosen" to dry, I started on a new painting that is a complete deviation from my usual art adventures.  Unlike my typical creations, I did only the barest of sketches before starting in on this piece with acrylics and watercolors.  It's fuzzy and messy and childish, and I'm totally a fan of it, even though it doesn't look like much at the moment.  I think what I like most about this is that I'm working on it with no expectations of what it "should" look like and without focusing on making a living off of selling my art.  I'm doing it purely for the joy of it.  I was inspired by the adorable creations of Fairy Whisper Art, and decided to leave those "shoulds" behind and just run with it.  So far, this painting is making my heart sing.

Also, this week some of my words, artwork, and poetry was published in latest edition of Sprout magazine!  I am totally honored to be included in this stunningly beautiful publication, and have been enjoying soaking in the artistry of my copy.  You can check it out here.

Whew!  That's a lot of creativity updating!  I'm grateful, though, that this week, which has vast potential to be downright awful, contains so much newness and beauty and life. 

What have you been up to this week, creatively and otherwise?

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