My Heart on Canvas

Growing up, this was the view on my evening walks.  

Canyoning in Ouray

I hope my muscles grew stronger this summer.  That was the idea anyway.  My muscles for dreaming, for loving, for choosing life, for facing fears, for surviving loss.  It always hurts when your muscles grow stronger.  ...and it always get's better.  Lamentations 3:22 "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

As I grow my muscles as an artist, I'm always frustrated with my limitations.  Here's the thing though: tomorrow is a new day.  Like the Larry Norman song, "Lead me on, lead me on, lead me on where you're going / my body's tired, but my heart's inspired, and my hunger's growing."

Tucson Art Studio and Gallery (Local Desert Landscapes and Polymer clay art)

I now have my own studio and gallery.  As soon as I walked in, it was love at first sight!  I'm overwhelmed by the blessing of being here.  I love the courtyard, the wood paneling, the tile in the bathroom, and windows in all for walls.  I love this roof-top view of the mountains, though they are farther than I am used to, and I love the way the eucalyptus taps against the window in the monsoons.
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Northwest side of the Santa Catalina Mountains

These paintings are quite a bit bigger than I'm used to painting 22X28 and 24X36.

Taste and See

There are two things that pierce the heart: pain and beauty.  When the heat is pierced, God can speak.  We've all had those experiences, even if we have to think back to childhood, when beauty has filled us will a sense of awe.  I believe those moments are God's invitation to us.  Calling us "farther up and further in".  

My goal in art is not so much to create that beauty, as to interact with it.  It's not this painting of trees that is beautiful, but the trees themselves.  I painted it because I wanted to respond to, and participate in that beauty.  I wanted to immerse myself in it; to prolong my experience with it.  Of course, even the trees themselves point above and beyond themselves.

I go to morning prayers.  At the end they sing "No one goes hungry at the table of God.  Taste, o taste and see.  No one goes hungry at His table of life.  Taste, o taste and see."

Something Good This Way Comes

Desert Landscape Paintings

These were from last spring, when the rains had transformed the desert.  I look forward to another beautiful spring!