October Painting

Hello!!!    It seems as if I'm starting to slack off some with my blog updates.   I'm really not slacking, just a bit busier than usual.     So, as y'all know for yourselves, when you get busy, something has gotta give.    But, I did manage to find my way back here today.   Yay!!!!     We have had a few chilly mornings here, in my neck of the woods, with a heavy frost or two.     The cool, crisp mornings are a welcome change from the heat of the summer.     It won't be long before the cold of winter will settle itself in on us for a "long winter's nap".     I remember my mother saying something like this, "Well, did you see those poor little cold kids, bundled up from head to to toe?"     Now, the saying is more like this, "Well, did you see those poor little cold kids, bundled up from head to knees?"    It doesn't matter how cold it gets here anymore, we can have 0*, and see people out with shorts and sandals, but bundled from head to knees.    Well, if I have a coat on, y'all and something over my head and gloves on, you can bet your bottom dollar, that I will have on britches down to my feet and shoes and socks on!    hahahaha     So, as we head on in to the end of the year at break neck speed, prepare yourself for the up coming winter, make sure you got some long britches and socks and shoes, y'all.    hahaha

Monday was our painting class at the senior citizen center here in town.    So, this is the 4th painting I have done.     It seems as if they get a bit more stressful as I go along.     I try not to put pressure on myself.    The sole purpose of this for me is fun!!!!     Just something to let go and have fun and not have to really think about whats happening.     Just brush to canvas!     So, in the same fashion of the other three, I did take pics along most every step.    It is a winter scene this time.   I really love it although mine isn't great, I at least love the concept.    It was a bit harder to paint.    I don't know why, but it just seemed to be a bit harder to me.     We had three colors on our pallet.    Blue, white and brown and then some liquid white.     So, without any further delays, here's the process, one pic at a time.

This one has the liquid white base on it and then the blue of the sky blended in to the liquid white.    We tried to bring the sky down about a third of the canvas, using our big 1" brush.

Here, we used a smaller rounded brush to lay in our mountains in the background using the blue.     I really do love the colors of this painting.    Since the mountains are off in the distance, there isn't a lot of detail to them, just shape.

In this one, we took more of the blue and brought it down in the front of the mountains trying to create different layers of the landscape between the front of the canvas and the mountains, so it would have depth to it.

In this one, we used our fan brush loaded with blue to draw in the trunk of the tree and then to tap in the branches of the fir tree.  

Then we took our brush and went right at the bottom of the first little tree and pulled down just a bit to create the shadowing and depth for that little tree and we went right in then and drew the trunk for the next tree and then tapped in the branches.

Then we went under this tree and pulled down again, creating the shadowing and layer affect, then we went right in to the last fir tree, spruce, pine, cedar or whatever they ended up looking like is what we called them...ggg

We then done the same thing to this tree that we had done to the other two, by pulling down on the bottom of the tree and smoothing it out to look like a little hill with a tree on it.

Next, we used the brown paint and our palette knife and cut a bead of brown paint on the edge of the blade and then laid in our tree.   I think mine ended up looking like a birch tree.   After we got the trunk of the tree in, we went back and cut a bead of white paint onto the palette knife and just laid that down on the top of the brown, and that's when my birch tree was born.  ggg

Then we took a liner brush and used liquid white and brown and got our brush loaded with that mixture and drew in branches on the tree.   I had a hard time with this, I must say.    Our painting instructor told me to pull out my paints and brushes and practice, practice, practice loading the brush properly and and then making branches and watch how the tip of the brush is touching the canvas and to use the very tip of it to get the very fine lines of the branches.    And also proper technique of holding the brush to have best control over it.    So.... it looks like I have some work ahead of me.   At least she didn't tell me to lay the brushes down and don't ever pick them up again.     hahahaha     That was kinda what I was expecting.    ggg

After I got that tree in, I put the other one in using the same (poor) technique.   Then we took our brushes and pulled down from the bottom of those trees and drug the brown down to make a little brownish shadow under those trees and the appearance of a little mound.    Then we created a little grass stubble at the base of each tree by pulling up on the brush ever so lightly.

The final thing was signing our paintings and putting them in a frame, if we chose to do so, and I did.

This is after I got home with it and laid it in a dining room chair and took the pic.   I wish I would have taken a finished pic before I left, but I was in a hurry and waited till I got home.

I did have a great time painting.    It's always great to do something fun and meet new people and make new friends.     I can't wait till next month.    What ever we do will be fun.    If you get the opportunity to do something like this, jump at it, you won't regret it. 

As I leave you today, I leave you with this scripture for thought:   Matthew 12:15 "Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there.   And many followed Him and He healed them all."

We notice three things about this verse right off the top.  #1 Jesus was aware of something.   #2 Many followed Him and  #3 He healed them all.

#1 What was Jesus aware of?    He had just healed a man with a withered hand.   He restored it to be as good and looked as good as this mans other hand.   Jesus was the real deal!!!    He healed people with His divine love, not seeking fame for Himself, but pointing people to His Father.    Jesus was not seeking to bring attention to Himself in any way.    Jesus had no intentions of greed nor was he promoting the religious establishment of the day!  

When Jesus healed this mans hand, the religious leaders in verse 14 set out to plot, plan, and kill Him!     They knew Jesus was the real deal and they were jealous of His power and the fact that He drew a crowd.    What I don't get is why they were so jealous of Jesus.   The people that were following Jesus were the people that the religious leaders didn't want to have anything to do with.   Most were considered unclean and had no place in society.    So, why bother with trying to get rid of Jesus?     The same reason people are trying to get rid of Jesus today!    Because He is still the Real Deal!!!!!!     Jesus is still stirring peoples hearts to do good, and changing lives, and healing brokenness, and helping us to make a difference in the world in which we live!    Jesus is still calling the hurting, the broken, and those with no place in society!   The gods of the other world religions are dead!!!!!!    Just like the god of baal in the Old Testament.    Followers of the Way are not "religious"!     We are not about religion at all!!!!    We are about a "relationship"!!!!!     Do you have relationships in your life that you value?    Of course you do, and I pray that your relationship with Jesus Christ is the most valuable relationship you have!   

#2 and #3   Many people followed Him and He healed them all.    Who do you follow today?   That is a very important question and the answer to it is a matter of life and death!!!    If you have chosen to follow Christ, you have chosen wisely and chosen life.    Oh, this life that we are living will come to an end at the time that God has designated for you and me, and then, this is where life or death will actually come in to play.    If you have accepted Christ as your Savior you will live in Glory, forever and forever with no end, ever!!!!     If you choose to follow the world and a dead god of a dead religion, then you will not only die in this life but you will wish you could die in the next life!     A life of torment will not be escapable.    Separation from God will be hell enough, but the ever consuming pain of hell will last forever and forever.     It is the choice we make for ourselves.

Make no mistake, Jesus is still healing the broken hearted, He is still binding up the wounds, relieving the oppressed.    He is still giving strength to those who are in the trenches, doing warfare with the enemy.    He is still healing those who cry out in desperation to Him.    I have a picture in mind of someone for each and every one of this scenarios, lots of pictures in my mind as a matter of fact.    One of those images is myself.    Every time I look in the mirror, I see a woman whom God has taken mercy on, thru the blood of Jesus Christ.    He has healed my heart, He has bound up my wounds and He has relieved my oppression.    So, I can speak with some authority on this and you can too, if you have a "relationship" with Jesus Christ.   

Jesus Christ died on the cross for absolutely every person that has ever been, that is now, and that will ever be!     John 3:16 says, "Who so ever".....   Guess what folks, YOU are the WHO SO EVER that Jesus spoke of!!!!     Even when He spoke those words, YOU was on His mind!!!!   No one is left out of that!!!!!!     But, we have free will, we get to choose, we get to pick what side we are on, we get to make that choice.    Don't be fooled either, no choice IS a choice!    None of us can ever blame God for the decisions that we have made.     God is a gentleman, He will never force Himself on anyone.    He sent the Holy Spirit as our Comforter, to prompt us to the make the right decision.     If you haven't made that right decision, seek out someone that you know who is a follower of Christ and talk to them.     I pray that you will today and that you will tell someone about the decision you have made and that you will find a Bible believing, Bible teaching church and get in it and start studying the word.     God is good!!!!    He gives us what we don't deserve, and He doesn't give us what we do deserve!     That, folks, is Mercy and Grace, defined, in a nut shell.

I pray that y'all have a most enjoyable day today.     I challenge y'all to tell someone you see today that they are a "Who so ever" that Jesus spoke of in John 3:16.    I hope you enjoyed your time here today and I pray that you will come back soon and see what I have been up to.    You never know what I will be doing.   ggg

I hope you have a wonderful day today, Ladybug!   Sweetpea loves you!

God bless each and every one of y'all.    Remember that God loves y'all, and so do I.    Hugs and much love, Patty