Divine Romance week 4

Welcome to Artful Faith if you have come over from the Divine Romance post on newlycreative

Here are the week 4 questions in full.  Do come back when I have completed the questions.

1. Was this an activity that you enjoyed or found difficult? What about it did you find enjoyable/difficult?
2. If you found it enjoyable, will this be an activity you will make a regular part of "filling your well"? If so, how often are you going to do it? When will you start (set a date)?
3. If you found it difficult, what could you do differently next time to make it a more enjoyable experience? How will you carry that out next time? When will you do it (set a date)?
4. Out of the pictures you took (or video you shot), what resonated with you the most?
5. What is it about those pics (or video footage) that spoke to you? Was it God speaking to a current life situation? Or maybe speaking to your creative heart? Be as specific as possible.
6. How could you use this information to inform your art-making process?
7. What steps will you take to incorporate your findings so that it becomes a part of your unique creative voice? Where & when will you start?

Dangerous Women Creed

"Dear God, please make us dangerous women.
May we be women who acknowledge our power to change, and grow,
and be radically alive for God.
May we be healers of wounds and righters of wrongs.
May we weep with those who weep and speak for those who cannot
speak for themselves.
May we cherish children, embrace the elderly, and empower the poor.
May we pray deeply and teach wisely.
May we be strong and gentle leaders.
May we sing songs of joy and talk down fear.
May we never hesitate to let passion push us, conviction compel us,
and righteous anger energize us.
May we strike fear into all that is unjust and evil in the world.
May we dismantle abusive systems and silence lies with truth.
May we shine like stars in a darkened generation.
May we overflow with goodness in the name of God and by the power of Jesus.
And in that name and by that power, may we change the world.
Dear God, please make us dangerous women. Amen."

~Lynne Hybels

Captivating

Divine Romance has been put on the back burner for a while.  I'm still 'attending' the online mentoring and painting that Paulette is doing but haven't done anything myself.   I've really been struggling with the whole God/Bernice relationship and I'm sure God is really on my case about it.  In the meantime I got really down about the course and the whole art thing to the extent that last Friday I was going to give up art altogether - clear out all my paints and art materials and turn my room back into the dining room it is supposed to be!

Paulette mentioned to me that she thought some of the things I do  ~ like signing up for too many courses ~ is really self-sabotage.  I think she's right and I'm working through it (well thinking about it!).  You can see how I sabotage things here.

So, nearly a week on,  I haven't given up on art, in fact I have been taking part in Art Every Day Month and you can see all that I have done on Newly Creative.

Around the time that Divine Romance started I joined a book study with a group of ladies on Facebook.  We are reading 'Captivating' by John & Stasi Eldredge.   I have read it before but this time there are questions to ponder, discuss and journal about and we are journaling in art journals.  Those who know me well will know what's coming next.   I'm way behind on this too!   It always takes me such a long time to decide how I'm going to do it - what journal, how, what medium etc etc.  It's the fear factor!

And then I found Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and 30 days in your journal.  And I have to own up ~ yes, you know it, I signed up for it.  Obviously we're on day 10 since it started on 1st November and I started on it today.  But, rather than do it as a daily diary journal I am going to use the ideas for my Captivating Journal.  How great is that?

I bought myself a Moleskine Watercolour A4 Notebook and here are the pages so far.

This is the double page with Dylusions inks used like watercolours.

Then I cut out some shapes and sprayed over them.

 Then I started some stamping

 Now the pages are ready for journaling.

Here are the next 2 double pages ready to work on.

I'm pleased with how far I've got.  Now I just have to pick up a journaling pen and answer the questions.

I Am A Child of God

I'm not very good at sharing my faith or my struggles with my faith.  I started doing the Divine Romance Course because I wanted my art to be more in tune with God.  It has provoked some negativity inside me, including thinking about giving up art altogether, and brought me to a crossroads where I have to decide to move along the path God has for me.  And I am struggling.

I had downloaded a book called Pursuing Christ: Creating Art by Gary A. Molander but have only been reading little bits of it.  I opened the book on Kindle this afternoon and this is what I read:

"Here’s what I know about you.

I know that you are not your art.

I know that you are not your church.

You are not your tech.

You are not your voice.

You are not what your authority figures believe about you.

You are not your blog posts, or your readers’ insane responses.

You are not your Twitter count, or your Facebook friend total.

You are not your impact.

You are not your successes, and you are not your failures.

You are not that thing in your life that worked perfectly.

I also know this about you.  I know that in Christ, you are a child of God.  I know that is is your core identity, and I know that your core identity is something that can never be stripped away.

Because there will come a day when you no longer create art.

There will come a day when the software you use is no longer in existence.

There will come a day when you no longer serve in that church, in that misnistry.

There will come a day when he’s no longer your boss, and they’re no longer your Board.

There will come a day when you quit blogging.

There will even come a day when your impact wanes.

But there will never, ever come a day when you stop becoming a child of God.

Ever."

Identity is such an important issue for us all.   And it can start quite young!  Click here to read about a friend's little girl.

Remind Me Who I Am

I haven't been working on any faith related art this past 10 days.  I've been struggling with my art and my faith.  Still working through it all but these songs help.

Divine Romance Week 1

Week One of Divine Romance has been about Opening Up.  This has not only been opening up to God but to new experiences.

The first of these was to spend time worshipping God with songs loaded onto my phone.  Nothing new to that, you might be thinking.  The new experience was to ask God to choose the tracks I needed to hear to worship him today.  So I asked him and put the player onto shuffle and this is what He chose:

1. I am a new creation  sung by Sarah Sadler
2. Investigate    by Delirious?
3. Hallelujah/You Never Let Go    by Jeremy Camp
4. What the world will never take   from Hillsong
5. All I Need is You      by Hillsong United

After spending time worshipping God I then tried the creative exercise Paulette had set for us using only black and white paint.   We had to work on a large sheet of paper (this is A2, 16.5" x 23.4") and work big.   And to not think about it too much - just create.

First layer of black

2nd layer of black and then some white

further layers of black and white, then left to dry for a bit

More white

With added orange

close up of the middle

Paulette had said we could add a colour if we felt it was appropriate.  I used a variety of brushes, (flat, round, or thick,) and an old credit card.

Now on to Week 2.

Pursuing Christ, Creating Art

I've just bought the book 'Pursuing Christ, Creating Art' by Gary A. Molander.  I haven't read very far through it yet but this stood out.    Despite the title, the chapter I was reading was Creatives v Artists.

‘Theologically speaking, everyone is creative.  We were fashioned and formed in the image of God.  God is a creative God.  So we’re creative too.  We bear the divine imprint.  Our maker is creative, therefore we are creative.’

Any area of life is creative ~ being a Mom, organising a conference, cooking a meal ~ it doesn't just have to be about being an artist.