He Is Risen

"He is risen, He is risen, tell it out with loud acclaim"

I think today of the sleepless night Mary must have had, grief and sorrow forcing her out early to the tomb. He came to her out of love, f to bind up her broken heart.

"Go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God."

As the sun comes up this morning I am aware of the miracle of resurrection. I may not understand it but I am fully confident that it is so for all men. Of greatest comfort is that it is so for those I love who have died before me, and that it will be so, for me.

"Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?"

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Good Friday

The Last Week In the Life of Jesus Christ

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Have you wondered why Christians call this day Good Friday? What is good about this day in the life of the Savior?

Jesus uttered seven statements from the cross upon which he was crucified..

1. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
2. To the man on the cross next to him he said, "Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
3. Looking down from the cross he said to his mother, "Woman, behold thy son!' Then he said to John, "Behold thy mother."
4. In the ninth hour Jesus cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
5. Then he said, "I thirst." President Russel M. Nelson said, "To a doctor of medicine, this is a very meaningful expression. Doctors know that when a patient goes into shock because of blood loss, invariably that patient – if still conscious – with parched and shriveled lips – cries for water.” 
6. After receiving vinegar for his thirst he said, "It is finished."
7. Darkness was over all the earth and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. He then cried with a loud voice, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."

        How can we say this sacrifice was good?

Is it good that he took my sins, my failings, and my misfortune onto himself? I would deny him as my Savior if I said no. It was the focus of his whole life. To bring me, with him back to my loving Heavenly Father and heavenly Mother.

I wince at seeing his suffering. Yet, I rejoice that he willingly submitted  for my sake. 

"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene."

To all the Marys who gave him so much comfort. Take heart. 
For myself I also say, take heart. 

There will be Sunday. 
And he will yet live again.

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Easter Week- The Longest, Hardest Day

 The Last Week in the Life of Jesus

"During the first of the days of unleavened bread, which was on Thursday, some of the Twelve inquired of Jesus where they should make preparations for the paschal meal."

While reading the story of Passover, going into the Garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal of Jesus into the hands of the Jewish authorities, I marvel at the emotional connection Jesus had in the midst of anxiety ridden events. As I am learning more of wholeheartedness and integrating emotions into our very identity, I look at Jesus as the model of all I desire in wholehearted living. I'll be using some definitions of emotion to make my points. 

Anxiety- Uncertainty, overwhelming fear, competing demands on our time, or social discomfort.

For Jesus there was an awful certainty about what would transpire and I believe a God who can know us completely would be required to feel all the emotions of mortality. I believe he felt fear and anxiety but was fully anchored in his sense of belonging and connection to His Father. His resilience was divine.

Resentment- An emotion we experience when we fail to set boundaries, when boundaries are ignored, or when expectations let us down because they were based on things we can't control, like what others think, what they feel, or how they react.

Surely he felt some resentment towards others who responded awkwardly and deceptively to him, not fully understanding all that he was offering in this life and in the next. Yet, he gave patience and love.

To me he fully exemplifies a wholehearted self. His thinking, feeling, and doing were fully integrated.

Heartbreak- More than just a particularly hard form of disappointment or failure. It hurts in an entirely different way because heartbreak is always connected to love and belonging.

I hurt for him because he hurt for me, fully submitting to carry my pain, my suffering, my lack, my evil, and my plain misfortune. In a desire for me to belong to him and in his desire to be connected to his Father, he knelt in Gethsemane and paid the awful price for justice to be served.

What an astounding day this was for him and for us all. And Friday will come next.

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Easter Week- A Day To Withdraw

The Last Week In the Life Of Christ

"But now it is Wednesday and tomorrow is the day for the slaying of the thousands of Paschal lambs. Today is a day devoted to his intimate friends."

Jesus passed this day of rest and retirement with his disciples. How could they not know that the end of a perfect ministry was coming? He had proclaimed it 12 times in the the previous years.

1. At the first Passover, three years before. "Destroy this temple and after three days I will raise it up. (John 2)
2. To Nicodemus he said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. (John 3)
3. To the disciples of John he said, "The days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them ." (Matt. 9) 
4. To the sign seeking scribes and Pharisees he said, "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matt. 12)
5. To the Twelve he said, "And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." (Matt 10)
6. In the Sermon on the bread of life he said, "And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world." (John 6)
7. After Peter's stirring testimony it is written, "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day." (Matt. 16)
8. On the Mount of Transfiguration he discussed his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. (Luke 9)
9. Coming down from the mount he said, "The Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the hands of men; And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again." (Matt, 17)
10. En route to Jerusalem he said, "They shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him; and the third day he shall rise again." (Matt. 20)
11. In the teachings of the Good Shepard he said, "I am the good shepherd; and the good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.." (John 10)
12. In the parable of the wicked husbandmen he said. "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize his inheritance." (Matt. 21)

Will we be equally surprised at his Second Coming?

On this day alone with them he taught them all of his coming ordeal and what would result therefrom. 

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Easter Week- His Last Public Discourse At The Temple

The Last Week In The Life Of Jesus 

"On the following day, that is on Tuesday, He returned to the temple with the Twelve, teaching all who would listen."

The chief priests and some of the scribes came upon him as a group. They asked him by what authority did he do his works. Of course they knew the authority he claimed; but their question was of a sinister purpose. Jesus chose to answer their question with a question. Was the baptism of John from heaven or of men? Since the crowd of people listening would be swayed by what the authorities would say and do, they were forced into silence. "We cannot tell."

Jesus continued to teach those that gathered, parable upon parable, story upon story, all pointing to the self-betrayal of the chief authorities. The Parable of The Two Sons showed how true repentance was more effectual than lip service. 

Matthew 21:32 

For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen pointed to the deceit of them that killed the son of the householder and stole his inheritance. 

Matthew 21:38 

But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.

 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

Truly. how could they not get his message? Then he told the Parable of the Royal Marriage Feast. The guests refused to come and spurned their royal invitation only to be destroyed for their lack of loyalty.

Matthew 22:7-9 

 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

 If this story was to be an allegorical presentation of true events, then it passes into the future as the destruction of Jerusalem post dated Jesus by several decades.

This Parable was the last spoken by our Lord to the public. Jesus would now turn his attention on his apostles who he would instruct and support in the coming days.

"Many are called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world,..."

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Easter Week- Cleansing The Temple

Monday- The Last Week Of Jesus' Life

" Now, within four days of the cross. He cleared the courts again by casting out all "them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves."

         

    The cleansing of the temple had strong emotion. This was Jesus' Father's house but it was also His house. Worldly commerce was not allowed because in this house the power of godliness was manifest. By that I mean, the sacrifices made, the prayers uttered, the promises entered into within these walls were done in similitude of the atonement, showing that only in Jesus could sins be made "white as snow' and all brought back into correct alignment with Heavenly Father.

Matthew 21:12 

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

     After the indignation came the calmness of healing. Into the courts of the temple came those who were blind, lame and otherwise afflicted. His power was always used for binding, healing, and connecting. 

Who brought the blind to the temple to be healed?
Who carried the lame?
Who can we bring to Jesus?

    As the common people gathered around him, the enraged officials were silenced by the press of the crowd. Little children. who perceived his power, spontaneously burst onto praise, calling him truthfully, the Son of David. 

   That evening he left Jerusalem and retired to Bethany. His hour was near, but not yet.

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Easter Week- Palm Sunday

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy King cometh unto thee; and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foul of an ass."

Zechariah 9:9

   As prophesied in the Old Testament, Jesus entered the city to the tumult of praising. It was a joyful noise, one of hopeful triumph. What were they shouting? Hosanna! Interpreted in Hebrew it means 'save now'. 

John 12:12 “On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 

 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

     His pathway was strewn with clothing and palm branches. Some pharisees urged him to rebuke the outcry of his disciples but he answered them by saying that if he made them hold their peace even the stones would begin to cry out praise. Some would realize much later how the prophecies of the Old Testament were fulfilled that day. 
   In the New World another reason for praising. The Nephites rejoiced because they triumphed, with the help of God, over the robbers who threatened to overtake all their land. In a few short years this God would come and save them yet again from natural disasters that rocked the world entire world at his death.
   
      3 Nephi 4:30  ”And they did rejoice and cry again with one voice, saying: May the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, protect this people in righteousness, so long as they shall call on the name of their God for protection.  And it came to pass that they did break forth, all as one, in singing, and praising their God for the great thing which he had done for them, in preserving them from falling into the hands of their enemies.
    Yea, they did cry: Hosanna to the Most High God. And they did cry: Blessed be the name of the Lord God Almighty, the Most High God.”

     Back in Jerusalem, Jesus knew his days were numbered and he urged his disciples to believe in the light while the light was still among them so that they would be called 'children of light'.

Believing, receiving, be open

To the truth which makes you 

Loving, and caring, and feeling,

That ye may be his child.

The savior said, "I am the light",

Come, follow me, just reach for my hand.

Your heavy burdens I will share,

My arms enfold you.

Believing, Receiving, Be Open

To the truth which makes you 

Loving, and caring, and feeling,

That ye may be his child.

His light illuminates the path

Warms every heart, each flickering shadow.

Go forth in faith, remove all doubt,

His arms enfold you.

Believing, receiving, be open

To the truth which makes you 

Loving, and caring, and feeling,

That ye may be the children of light.

Words to a song I wrote decades ago as a family motto. To be wholehearted has been a desire of mine for a long time. It seems, sometimes, to be just outside of reach but I do want to be a child of light so that the salvation Jesus brings is mine.

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Sunday

Big Dream For My Art World

 During physical therapy for a broken arm I discovered that the tendons on my hand were no longer able to raise my fourth and fifth finger. The hand surgeon indicated that a repair could be made. And so I wait. 

    This is my short term dream. Please God, allow my hand to be repaired and let me be able to paint freely and play the piano freely. I once wrote that painting was a sustainable hobby. And, I still think it is but I never dreamed my hand would be in jeopardy. My other hand has become more capable and strong during this process but it is not my dominant hand. 

Surgery is scheduled in the Spring and so I wait. But yet I can still paint, maybe more awkwardly. Today is the last installment of the 21 Days In My Art World and I appreciate that perhaps you read some of these posts. They were helpful to me as the writer. I am more able to appreciate what I have accomplished and more eager to keep learning. I believe art making and displaying art is very nurturing in life. Even if you don't create art yourself think of purchasing a piece of art to elevate your home. While prints are great, I own many, buying an original painting is really inspiring. The brushstrokes and paint bring the artist right into your life. 

"You may think you don't have talents, but that is a false assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us. The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before-colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter."

                                                Dieter Uchtdorf

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Favorite Technique

I stumbled on to a technique of framing which was genius. We all know the cost of framing our art. Some artists hire a framer who builds their frames with a particular style, some learn framing themselves, while others buy frames from custom framers. All of these ways were too expensive for me.

The technique I discovered was to buy inexpensive wood art panels and turn them around to become the frame. I painted the recessed back to look like a mat board and then painted the edges black.

                                   To make the edges less matte I painted them with a clear gloss medium. 

I attached the painted panel with six squares of velcro in the middle. So for under $20 I have a consistent way of framing.

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From The Archives

 I started out in collage and acrylic paint. Taking paper images and placing them into a painted world was familiar to me. I think I made collages all through my life. In 2016 I went through a period of fascination with stained glass. A local artist sold beautiful pieces of gardens through the stained glass window. I tried it many ways. 

The difficulty was being exact with the designs of the window.With ruler in hand I carefully measures out dimensions. Some of my tries were wobbly and off center but I did end up with this one. I still like to hang it in the living room during the warmer seasons.

Here is another 2016 collage. This one reminds me to consider whether I'm committed to serve others with all my heart. A favorite scripture rests behind the hands. I think if this period of art making as a way to process thoughts and ideas. My goal was always to reconsider my truth and go deeper than my first surface ideas.

"The Hummingbird" was a really enjoyable collage to create. The pieces of paper were small and it required some patience to lay them side by side to get the right shading. I gifted this to the widow of a man who I admired. He was kind and gentle and a passionate birder. He died of Alzheimers and left this world unable to remember most of us. But, he remembered birds, their calls and their beauty.

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Celebrate!!!

 Today I'm taking time to celebrate the realization that I have created over 70 works of art in the last five years.

It wasn't until I was working on my photo app to create an album entitled "Paintings' that I realized I have pictures of over 70 works of art in five years. That is more than one painting a month.

I needed this realization right now as I tell myself things like, "you have a lot of junk in your art studio", "Is it right to keep making useless things?", "Will anyone value this after you are gone?". 

I doesn't matter!!

What matters is that these images made my heart swell and I learned through my eyes, my hands, my ears, my nose, and my heart.

It's a matter of heart!

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Largest Painting

 Painting large requires room to anchor the canvas and a lot of paint. This is an acrylic painting and canvas size is 3 feet by 3 feet. I entitled it "Fischer Pond In Autumn" and it hangs in my piano teaching space. My process was to lay down many, many layers of paint, first warm colors and then cool. I let the layers run into each other by spraying them with a light mist of water.

There wasn't a vision at the beginning. I was just laying down paint and almost finger painting. But then I looked at the bottom third and decided to change the direction of the paint. A tranquil water scene emerged and I envisioned the pond, surrounded by the change of colors. One of the distinct aspects of the pond is the plant life and in the autumn only the stems of the water lilies poke out of the water. Painting these abstract lines in various directions seemed to anchor the painting. What was once a mess of color settled into a horizon, reflection, and living plant life. I haven't attempted this size again but I do have an empty canvas waiting upstairs. 

Don't be afraid to hang a large painting on a wall. The colors and brushwork will invite you into the artwork and you will grow to love the moment in time you have immortalized. 

                                        

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Smallest Painting

    My smallest paintings are 4 inch by 4 inch, painted on oil paper and then mounted on wood blocks or framed. I did eight of them, some birds, flowers, and some Christmas ornaments.  This size is perfect for a day painting, just enough room to put down color and enough room to add small details.

This peony bud painting is a favorite of mine because of the color. Peonies can be pink, red, yellow and white with many shades in between. I usually buy them in bud to get the longest time with them. The unfurling is really magical as each petal expands outward until it lifts it's edges away from the bud. 

To get a size reference, you can place 9 little paintings of the peony on the 12 inch by 12 inch pumpkin painting. It would be fun to do a patch work painting of 9 in a frame. Hmm....

I don't really have a preference because each painting has it's own wonder and limitations.

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Naming A Painting

 How do I name my paintings?

I don't often have a name for a painting. Below is the painting "Trust Your Journey". I think you can tell how I named this one. The white enamel cup did have these words but the focal point of the painting was supposed to be the Pfefferkuchen alongside. Because of the color of the cup and the placement of the words the eye goes right to the middle.

Below is a painting entitled 'The Pen is Stronger Than the Sword". I hope the image conveys the message even without the title but if not, the title is essential. This painting may go into a non-fiction work my brother is writing.

This painting can only have the name "Wally". Wally is a Burmese Mountain dog and a force in his own right. When he moves by it's best to be on sure footing. He has the endearing way of laying out on his belly with his legs stretched behind him. I put my camera on the floor in front of him to capture this shot. The painting is owned by his family and often he lays right under the painting as if he knows it is his image. 

One last painting with a title. This one is "Yarn Bowl" Obviously it is a yarn bowl, made by a friend. I loved the color of the clay bowl so much that I matched my yarn to the bowl. The yarn ball spins around inside when I am knitting. 

           Entitling a painting is optional in my opinion. Some paintings, like these above, have titles that seem natural to the subject, but I can see if a painting creates a mood then an evocative title would draw the observer into the canvas. Years ago I had a small show of my art. Each piece I displayed had to have a name to differentiate it from the others. That was hard so long after creating the piece. Maybe I should think of a name as I finish each piece of art. Maybe......

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