All my life I've enjoyed drawing, coloring, painting, crafting, and making something beautiful out of stuff that was being discarded. There is a soul mending therapy found in the process of art. It is like a breath of fresh air and I must return for more!
Creating things that give others joy, bring a smile to someone's face or tears to their eyes, works of art that have an impact on others......the very possibility of doing such work is a precious gift from the most incredible artist there ever was or ever will be. Because of God's love for me, I want to share his love with others.
I worked for many weeks on an artwork that I prayed would convey the hope in my heart and the desire the Lord has for this world. It is my first artwork of this new year and one with a message that represents the direction I want my life and work to follow with wholehearted devotion. It now hangs in the home of some of my dearest friends; friends who have shown me what it is to live the kind of life that makes people say, "Wow, they are completely in love with Jesus! They act like he actually walks with them wherever they go! I want what they have!"
I love you Carle Family and Hopper Family.
The scripture verse is I Kings 8:60 "So all the world may know the Lord is God, there is no other."
It is an encaustic painting. I'll show a little of the process in the photos below. The canvas is cradled hardboard 2'x4' made by my husband. I used old Bible pages to completely cover the canvas before distressing the surface and painting the continents of the globe in a semi-transparent oil paint. Then several layers of encaustic (a mixture of melted beeswax and damar resin), and oil paints were applied, fusing each new layer with a heat gun.
It's hard to tell from a photo but in person you can see more clearly all of the textures in the beeswax, the carved scripture and the translucency of the layers of beeswax that create an atmospheric quality hovering over the image of the countries of the world.
