Secure

This is my second go at the Fall Fearless and Fly challenge #4. I had a lot of thoughts to work through :) I drifted a little from the questions that were asked as I thought about what security allows me to do. It is like the anchor that allows me to try things, take risks, but still with the safety of knowing I'm loved even if I fail.

Fall Fearless and Fly #4

Fall Fearless and Fly Challenge #4:

Headline Prompt:  Security:  What makes you feel safe and secure?  What rattles your sense of security?  Where do you go for comfort and refuge?

Color Prompt:  Cool colors (blues, greens, violets, etc.) 

Quote Prompt: You can't make a place for yourself in the sun if you keep taking refuge under the family tree.  Helen Keller

I used the colour and headline prompts. I started with a page covered with Chinese writing which I then gessoed (with an inadvertantly blue brush - whoops! At least it fit with the colour scheme :)) and added circles which I find pleasing, comforting even, like the enveloping arms of someone you love.

Next I photoshopped a photo I took a few years ago of a tower, giving it a bluer caste. The tower represents the comfort I find in solitude. When I need to think something through, or just need some space, I come to my art room - not quite a studio yet, but I'm dreaming. It's where I run to.

I added a border to the photo and some tape.

Then the words 'security' and 'safe' and 'comfort' coloured in with Copic markers. 

Thinking about those words led me through the usual places. My home is a safe and secure place for me; a place where I can lock the world out and retreat. But like Carly at True Color I know that it is not the physical building that makes the home but the people - my husband and daughter. They are my home.
My security comes not from riches or possessions but from being loved - by my family, but ultimately by God. I added some verses from Habakkuk: Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17-18) And from Psalm 46:1 about God being my refuge and strength, always present in times of trouble.
If we put our trust in riches or in other people and use them as our security, we will be let down at some time. With God as my security I know I stand on solid ground.

At this point I added more circles and some rays with water-soluble oil pastels and the word 'refuge' down the side of the page.

The finishing touches were the definition of security being the freedom from fear, anxiety, danger or threat, and the words 'God, home, family, solitude' - the things which bring security, safety, and comfort; the places I run to when I'm rattled. 

So there you have it - the journey thoughts about security led me on. Why not use the link at the top or the button in the side bar to check out what everyone else thought about this challenge. 

Making progress

Does your life ever feel as if you are rowing into the wind? It just feels as if you are working away and not getting anywhere - like the red queen in Alice you have to run to keep still. It's draining. 

I feel a bit like that at the moment. 

I started to think about how sailboats deal with this sort of thing. Instead of heading straight into the wind, they tack back and forth across it. Sometimes the shortest way from A to B is not a straight line but a zigzagging one. Sometimes you have to go sideways to go forwards. 

Are there any places in your life where you feel you aren't making any headway? Perhaps you can find a way to come at them from a different direction. It may take a little longer, but you get to conserve your energy when you work smarter. 

And on the drawing front, a visit to the zoo yesterday yielded these:

A drawing of the sculpture of a chimpanzee's finger that stands near the entrance to the zoo. I had to work fairly quickly as the sun was moving and the shadows kept changing.

A napping koala captured in a ten-minute sketch.

Hope your weekend has been fun!

Not pumpkins but lemons...

Week 3 of drawing lessons had us using watercolour pencils. I found that they aren't my favourite medium. According to my husband this picture just lacks eyes and fins...

I had been practicing my shading with graphite pencils, though. Quite pleased with the results:

And the page where I get to try out different types of shading. I like the stippling and basket weave. Must explore those further.

Missing next week's lesson, but it's on collage, so at least it's not something completely new to me. The week after that is free choice so I need to find something to draw...

Doing your best

Are you ever dogged by perfectionism? It can come from within or without, but wherever it comes from, it damages us.

When we demand that we be perfect in whatever area of life, we ask for the impossible. We will never achieve that target. We set ourselves and others up to fail.

When we are realistic about what we ask for, we are more likely to be pleasantly surprised. When we urge and encourage people - and ourselves - to give their best, they pull out all the stops. When we ask them to be perfect, they know they cannot reach that goal and will often give up before they really get started.

So why not be kind to yourself - and those around you - and ask for people to give their best rather than something that is perfect?

Shading

This week's drawing lesson was on shading using different amounts of pressure, cross-hatching, and lines. The one on the left is done with two coloured pencils, the one on the right with an HB pencil. Next week we get to do the whole pumpkin....

Fall Fearless and Fly - #3

Challenge #3:

Headline: Triumphs and defeats. What do you see as your greatest triumphs and defeats? What have they taught you? Which have you learned more from?
Colour: Black and white
Quote: Not in the clamour of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Hop on over to Artists in Blogland (see the Fall Fearless and Fly button in the bar) and see the fabulous challenge answers over there.

Wow! This one was a real toughie. As you can see, I couldn't stay completely black and white, but mixed a little cream in there, too, just to get some texture going. This is the second piece. The first one wasn't at all to my liking. From that 'defeat' I learned that I needed a little cream in there :)

So, I just about did the colour prompt, used the quote, but what about the headline? Well, this really made me think. I don't really see my life in terms of 'triumphs and defeats'. What usually happens is that I make plans and God laughs at them because He has something else in mind. And I have to admit that He knows best.

For example, I had my heart set on going to Durham University, but ended up in Sheffield instead. But that was where I met my husband (who also, by the way, wasn't planning to be in Sheffield). So was it a defeat? Absolutely not! It was just a different path. If I had wallowed, feeling defeated, I might have not gone to university at all and my life would have been very different.

Triumph and defeat, as Longfellow points out, aren't anything to do with how others see it. Sometimes what others see as success in our lives we feel very differently about. And vice versa.

Triumph and defeat come from whether the heart can see the light or not.

Busy-ness and artichokes

There are times when everything seems so busy! Times when a little peace and quiet seem hard to find. Yet those are the times when we need them even more. Look for and appreciate those lulls when they come. They are necessary times of refreshment.

One of my times for mulling things over is when I am in the garden. I'm not really much of a gardener. I plant the seeds and water them, but no other mollycoddling. If it doesn't grow, so be it. 

I like to plant things to eat rather than flowers, so to be able to grow a flower that you can eat was fun. Here are a couple of the artichokes we had for dinner last night, fresh from the garden.

mixed-media drawing class

Two hours of drawing this morning. So tiring! All that holding out of arms and measuring with a pencil and your thumb. Still, didn't turn out too badly. I am pleased with the results, which is all that matters.

Next week we are let loose with coloured pencils and fine-liners...

photoshop

So I've been playing with photoshop. I have to say that even though you can get some good effects, it's still not the same as getting your fingers dirty...

The page above really looks like this:

I will keep playing. Feeling like a child in reception class where everything is brand new and a bit scary. I'll probably feel the same way tomorrow when I go to a mixed media drawing class for the first time. Looking forward to it, though.