Playful Moment

This morning my computer was acting up and I thought my little exercize of sending out a mini art lesson was over. Each day brings a new situation and new beauty. That's how it is in this garden we walk in. Flowers seem to bloom overnight. We do not know the preparation it takes to bring about the bloom for us to enjoy.
We just enjoy them.

Playful Moment (Mixed Medium 11X14)

Petal Tips: The iris is a fun subject to paint. The trick is to keep it loose and ragged. This is also a mixed medium. In this excerize I will show you two different mediums, each is successful for what I was doing, and each has its own nature. This one appears opaque. I used the white acrylic to bring out the light on the petals. I worked watercolors and acrylic to get this result. You can mix two different mediums of paint as long as they are both water base, or others like oil.

Iris in Bloom (Watercolor 11X14)

The watercolor was done wet on wet, eEvery bit was done down to the centers. Same flower but such a different feeling. This one seems transparent to me. It's got a light feeling where the other oe seems heavier.

Meanderings~~~~~~ The scriptures says that it is the Lord who prepares the heart. He has been preparing this garden of mine for years. Even when I thought I was planting and digging and watering, He is really causing it to happen.  I can not give the plant life, I can only plant it where it can grow best. These bulbs are usually planted in the fall and then the snow covers them for five or six months. We can't see what is going on in the dark recesses of the earth, but it is breaking open the bulb and bringing forth life.

Isn't that pretty much the same with our lives. We must be dropped into the ground (death) in order to live.  It is the spirits way of preparing us for Life that comes from above. Then it takes time fighting through the soil of our lives - the dust of the earth, then one day the shoot is seen and we know the rest of the story.  Sometimes I forget what colors of iris bulbs I planted and I don't know until they bloom.

Many of us are just like that, we have to come to a place of maturity before we can really see our beauty, even though every step of the process is beautiful, but we can't see it until it happens.Every painting I painted, every lesson I took and every mess I made in the process were all preparing me for this playful moment.