Gathering Blessings

I started this project with a song in my head that asked if God would hold them together. I was thinking of how we are all broken and Jesus is the healer.

I liked the idea of using circles, that are supposed to be whole, but they are broken.

One morning I was reading in Romans from the Message version of the bible. The end of Romans 5:5 the paraphrase used is; "We can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit.

So now it's a combination, broken, but still blessed abundantly.

I used photography, cardboard tubing, paint, paper, rice, flower petals (dried and silk) and wax for this collage.

Focus of His love

Wanted to make a piece for my daughter, that reflects who she is. A princess, lavishly loved by her maker, made to enjoy glorious living, and to be abundantly free.

Found this photo that my husband took, then had him take one of her hands holding a flower. Wanted to use textures and color, layers and wax. After searching for a verse that would try and capture what I wanted her to grow up knowing, I settled on Ephesians 1:4-12. A great passage that speaks of God's plans for us.

I enjoyed the process and MJ is really excited to have this hanging in her room. The hard part is knowing when to stop, what to keep and what just adds clutter. Although I like this piece part of me feels like it might be more like a scrapbook page on steroids than a great piece of art. But, hey, it's not for sale, and I have the freedom to fail.

Encaustic Art cont

Hands Encaustic Artwork

I’ve wanted to hang something in our guest bath for a while. The room has a beach feel to it. I saw it as an opportunity to do several small collages using fabric, found objects, photographs and graphics. They are 9x9 inches. The size gave me the freedom to experiment, and the found objects didn’t get overwhelmed. It also gave me the freedom to fail and try again.

To go with the beach theme I started searching for verses in scripture that talk about water, waves, the ocean. While I do intend to explore those themes with 4 mini collages (yet to be made), I got off on a detour when I encountered the verse: Isaiah 44:5


“This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’; and that one will call on the name of Jacob; and another will write on his hand, ‘belonging to the Lord’

Hands are so expressive. I wanted to portray that idea. Seeing how the photo of the hand looked with the writing made me want to do more with hands. So my husband helped me take a few more photos and I found some verses I liked to accompany them.

Unlike other work I have done when I have an idea of what it will look like when finished, these are more about the process and exploring with textures shape and color, and then of course one of my new favorite things, playing with wax to bring it all together. Enjoy!