First week in March page. This has several layers because I was playing with different stuff and experimenting. Oil pastels on the bottom layer, just cause I wanted to see what would happen. Each layer (step) added and the picture emerged until I was happy with it. I struggle with denying myself and taking up my cross daily....I needed this page to help me remember that each step is a step closer to the finish. In our Sunday Evening Bible study we are studying Philippians. Our preacher said something that I appreciated so much. He said that we are all "running our race" at different speeds. We shouldn't be worried about where we are or how fast we are running compared to someone else. We need to be encouraging (be a cheerleader) to the ones behind and be encouraged by the ones ahead. Phil. 3:16 "Only let us live up to what we have already attained." I need to do this step well and then take the next one....following Him, step by step.
Take My Hand was the topic of week 2's study. Precious Lord, take my hand... I love this song and it kept going through my head as I was thinking about this lesson. I started out drawing the hands on the blank page, I painted on a light layer of gesso and sanded it smooth after it dried. I used Twinkling H2Os and just put on washes over the page. added the the coppery splotches and drew flowers. I just wanted the words of the song, so I printed them out, added a light watercolor wash to the paper, cut them out and glued them on. (*note to self....make sure ink is completely dried or it will smear when you put gel medium over it as a sealer.)
TMD March week 3 - Nothing But the Blood. When I was studying the
scriptures for this week I got to Hebrews 9: 11-15 and kept thinking
about verse 12 "He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and
calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own
blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. " The Message says "...using
his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all." I thought
of people....all people that he bled and died for. I started by collaging
faces onto my journal page. I lightly smeared texture medium on the
page with a card to "mess it up" a bit, and when dried I dripped red acrylic paint down the
pages. I then collaged the words of Isaiah 53:5 on top of the paint and
faces. I also wrote "Nothing but the blood" across the top using Sharpie
water paint pens in black and white, and wrote "once and for all"
"without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" and "bought with
the precious blood of Jesus" in various places in white.
TMD March week 4 - Walk Through the Wilderness. At the first glance this page has nothing to do with the week's title, but the journey it took to get to this page was definitely a walk through at least a little part of wilderness. It took me over a week before I came up with how to convey what I was learning. I started reading a book called The Last Week by Borg and Crossan, as part of my Lenten journey. In it I was struck by the Fig Tree/Temple Incident part of the Monday Chapter. In the book the authors write that in the book of Mark, Mark frames an incident with an incident that defines it...as in: the tree is seen, found wanting and cursed/the incident in the temple/the tree is found withered. The tree incident had weighed on my mind for some time. You know...how something keeps coming up and you chew on it for a while and then it kind of backs off then it is there again and you know there is something you are suppose to be getting and you're not? When I read this book and they added the temple incident to the fig tree incident it all clicked. I had always somewhat got the tree...it was giving the appearance of being fruitful. I just kind of got the impression that Jesus was tired and a bit grumpy and took it out on that poor tree. BUT! when you take it as a definition (or parable) of the temple incident, you can understand both. They were both giving an appearance of something they weren't - fruitful! OH MY! So I kept asking myself "DO I produce fruit or am I just pretending to be fruitful? Still on the journey in the wilderness with that one. This page is pretty simple in that it is drawn with markers and painted with acrylics with printed text glued on.
blessings, Zuda Gay Pease
