Author: carriebeachey

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Give Away

Welcome to my new website & blog!  I’m glad to have you here.  Take a look around, make yourself at home, enjoy!

This week I am giving away a custom framed 8×10 print of my watercolor painting Zinnias. 

This painting was inspired by a trip I took to the Calendar Garden near by.  I had noticed all of the repeat patterns found in flowers, and it reminded me of one of my favorite quotes.

 

“It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that god makes every daisy separately but has never got tired of making them. . . . The repetition in Nature may not be mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore.”

— G. K. Chesterton

There are 3 ways to win this print.

1. Follow this blog by clicking the prompt in the right sidebar.

2. Take a look at my Pintrest boards & follow those.

3. Stop by my Facebook page & leave a comment telling me you “Did it”,

Do all three and you could have 3 chances to win the print!

The winner will be randomly selected from the followers of one of these sites (blog, pintrest, facebook) on Friday.

Happy Monday !

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Show Me You; Worship in Art

For myself, creating visual art is a form of worship.  It is a medium in which I can connect with my creator. 

We artists tend to be an emotional, sensitive and spiritual breed of people who experience an agony and an ecstasy in our souls.  Our inspiration is intense, passionate and often fleeting.  This causes us to wrestle with ourselves and with God in an effort to fully capture it’s essence before it is gone.  We crave deep spiritual connections that are made through creating art. 

I know that other artists feel the same spiritual connect that I do while creating.  I hear artists talk about it a lot.  However, I’ve noticed that most artists don’t talk about this experience in relationship to Jesus.  Even some of my closest artist friends agree with me about the spiritual connection that we both experience, but for some reason, once I relate those spiritual moments to Jesus and worship, the conversation goes quiet.  They no longer relate to me.  The idea of “enlightenment” through art is widely acknowledged.  The ideas of meditation, inner healing, and prayer easily go hand in hand with art, so why is it that when I talk about worshiping Jesus in art the conversation becomes awkward?  I ask myself, why is it easier for artists to search for answers outside the church? What do they see in other forms of spirituality that draws them in & why aren’t they finding the connections they seek in church?

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Creating Change: Inside Out Project

“I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project, and together we’ll turn the world… INSIDE OUT.”

— JR

Creating Change, is a series of posts featuring artists who are using art as a medium to make a positive impact in our world.

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Show Me You; a series

I was little when I asked Jesus into my heart – young enough that I still thought of Jesus physically being in my heart.  My salvation was real, I knew Jesus, and grew up active in our church.  I have never known life without Jesus in it.  As a teenager, I would wonder about my relationship with God.  I didn’t feel like I had passion in my relationship with Him.  I felt His fire at youth retreats and conventions, but I knew that was different than having passion.  So, I prayed for passion.

Fast forward 15 years.  God has given me passion.  It often consumes me.  I feel like a cup that is overflowing, and I’m scrambling around in a frenzy of excitement trying to find out what to do with all of “it”.  “It” is a number things, like sharing God’s love & HOPE with Tibetans through knitting.  Another, is my artwork.  In the past I’ve simply let “it” spill out all over the place.  I don’t know what to do with “it”, so I start talking about “it” looking for direction as I wait to see what God is going to make out of the mess.

Mandy of Messy Canvas shared this statement on Facebook a while back.

“Quite frankly Christians, I’m ready to see you, not your Jesus.  Show me you.”

This status update & the conversation that follows has gripped me in such a way that months later, it still pulls at me.  It has started me down an internal path of wrestling.  I don’t know where the path will lead me, or even what direction it takes me.  When I’ve written my thoughts into a journal I seem to be all over the place in a kind of swirling ball of passion. I know that I have found something that is important, but I am unable to define it.  This single sentence has sparked a flame in me.  It is creating a passion for divine inspiration & art that is spilling out all over the place.   I’m searching for what to do about it as it is still very messy, swirling around in my heart & my head without any definition.

I have started the “Show Me You” series to give myself a place to  work through the swirling ball inside me.  I hope, dear reader, that you will jump in the conversation and offer your own thoughts & ideas to help me in my search for direction.

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Show Me You

quite franklyMandy of Messy Canvas shared this statement on Facebook about a month ago.  After reading the conversation in the comments section and because of my own personal experiences, the words resonated deep within me, and I have not been able to stop thinking about them.

It reminds me of a season in my life that found me starving for authentic relationships.  I was frustrated with the people around me who were unwilling to meet me where I was at.  If I wanted to have any type of friendship, it was going to have to be an at-church-only kind  of relationship. They were not willing to meet me for coffee to share our hearts, or to talk about what God was doing in our lives. If I wanted to see them, I had to go to a church meeting (they had meetings every night of the week).  Then, of coarse, there was an agenda for that meeting.  Agenda is good, and there should be an agenda at church.  However, I desperately wanted someone to be my friend outside of that.  In that time, I wanted to see people.  I wanted to share my humanity with another humans and relate with each other in those struggles.  I didn’t want to go to church again and again to hear another salvation message. I didn’t want to see “their Jesus” – I wanted to see them, to get to know them, & to have a genuine friendship.  This quote reminds me of the importance of meeting people where they are at. Coming to them as another human who also struggles and wrestles with God and be willing to walk along side of them.

In reflecting on this FB status I wonder, why as an artists, is it so difficult to find meaningful connection in the church?

 

 

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Danmalas by Kathy Klein

With summer just around the corner, I find myself spending more time gazing the flowers around me.  I love what Kathy Klein is doing with her “danmalas”.  I will most definitely being playing around with making some of these this summer.

What inspires you today?

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Danmalas by Kathy Klein

With summer just around the corner, I find myself spending more time gazing the flowers around me.  I love what Kathy Klein is doing with her “danmalas”.  I will most definitely being playing around with making some of these this summer.

What inspires you today?