The Parting: Marketing Art

Personal paintings become a part of the artist by guiding one's creative path. And like good friends, artwork can be difficult to say good-bye to when we decide to release our art into the marketplace.  Sometimes this is because of sentimental reasons. For example, this watercolor my sister and I created reminds us of those …

Moments of Clarity

Some of the greatest blessings one can receive in a lifetime are moments of clarity. Those serendipitous seconds when heaven shines light in the form of illuminated understanding—a perspective that cuts through the quagmire of confusion, ambition, and ego. All of a sudden, truth slices through the script we've been reciting, perseverating, that which takes …

Oh Holy Night

While bustling about, I look over at the wooden nativity my sister hand crafted… and I remember the greatest gift of all. He came to live among us so we might live forever, I ponder in the silence. “This is what it’s all about,” I sigh, as the meaning of Christmas washes me clean. Sure, I …

Returning to your Place of Peace

One of the greatest challenges for the artistic soul is to sequester time! Too many commitments crowd the margins of one’s life, spilling unrest into much-needed spaces. Before you know it, quiet mornings usually spent painting or writing now churn with anxious thoughts. You stop prioritizing what you want to do and get caught up …

Voice

Voice is a mixed media portrait commissioned by Krista Thomsen to honor her mother, Bonnie Ribble Kennedy. This piece features a creative soul’s passions. Bonnie’s philosophy empowers: “…my gifts are meant to be given–So they can come back to me–It’s a circle.” When I shared with her how her belief helped me to get over my …

The Power of Words

We promised it would never happen to us. That we’d lose our words, our voice, our passion to write. That we'd abandon our blogs and books that were well into their becoming...READ THE ENTIRE POST...

Unconditional Surrender

  “I put no conditions on my surrender.” I mumbled those words after wrestling with something I feared God wanted me to do, but I dreaded. “Lord, you’re really not asking me to do that are you? You know that’s the one thing I’m most terrified of doing! Surrender! I’ve watched enough movies to know that in times of …

Disillusionment: The Dark Mistress or Door of Opportunity

Disillusionment strangles joy and leaves us wanting more. There is a mistress of the dark. The soul’s lover and yet demise—a black widow of sorts, feasting on the lifeblood of success, poisoning purposes with perpetual pain, bleeding through best intentions. READ THE ENTIRE POST...

How to Paint a Masquerade Mask

Here’s 5 helpful hints on how to paint a masquerade mask. I'm finally finished with an acrylic painting I've been working on for weeks and thought I'd pass on some tips on how to paint a masquerade mask. My daughter, Andrea, recently delighted me with the news that she's taken up acrylic painting. She asked …