My article in Art Doll Quarterly

I wanted to share with everyone my article in the newest edition of Art Doll Quarterly. Assemblage dolls are so fun to make!

New mixed media portraits

Still playing with backgrounds and portraits. I'll list both of these in my Etsy shop soon.

Organic Backgrounds

Week 3 of Organic Backgrounds with Paulette Insall. I've finished the first one and will finish the second one over the next two weeks. These backgrounds have been soooo much fun! If you get the chance to take a class with Paulette - do it!

Sealed for Eternity!

VERSE: Ephesians 1:14



[You were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,] who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of His glory.



THOUGHT:



God is true to His word. He keeps His promises. But, that was not enough for Him. He gave us a down payment, a deposit, so we could be sure of our inheritance and look forward to the full realization of our salvation. He gave us the Holy Spirit. When God buys us out of slavery to our mortal bodies and redeems us into our eternal home with bodies that will not grow old or decay, we won't need the deposit; we will have the full inheritance. But until then, until we go to Him, isn't it amazing that He makes his home within us!



PRAYER:



Transcendent and yet ever-near God, thank You for not making me wait to experience Your presence. Thank You for giving me "a foretaste of glory divine." Thank You for sending Your blessed and promised Spirit to live in me and remind me where my home truly is. Until the day I see you face-to-face, I want to honour Your presence in my mortal body by living a life that is pure, holy and a blessing to others. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Love is in the air

I know, Christmas is just barely over, but I'm already looking forward to Valentine's day. Below are a few things I've been working on.

Art in the Word Inspirational Prompt

From the Art in the Word Yahoo Group weekly prompt.

Proverbs 4 :18
"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
From "Daily Wisdom from the Bible" devotional:
"The lives of those people who are touched by the love of Christ are like guiding lights to others who have yet to find Christ in their lives. They can provide guidance and help, and they shine forth as bright examples of how good life can be. God's light can shine through us if we will only let it. We have the opportunity to show others the difference that Christ can make. When we live life empowered by the light of God, we live as He wished we would."
"Father, please make me a light for my world. Let me shine forth with Your goodness, care, and love. Let all who look to me see Your grace. Help me to reflect the saving light of Christ which You have lovingly given me. Amen."
Let's shine our lights to all those around us this week!

Art of Christmas with Lesley Riley

I made these two "spun cotton" ornaments in Lesley Riley's "Art of Christmas" class at Art & Soul. This is the first time I made dolls like these and I'm hooked. I finally learned how to make a doll armature and wrap it with "spun cotton". The dressing was easy, too and required minimal hand stitching. We only had 7 students in this class, so it was almost like taking a class from Lesley one-on-one. It was so fun and relaxing. Lesley is so nice and approachable. I wish I could join her for Art & Soul in Italy! Anyone want to sponsor my trip to Italy? heehee

House of Secrets

I made this in Tom and Romona's class "House of Secrets" it is a double journal made out of copper and glass. I got to use a torch in this class! I have to get one of those!

Gothic Arch Challenge ~Fall~

This week's Gothic Arch Challenge is Fall. Fall for me is always a mix of devastating beauty and devastating loss.

9 years ago today, Sep. 26th, 1998, my first husband died. God supplied me with all the strength, comfort and peace I needed to continue on and take care of my 2 month old son and 4 and 5 year old daughters. A few years later God would provide a kind, Christian husband and father for us who accepts my children as his own.
Shortly after Ken died, this song came to me. I had never done poetry or songwriting before and haven't since. It's a special praise song, inspired by the Holy Spirit, praising God for holding me in his caring hands. I can't sing it for you( you should all be glad for that!) but here are the words:

In my darkest hour you came

In the midst of all of my pain
I was down on my knees without a prayer

but through my tears of anguish

I felt your presence there.

You are the peace that passes understanding

When I don't know how I'm standing

the light that guides me through the darkest days
You are the love that surrounds me

the power that holds me

You embrace me with such gentle care.

Now I know whatever may come

By the sacrifice of your only son

I can come to you and see your face

You fill me up inside with such amazing grace
YOU FILL ME UP INSIDE WITH SUCH AMAZING GRACE!!!!!!!

Which brings me to the inspirational prompt for week 10 for my Yahoo! Group Art in the Word.
Phillippians 4:7

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Notes from my bible: God's peace is different from the world's peace. True peace is not found in positive thinking, in absence of conflict, or in good feelings. It comes from knowing that God is in control. Our citizenship in Christ's kingdom is sure, our destiny is set, and we can have vicotry over sin. Let God' peace guard your heart against anxiety.

When Ken died, I received so many comments about how stong I was. I would tell them, that I am NOT strong, but MY FATHER is! AMEN! God comforted me with an overwhelming sense of peace during that time - a time when those who aren't in a relationship with God often are devasted, crushed, anxious and give up hope. For the first time in my life, I truly knew the meaning of "the peace that passes understanding"!

May the reading of God's word bless you with peace this coming week.Lennea

Fabric Hoop

I've finally gotten up the courage to start playing with fabric. I created this fabric hoop and am pretty happy with how it turned out.

Art in the Word

My post for the Art in the Word Yahoo! Group. Week 6 inspirational prompt. If you would like to join a small group of Christian artists of all mediums click on the yahoo! widget to join.

Rev. 3:20
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in."
NIV notes: The Laodicean church was complacent and rich. They felt self-satisfied, but they didn't have Christ's presence among them. Christ knocked at the door of their hearts, but they were so busy enjoying worldly pleasures that they didn't notice that He was trying to enter. The pleasures of this world - money, security, material possessions - can be dangerous, because their temporaray satisfaction makes us indifferent to God's offer of lasting satisfaction. If you find yourself feeling indifferent to church, to God or the Bilble, you have begun to shut God out of your life. Leave the door of your heart constantly open to God and you won't need to worry about hearing his knock. Letting him in is our only hope for lasting fulfillment.

Gothic Arch Challenge~Moon

My entry for this week's Gothic Arch Challenge. The theme this week is Moon. View more fantastic links to wonderful Gothic arch art at http://gothicarches.blogspot.com/

Gothic School Arch

A new fun challenge blog may be found at http://gothicarches.blogspot.com/. Each week, a different challenge is posted to create a piece of art in the shape of a Gothic Arch. This week's challenge was school. I took a previous piece I had made, fit it to the Arch template and embellished it a bit more. I plan on making a Gothic Arch book with my pages when I'm done. I've always loved arches, so this should be a lot of fun!

Evangeline Art Doll

I am now working on Cat's doll Evangeline. She is so Sweet! I added a quails egg, text from the 1866 paperback "Evangeline" by Henry Longfellow, a tag, hand dyed rose and cream silk ribbon, a cross charm, antique buttons, vintage pink glass glitter for earrings and antiqued brass wings. This doll round robbin is sooooooo much fun!

Shabby Pink Party Hat!

Sally Smith won this custom party hat for her participation in an Art in the Word weekly inspirational prompt. She requested her hat be in pink, rose and cream, so I really let the pink explode! Materials used: paper mache cone, pink acrylics, vintage pink satin ribbon, vintage crotcheted roses, paper scrap, silver glitter and old buttons. This may also be turned upside down and used as a cone for goodies!

If you would like to join a small group of Christian artists from all mediums and of all abilities, with swaps, RR and fun prizes then click on the Yahoo Groups button to join today! We're just getting started so be a member of our inaugural group!

A Celebration Feast!

My Yahoo group, Art in the Word, has Isaiah 25 as the inspirational prompt this week.

6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine-the best of meats and finest of wines.

7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;

8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces, he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.

9 In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."

If you are interested in joining like minded Christian artists in expressing your faith artistically in the community of other Christian artists, than click on the Yahoo!Groups link to the left and check out our group today!

Lennea

Artwords ~minimalism~

This week's artword - minimalism. I must admit I'm not a big fan of minimalism or contemporary art. I especially don't like bold, primary colors. When I'm 100 and they do the "Lennea Retrospective" they'll call it my "earthy period". heehee. I like sepia, mocha, sage, burgandy, straw - all those nice, calm, muddy colors. These colors suit my personality - laid back, calm, serene. I seek experiences that invoke peacefulness and serenity. I enjoy an occasional splash of color - a yellow rose, an orange sunset, a bright lime - but I live in the calmer colors. So, I knew I wouldn't enjoy using traditional minimalist primary colors. I decided to do minimalism with minimal use of color. I started layering a variety of mocha and straw colored tissue papers. Pretty for a background, but not too exciting. I like to be calm but not in a coma! So, I had to add some gold and amber beads and bits, then decided a bit of mica would look beautiful. I was about to leave it alone when I discovered this piece of old leather stamped with the word treasure. It was just the right shade of brown - so on it went. So here is my entry - not minimalist in the traditional sense of the word perhaps, but minimal in the use of color...and it looks great on my bedroom walls.

Artwords ~Secret~

THis weeks artword~Secrets. I think it's just human nature to be curious about other people's lives. Do those perfectly manicured, thin, put together women have secret lives of chin hairs and dust bunnies? I choose to think they do (makes feel better about myself)! For this challenge I used vintage images of women and their lives from a 1930's women's magazine collaged on 4x4" sturdy matboard and tied together with vintage ribbon.These magazines always crack me up in the same way "Leave it to Beaver" and " the Brady Bunch" cracks me up. These women are waaaaay too happy about doing the laundry. So what are some of the secrets of Perfect Women? Glad you asked...

1. serves meals to family on paper plates
2.washed child's hair with dog shampoo
3. plucks stray chin hairs
4. doesn't separate colors
5.has drawer full of skin firming creams
6. counts running thru sprinklers as bathtime
7.counts ketchup as a vegetable group
8. alters clothes with safety pins and staples
9. packed school lunch of pop tart and tic tacs

Of course, these aren't MY secrets...I,uh just made them up....really....

This set of cards is for sale on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7422580935&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

artwords - Play

So this week's artword is play. As an artist, I get to play nearly everyday! I Play with color, ephemera, shapes, texture, words, brushes, inks, stamps... and this has given me my joy back. I had forgotten how to play - how to abandon myself to playing. When I forgot to play, I forgot a big part of what God created me for. God is pleased when a dog is being a dog, a flower a flower and when I am being me. When I am doing those things that make my heart sing, my soul soar and time stand still - I am being the authentic me and I believe God is pleased.

Artwords~Dreams

The artword for this week is Dreams. I created a dream journal for this. The cover says "Give Wings to your Dreams" . The vintage photo depicts a woman gazing out a window. I believe this is the first place dreams begin- in the still quiet times when you can really listen to your heart and receive the Dreams God has placed there. Other pages in my dream journal include scripture and quotes to encourage my dream journey.