A Red Ripe Tomato

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I set a fresh tomato on my desk while I followed Anna Mason’s tutorial. When I thought it couldn’t really be that dark at the bottom, I’d look at my fresh tomato and it was that dark! I have to keep learning a basic lesson, “Draw or paint what you see, not what you think it should be!”

We can just glance around us and see beauty or we can really look and see the intricate patterns and details that make everything around us so extraordinary. So stop today and really see something you consider ordinary and be amazed as you see the extraordinary in it.

Pumpkin

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This pumpkin was part of my refresher course in watercolor basics with Anna Mason. This was another exercise with mostly one color. So much can be accomplished by keeping highlights light, creases dark and tonal variations to create form.

This pumpkin looks so round and firm. It’s shape is immediately recognizable. Yet this is just tinted water brushed on paper. It is truly two dimensional, but it looks three dimensional.

I wonder if this is not a metaphor for how this life really is. We are only aware of the two dimensions of time and space. When our life is looked at from the perspective of heaven the fullness is visible. The highlights and creases and variations show it full and complete. “Ah, Father, please help me see at least some of what I’m experiencing here from your perspective!”

Red Poppy

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I am taking a refresher course on watercolor basics with Anna Mason. This Red Poppy was one of the exercises. I loved how shiny and bold this poppy came out. This was an exercise in creating form and practicing brush strokes that give form with mostly one color. I was pleased with how well this turned out.

Bluebird

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I love this sweet little Eastern Bluebird. Though they are not very vocal, they are part of the Thrush family of song birds. They mate for life, but will take a new mate, if one dies. They live all over eastern Canada and US. They don’t migrate, though they will go to lower elevations or farther south during very cold weather to find food.

This little bird helps keep the bug population under control. But their pretty colors that are their claim to fame. This what attracted me to paint this lovely little bird.

This is a little bird, not worth a lot of money, but provided for by God. If He cares for them, He surely cares for you. Rest today, knowing your Heavenly Father loves and cares for you!

Graphite Frog

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This is practice with graphite. Just different grades of graphite pencils make the shift from the palest gray to the deep black shade.

It is the darks and lights, at the right time and place, that make a drawing rich and meaningful. It is the experiences of the highs and lows in life that bring meaning to our life, too. If it is all sunshine and life is easy, we begin to forget how special those sun rays are and how the highlights make the flowers stand out. When everything is heavy and dark and sad, we can lose our way in the shadows.

If this is a season of light, bright, pleasantness for you, enjoy it and share it with others. Make memories. Thank God for it.

If this is a season of dark, dull, sadness, remember God is with you and will guide you. He promised He would never leave you or forsake you. (Deut. 31:8) This time will end and you will have treasures from the darkness to share with others. (II Cor 1: 3-4)

Just as a graphite picture needs light and dark shades to give it realism, our lives also will have times of light and dark so we can be real in this world.