Every time I see this painting I think, “WOW! That is bright!”  The painting, however, didn’t do anything to earn or achieve its brightness.  The brightness is caused by the contrast white watercolor paper provides when juxtaposed with the painted parts. It has nothing to do with the pigment used (sometimes that pesky little pigment wants to take the credit though!).  That contrast then causes a focal point that your eye is first drawn to.

In the book of Ephesians we are described as a painting, a masterpiece, even!

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 NIV

It’s quite thought-provoking to consider that God paints our story on His canvas (our bodies).  All the things that we go through in this life:  major life events, struggles, successes and failures, exciting times and terrible times are some of pigments He uses to paint His masterpiece.

“We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that the extraordinary overflow of power will be seen as God’s, not ours.” (2 Cor 4:7).

God’s glorious light shines through our story.  All the cracks and blank spaces among the pigment that occur through the various life experiences we have, may hurt at the time, but they serve a glorious and eternal purpose.  God never wastes a hurt.  Instead His light can shine even brighter through those cracks, drawing the attention of the people around us, and lighting the way for the next person who sees that stream of light peeking out from God in your life!

No matter how common, boring or broken our container is, God’s light is powerful and will always shine through even the smallest crack, drawing others to Himself, the focal point, just like he drew us.

My friends, God has a plan for you. All the good and all the bad stuff you have been going through (present time or past) will be eternally re-purposed for good, for Gods glory and for the Kingdom!

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I would love to hear from you! Please comment below, or by email (merri@artsandblessings.com) or for quicker interaction with me as well as with other readers, post your comment on my facebook page! I can’t wait to hear from you!

When they gave me codeine after I had my wisdom teeth removed, I ended up lost in my own house.

My face was swollen and stuffed with gauze as I slept on the living room couch that first night.  In the dead of night I woke dizzy and disoriented, and I could not tell where I was or which way was up.  Where are the stairs?  Where is the bathroom? …Where am I?

With my jaw aching and head pounding I searched for any clue that would give me direction.  And there it was… a light!  One little tiny dot of light. I knew this was important so I stared for a moment confused, trying to figure out what it was. Then I realized that dot of light was the indicator that the night light was plugged in!  My mind swirled with recognition as the layout of our home snapped into place. Relief took over my heart and gave me a big hug.

Portland Head Light Lighthouse and its rocky coast

That tiny indicator light was like a mini lighthouse, shining its light and tasked to guide me safely across the rocky coast of our living room to bring me to shore with care.

It’s no wonder the Lord is often referred to as the light of the world (John 8:12).  When we get disoriented or confused, we can remember “the Lord will be my light.” (Micah 7:8b)

When I was driving home today I passed a sign with one of Corrie Ten Boom’s quotes and I just love the way she put it, “Let Gods promises shine on your problems.” What a perfect way to put it. He is the Promise, and He has filled a whole book up writing them down for us.

Have you experienced God’s promises lighting the way for you? I’d love to hear your story!

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I would love to hear from you! Please comment below, or by email (merri@artsandblessings.com) or for quicker interaction with me as well as with other readers, post your comment on my facebook page! I can’t wait to hear from you!

Imagine looking into a lake of water on a fresh spring day, or into a quiet stream making its way over branches and rocks, and around snow and ice. Or maybe you are looking into a still pool of water, while children giggle and play Marco-Polo in the shallow end.

No matter the season, the time of day, the type of water or the shape it takes, they all reveal the same thing when you look into it; a reflection.

The water will always reflect back what it sees. It may not be a perfect reflection as the weather conditions and activity of the water will cause ripples or small waves or rings that will distort the image, but it still reflects back what it sees.

In Ephesians 5, water is used to describe the Word:

“For he died for us, sacrificing himself to make us holy and pure, cleansing us through the showering of the pure water of the Word of God”

— Ephesians 5:25b-26 TPT

About 15 years ago, i made this picture of the Bride of Christ being showered with various Words of Scripture as she walks under the awning to meet her Groom!

Our minds are given a cleansing bath by the Word, washed of all the dirt, dust and grime we picked up throughout or day.  I imagine the scriptures showering down on me, washing my mind, transforming my soul.

When we look into the waters of Scripture, when we gaze intensely into them, they reflect back onto us, just like other bodies of water.  It’s a beautiful picture of being cleansed and transformed to be more Christ-like. To be purified, becoming ready to be the Bride of Christ.

Now imagine being so immersed into the waters of scripture,  so deeply in the presence of God as we meet him there, that our face reflects that of Gods?  The radiant beauty of the Lord would shine brightly on our faces as we climb back down the mountain like Moses did on Mount Sinai, to be among the people who are waiting for us. They would actually see the glory of God on us. How cool is that?

What would it be like if we were now completely submerged in the scriptures? We’d come back up wet with the Word dripping off our hair, our clothes, leaving a trail of puddles and droplets of truth behind us for others to splash through. For others to follow and find as we walk from place to place. People would become curious and intrigued…they may even follow us all the way to God!

One final thought… sometimes we think we need to simply read the scriptures and our ticket is punched, our deed is done. But in doing so, we never get wet. Never get messy, never get cleaned, purified, transformed… We would never leave behind those droplets of truth for others to find and follow to Jesus. But what if:

“The goal is not for us to get through the Scriptures. The goal is to get the Scriptures through us….What matters is not how many words we memorize, but what happens to our minds as we immerse them in Scripture”

— Ortberg, John. The Life You've Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People (p.187, 190). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

I would love to hear from you! Please comment below, or by email (merri@artsandblessings.com) or for quicker interaction with me as well as with other readers, post your comment on my facebook page! I can’t wait to hear from you!

You may have noticed I paint a lot of landscapes with reflections. That’s because of how much fun it is to do, especially when it actually looks like it is a reflection when it’s done :)

My most recent landscape painting I call “Joyful Reflections”.

My goal was to paint a scene that evokes feelings of joyfulness, so I chose warm colors to add to the trees and shrubs, since they are known to cause the viewer to have happy feelings float to the surface. It is also fun to change up colors you’d expect to see in a landscape, and they provide a nice contrast to all of the cooler greens and blues.

For the image being reflected, I wanted to add more detail to help it stand apart from the reflection.

So I added some scribbles and stipplings to give definition to some trees. That was an exciting kind of scary thing to do because I didn’t want to ruin the painting and you can’t undo a micron pen!

But I had no intention of it being perfect. Loose, free and fun is what I was going for! Without that, where is the joy?

Once I had the main picture done with the background detailed and the girl and kayak in place, all the focus was to the right of the painting. I needed something to balance out the left side.

I love Claude Monet’s Water Lily Pond painting. so I thought I’d try to add some lily pads and water flowers to the surface of the water. .

I used gouache and my favorite iridescent sparkly watercolor to help the pads and flowers to stand out from the reflection.

How fun is that? These photos don’t really capture the effect as well as viewing it in person, but the lily pads are quite fun!

Don’t you want to play hopscotch on them to get to the dry land?

The final piece achieves the goal of being joyfully magical!

It has some things I wish I could change, like the purple tree from being in dead center of the painting, but this painting was never about being perfect, it was about having fun, experimenting, and painting some joy.

When we get hung up on perfection, creativity runs right out the door. This paintings very beginnings were born out of a technique that eliminates a lot of control. By using it, you make random leaf-like patterns by pressing crumpled saran wrap into wet watercolor and wait for it to dry. Doing this left behind the neat textured background that I used to shape the trees and bushes.

The saran wrap technique leaves a lot up to chance. It does not create a perfect mirror image from the top half to the bottom. The painting started out perfectly imperfect! I worked from that first layer of playing with textures to come to this final painting.

The imperfections that result are born out of joyful creativity, experimenting, and having fun playing with new techniques.

Sometimes you just need to let go of “just right” to jump into the relaxing, fun flow of the art.

I would love to hear from you! Please comment below, or by email (merri@artsandblessings.com) or for quicker interaction with me as well as with other readers, post your comment on my facebook page! I can’t wait to hear from you!

Mermaid Pond

Look closely! (click to enlarge) The ducks are lined up on the edge of the pond by the dock. They look like they are ready for a swim meet!

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Serenity Pond Original Watercolor Painting

When I saw a picture of a pond like the one above, I loved it, I thought it was so beautiful and I longed to go there.

But it was missing something… no one was there to enjoy it. Not a bird, not a boat and no mermaids—believe it or not! Nothing at all to soak in all the serenity which is calmly waiting to be enjoyed. So in my version of the picture, I added some mallards and sent them off by two’s to have adventures together (the buddy system is still important!).

At the end of our street, there is a place called “Mermaid Pond”. Well, at least that is what we call it. Many years ago, our neighbors created the pond at the bottom of the hill in their yard. It is a pretty good size pond—big enough to act as a neighborhood ice skating rink. They also added ducks and geese to the pond, so it is a lot of fun to sit on the small bench and watch them play. Sometimes there is a spash with no obvious explanation so clearly, it is caused by mermaids being almost caught as they ducked back down under the waters surface!

There is a stretch of a wooded swampy area off to the right of the pond, and it is filled to capacity (or so it sounds) with bullfrogs, tree frogs and toads, and various other amphibious creatures. And ticks (and mosquitos), so I’ve never personally explored that mysterious and mucky area.

Walking on the side of the road by that stretch, with all those woodsy sounds and the occasional splash and quack, makes it seem like we’re entering a secret getaway spot.

The sounds of nature can transport you to another place, if you let it. They can take you away to savor the serenity, to soak in the creation, to observe the reflections in the pond, to watch the trees eagerly wave with the wind, and to capture each moment we have, each one a gift to marinate in the joys of Gods imagination and creativity!

Each minute can be celebrated because that minute is once-in-a-lifetime event! Each one is for us to have and enjoy to the fullest as it comes.

So why not take the time to use our gift of imagination to dream and ponder a peaceful, serene world where the mermaids joyfully splash just out of sight? Where trees conduct the chorus of the melodic voices belonging to frogs and ducks, geese and toads?

I wonder what the lyrics to their song would be?

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I would love to hear from you! Please comment below, or by email (merri@artsandblessings.com) or for quicker interaction with me as well as with other readers, post your comment on my facebook page! I can’t wait to hear from you!