Welcome to my monthly newsletter! Scroll down to stay updated with the art and events happening in my world. Be encouraged and inspired to live wholeheartedly in your own life!
Hello Friends!
Beauty. Goodness. Big questions. Normally, I have to remind myself to see that beauty and goodness DO surround us. There’s no need for reminders about the big questions at this point. Can you relate?
These last couple of months have rocked the world. For me, March started out with confusion and loss, (more on that below). In the beginning, when things were changing from day to day, even hour to hour and we were all in a state of disbelief. Now a month in, I STILL find myself in that state half the time. I vacillate between feeling confusion and fear, (like the day I ventured out to Costco and saw all the workers dressed like surgeons), to feeling like this time is a beautiful gift. We have time to be with family and recalibrate/reevaluate. Be still. BE.
All the feelings are valid. “What you don’t feel you can’t heal,” as they say.
We can all feel and heal, meditate and listen…
Often times while being still I see pictures in my mind's eye that symbolize what is happening in my heart, or what The Spirit is saying to me. Recently, I saw a big book with its huge page turning. Whatever else this pandemic is, it is a forced, collective pause. There’s an invitation to turn to a new page, maybe a new chapter; to be still and listen, and awaken to who we’re made to be.
The exciting thing to me is that BE-ing almost always translates into DO-ing.
Only when we take time to BE, can our DOing happen from a deep and true and inspired place. I’m more excited than ever to collaborate and create from that secret place where God speaks. We’re LIGHTS created to burn brightly, fully aligned with our purpose, and equipped as we go…...because that’s what the whole world needs, each of us lit from the inside.
Stop the World (a poem I wrote in 2017)
Stop the world.
Break my notions.
Unwind the constrained descriptions in my mind - this small, feeble, false reality.
Come, inexplicable and wide truth.
Stop the world.
Experience fragility.
Let it shatter the false in my patterns.
Let what’s vulnerable teach me.
Let what’s frightening inform.
Conversion by calamity, you’re invited.
Stop the world.
I am afraid to stop the world.
I quake before my quiet mind.
What will become of
my constructs,
my definitions,
my lines in the sand?
Naked.
Stripped of fig leaves -
my prejudice,
presumption,
and dogma that binds.
Clear this plank, leastwise the splinter.
Now seen is a beauty not recognized before.
Stop the world.
What’s next? (This, said with anticipation rather than exasperation…half of the time.)
-Sarah
My Gallery Exhibit and COVID 19
A year ago I was invited to create a gallery exhibit for the Marcellus Gallery at the Kings Art Center in Hanford, CA.
The exhibit consists of 120 pieces and has three main themes:
Nature Reveals the Divine - The First Incarnation
Strong Women
Illustrations from The Prophet, by Gibran
I also shared some of my hymnal page pieces.
For me, this was a year-long exercise in expansion. It’s the first time in my 45 years that I’ve created something of this scale on my own and I was both intimidated and invigorated. I was forced to see myself in a new way and expand to meet another level of potential. While I usually come under other people, working to enhance THEIR visions (something noble and necessary and something I enjoy), this exhibit was my responsibility, from start to finish MY vision. I took seriously the invitation to say with images things I feel are deeply important and beautiful. The process of creating this exhibit was a growth-gift FOR ME.
The art was delivered and hung when COVID 19 safety measures began ramping up. On the day of the scheduled opening, things were changing every hour. When it was announced that gatherings over 250 people were not allowed, we decided, together with the gallery’s board, that all must be canceled. There were tears.
All the expansion and growth had been a gift, for me. But I also wanted to share what I’d created.
We have all lost and sacrificed during this pandemic. I’m not immune.
At the last minute, we decided to do a virtual gallery tour…the next best thing? I felt bare and unprepared but once we started I found I was more than prepared to talk about my art! Since posting the video tour to Facebook and YouTube, over 20K people have seen it. So many more than would have come to the gallery. I guess this was for me…AND for sharing, after all!
The exhibit still hangs there in Central California. The gallery has been closed since day one, but there is a possibility it could open when restrictions lift. I’ll keep you posted.
California
We enjoyed our road trip out west. So many memories set in these epic California destinations! After arriving in the Central Valley, we spent 10 days going from town to town, meeting with old and new friends, and teaching workshops.
It was my joy to paint and speak. Making room for OUR creativity will inspire our families and those around us to become all THEY are meant to be!
Thanks to each of you who invited me to share, attended a workshop, housed and fed us, and encouraged us along the way! (Special thanks to Mike and Katie Bruton, Heather and Rylie Hilscher, and Mindy and Dave Roseno. You’re family, if not of blood.)
Daily Watercolor Tutorials
Upon returning home, social distancing measures were in full swing. I decided to start doing free FB Live painting tutorials as a way of continuing to put beauty into the world and give people my version of “getting into the flow” and “BEing”, especially during this crazy time.
Wednesdays and Thursdays @4pm CST
We’ve so enjoyed the interaction and engagement! Thank you, everyone, for painting with me while we’re all in “lockdown”. :P We’ve made friends from all over the country and the world through this offering! Hello Australia, Philippines, England, Honduras!
Commission a painting!
Is there a painting you’d like for me to create for you? Do you have an idea, a mission, a message you’d like to display through images on your walls? I'd love to have a conversation and work to create for you a just-right painting.
(The message behind the painting below: Be yourself. Don’t compare or pretend. Derived from Aesop’s Fables, The Vain Jackdaw.)
Patreon Community Subscription
I’ve been looking for a way to create an online community that allows me to share art and inspiration toward creativity. Put your form of beauty into the world! Patreon is a subscription platform that allows me to serve you in all kinds of ways, starting at $2/month. Check it out! I invite you to join us!
art prints
encouragement toward using your creativity to put beauty into the world
merch!
virtual book conversations
virtual painting parties
layaway program for personal, unique, commissioned art pieces
Upcoming…
Patreon Virtual Painting Party
Painting party on Zoom, this Thursday, 4/23 (tomorrow), at 8pm central!! See the supply list in the Painting Party Club link below.
Sign up for monthly painting parties, $25.
Or email to join the April painting only, $30"
Patreon Artist’s Way Book Study (…the word“study” is being used loosely here.)
Wednesdays @9pm central via Zoom! Join the conversation! Sign up on Patreon.
Art Lately
Landscape #4, 4 x 8 ft acrylic on wood, $4000
She’s an Uncaged Bird, SOLD 3 x 4 ft, acrylic and oil on canvas
Leah, NFS, acrylic and oil on paper
Wild Watercolor Garden, 18 x 32 watercolor and ink on art paper, $350
Splendor on Display #3, 4 x 6 ft acrylic and gold leaf on wood, $5000