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!
“The earth is crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes. The rest sit around and pluck raspberries.”
-Elizabeth Barret Browning
Hello friends!
When we were children my sister and I would play “house” in our dingy garage attic. It was a small, rustic spot, lit by a dim, bare bulb, sporting a splinter-inducing wood floor and cobwebs between the beams above. It was cold in the winter and hot in the summer, but to us, it was a magical place. We played for hours allowing our imaginations to explore dreams of future babies and homes and all manner of exciting and mundane adventures.
It was a “common bush afire with God”. We chose to see magic in the attic.
Jared and I had been married a short time when we decided to rent an old house in downtown Fresno. It was run down and quirky and our friends and family cautioned about the safety of the neighborhood, but to us it was a castle! I remember feeling especially free and boundless one night as we stretched our ‘we-do-life-together-this-way-wings’, not knowing each common choice set a precedent for the future. We drove to Blockbuster and rented the next DVD episodes of Alias, got take-out Thai food, dragged our mattress into the living room, and lit a fire in the fireplace.
That evening was “Earth crammed with heaven”. We chose to see magic in that funky little evening in that funky little house.
I heard a talk recently about how the star system nearest us, Alpha Centauri, is 4.367 light-years away = roughly 26 trillion miles. As far as we know, between us and our nearest neighbor there’s a whole lot of NOTHINGNESS. Somethingness only makes up 0.0000000000000000000042% of space, give or take, and that somethingness includes all of the stars and planets in all of the universe. Of all those stars and planets, the Earth is the only one we know supports any form of life. (Though, I’m pretty sure we’re not the only ones out here. ;))
Sleep, commissioned painting based on Eric Whitacre’s beautifully eerie song, Sleep (listen here)
Earth supports life and we humans are just a smidge of the diverse plethora forms of that life. (This, my very unscientific analysis of our earthly situation.)
My point? We are somethings in a universe full of nothingness. These earthly lives that seem so common, so pedestrian, are actually CRAZY AMAZING happenings. We somethings are a miraculous novelty.
“See and take off your shoes.” Choose to see the magic in it all.
The world right now is in flux. We’re walking through “a time that history will remember with sadness, fear, and anger,” the NY Times wrote the other day. We are experiencing things we could never have imagined would happen in our lifetimes.
While we mourn with those who mourn, march toward continued justice, healing, and reform, and navigate the wild waters of political unrest, let’s choose to do so from an awareness of the miracle, the magic, that is our very breath and consciousness.
Let’s choose to see the common goodness and beauty around us every day, “bushes afire with God”. Let’s choose to see God in our brothers and sisters, “take off our shoes”, and bow down to serve.
Let’s be aware that The Great Creator is as close as our very breath, so we can confidently choose to sit in tension and make Peace.
Each of us is part of the minuscule percentage of somethingness in this vast universe and we are all miracles. Let’s not be caught “plucking raspberries”.
Grace, peace, and wholeness,
Sarah
ART SALE AND AUCTION!
We need art and beauty now more than ever.
Art from my current gallery show will soon be up for sale and auction. Look for a separate email with details. Buy and share! Email now if you’re interested in buying before the wider sale starts.
Landscapes #1, #4, and #3, 4’ x 8’ acrylic on wood, $4000 each. “Any landscape is a condition of the spirit.” - Henri Frederic Amiel
“Thomas Merton said, ‘There is always a temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues.’ There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. It is so self-conscious, so apparently moral, simply to step aside from the gaps where the creeks and winds pour down saying, ‘I never merited this grace’, quite rightly, and then to sulk along the rest of your days on the edge of rage.
I won’t have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain, or Lazarus.
Go up to the gaps. If you can find them; they shift and vanish too. Stalk the gaps. Squeak into a gap in the soil, turn, and unlock - more than a maple - a universe. This is how you spend this afternoon and tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon. Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.” -Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
No Longer a Slave to Fear, 18’ x 24’ acrylic framed, $1500. ”You unravel me with a melody. You surround me with a song. From my mother’s womb you have chosen me. Love has called my name.” Bethel Music
Life is Golden, 4’ x 5’ acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, $4000. “We love the imperfect shapes in nature and in the works of art look for an intentional ‘error’ as a sign of the golden key and sincerity found in true mastery.” -Dejan Stojanovic
Dreamy Garden, 16” x 20” acrylic on canvas, $400. Interesting fact: During a typical lifetime, people spend an average of six years dreaming. What are dreams? What could their purpose be? How do those six years of dreaming affect our perspectives? May our dreams be fruitful gardens.
Alive, 2’ x 3’, oil on wood, $400. We’re alive. That’s a miracle. And it’s worth investigating.
Splendor on Display II, 4’ x 6’ acrylic and gold leaf on wood, $4000. “Humility before God brings confidence before men.” - Wise Old Wilbur
Hydrangeas, 12” x 14”watercolor on art paper, $250. “Life is short. Buy the hydrangea.” - Two Women and a Hoe
Commission a painting!
Is there a painting you’d like 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 commission below is my replication of a meaningful card given to a beloved wife from her (now late) husband.
Patreon Community Subscription
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 club
virtual painting parties
layaway program for personal, unique, commissioned art pieces
Upcoming…
Patreon Virtual Painting Party via Simulcast
This Friday, June 26, at 8pm central!!
Paint along live or play it back later! Register with the link below.
FREE for Patrons with their $25/month subscription. Paint one every month!
If you’d like to paint just this painting: $35 (email Sarah for the link)
Patreon Artist’s Way Book Club
I believe every single person on the face of the Earth is creative in their own way. If you’ve ever questioned whether this is true or wondered what exactly you’re here to do, this book has all kinds of insights, exercises, and encouragement toward understanding what The Great Creator is up to in you. Join us for these engaging conversations!
Wednesdays @7:30pm central via Zoom! Sign up on Patreon, $10/mo.