It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare,
it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.'
- Seneca
I put in my pictures everything I like.
So much the worse for the things -
they have to get along with one another.
-Pablo Picasso
God doesn't call the qualified;
He qualifies the called.'
For if the willingness is there,
the gift is acceptable
according to what one has,
not according to what he does not have.
2Corinthians. 8:12
bless your hands
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
Psalm 63:4
For the Lord your God will bless your harvest
and in all the work of your hands,
and your joy will be complete."
Deut. 16:15
God is in the details.
Art is the only way to run away
without leaving home.
Twyla Tharp
Indecision is the worst enemy of creativity
What greater thing is there for human souls
than to feel that they are joined for life -
to be with each other
in silent unspeakable memories.
George Eliot
In art the hand can never execute anything
higher than the heart can inspire.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every artist dips his brush in his soul
and paints his own nature into
his pictures.
Henry Ward Beecher
The seed will grow well,
the vine will yield its fruit,
the ground will produce its crops,
and the heavens will drop their dew.
Zechariah 8:12
If anyone thirsts,
let him come to me and drink...
John 7:37
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
Our gifts are not from God to us, but from God through us to the world... When we try to live without exercising our artistic gifts, we may feel restless and empty. Life lacks fullness. Something buried deep within longs to emerge. Job wrote, 'For I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me; inside I am like bottled-up wine, like new wineskins ready to burst. I must speak and find relief; I must open my lips and reply' (Job 32:18-20). If we have neglected to develop and use the talents God has given us, we feel incomplete, unfulfilled, unfinished, even depressed. We are 'like new wineskins ready to burst'. We devour books, we travel, we acquire possessions, or we busy ourselves in relationships and careers (not that these are bad things - just that they won't fill that gap). We engage in diversions of all kinds in an attempt to find that elusive thing called 'fulfillment'. We spend our time and money in a fruitless search to 'find ourselves' instead of finding out how God wants us to use the talents he has given us. Janice Elsheimer
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
Psalm 1:3
I am like an olive tree
flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God's unfailing love
for ever and ever.
Psalm 52:8
She is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
Those who lay hold of her will be blessed.
Proverbs 3:18
...for you alone,
O LORD,
make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8
The earth laughs in flowers.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
If I had to tell you why I'm a painter and why I spread paint on a canvas,
I should say: I paint because I have no tail to wag.
Herman Hesse
Biblically speaking the making of art
is not an option but a command.
Harold Best
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
psalm 100:4-5
Then we learned about the priestly garments...
"They made pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen around the hem of the robe."
Exodus 39:24
The interesting thing is that there are no blue pomegranates in nature!
Francis A. Schaeffer in Art & the Bible says,
"The implication is that there is freedom to make something which
gets its impetus from nature but can be different from it...
In other words art does does not need to be 'photographic'..."
I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
Psalm 63:4
You are the salt of the earth.
Matthew 5:13
