Creativity

I've been working on a painting lately, and thus I've been thinking about all things artistic. And then analogies. Oh how I love the analogies! Ever since I actually learned that term in AP US History in eleventh grade in high school, I've never stopped using it on a day to day basis. Analogies just paint vivid pictures for me in my imagination.
 Whenever I start a painting, I feel completely disorganized and out of sorts. I sketch my piece, see where the pencil marks are,  see how ugly they look, check my proportions, see how incorrect they are, erase, repeat. And I do that a few more times until it's absolutely perfect. Then I look at the whole picture of what I'm painting, and try to piece it apart in my mind, stripping away all of the layers to see  where the colors truly began. To see the simplicity. Then my mind continues to avidly think about that while my hands decide to dance across the canvas to the flow of the music I'm playing, emersed in colors that aren't even part of the picture. Then I realize how I've lost sight of what I'm actually doing. Whenever I'm in my creative zone (which is 99% of the time,) I always feel a constant battle. The battle between focus and being lead astray, I literally see that as my mind is focused on how to piece colors, proportions, perspective, and design together, while my hands seem to have a mind of their own- and it's not just since my right arm started going numb and I've been using both hands, it's actually something I've been wrestling with my entire life.
So I ask myself, " why can't I just focus, why am I losing sight of the simplicity, and making it harder for myself?" Then I hear the word "distraction."
 Distraction consumes lives and a lot of times causes us to forget how simple things can be if we just focus on what's important. What's simple.
Our brains were designed by a God who puts so much focus, time and energy into us. He creatively placed each and every brain cell in your brain for a purpose. And don't try to sit here and think of all the ways you aren't creative. You are creative. Except it. It doesn't mean you have to paint or make you tube videos. There's more to life and creativity than the obvious subjects of this noun. A lot of times, being creative can be as simple as just thinking of how to get to higher thinking. To stop thinking of this world and focusing on Jesus instead. So instead of focusing on a distraction like, "what am I not creative," think of all the reasons you are creative! You can't bash the creativity when you were CREATED by a creative God. Look at that, three "creatives" in a sentence. I'm sure you are thinking about a better way that could be said. That's creativity too. The creative gene has already been planted inside of you, inside your brain, and inside your heart. The only thing that keeps us from doing what we're called to do is distraction. But when we fix our eyes on the truth, that we were made for a purpose, that we were created by a creative God, the distractions won't weaken us so much. Since our eyes are fixed on God, he can piece together our lives, and before we know it, it'll all come together. Most of the time it's even better than we could imagine. It's creative.

A sneak peak of my current painting I'm working on for my cousin!

The Aroma of Love

Today I've been super focused on warming my heart. I woke up to a rainy day, a bit chilly, out of sorts, and exhausted. As the day progressed, the outside temperature became cooler as well as my body temperature. It wasn't until I made a piping hot mug of Lemon Ginseng tea that I took a moment to just stop, breathe in the warmth, and think. Ponder. Become thankful. I sat clenching my mug to my chest in the most elegant way a person can while they're freezing cold, and just sat in the quiet and let the light, lemony aroma seep into my tired and cold heart.
I've noticed that my heart tends to be cold here in Pennsylvania. Not cold-hearted- I've always loved people-but cold as in restricted. Desolated. But as I sit and am aware of how I'm feeling, I'm quickly reminded of how warm God's heart is for me, for us. Today I opened up my bible app on my Ipod and quickly read this verse of the day:

 Philippians 1:9-11 "I pray that your love will keep on growing and that you will fully know and understand how to make the right choices. Then you will still be pure and innocent when Christ returns. And until that day, Jesus will keep you busy doing good deeds that bring glory and praise to God."

I don't know about you, but this verse makes me really want to love people, and love starts with the heart. I'm realizing that if my heart is cold and desolated, I can only love on people and be able to show them love if I first remind myself of how God first loved me, and that is truly what warms the heart. Who knows, that aroma might even smell like lemons to you.

Or Rice.

Watermelon, Books, and Seashells

Lately I've been really into nutrition, reading, and art (obviously.) . Not only have I been annoying my lovely mother since I'm home for the summer, but I got her to let me juice a watermelon. A watermelon! Well, "my portion" of a watermelon, so a green plastic bowl's worth, aka a serving size. Watermelon is delicious, but I'm not too much of a fan of eating it before a workout, nor am I happy about getting drenched it. As crazy as it sounds, for an art student, I actually prefer not getting my hands messy.  So I thought of a better plan.
Did you know you could drink watermelon juice?? I was reading in Fitness magazine that watermelon juice contains a large amount  l-citrulline, which is shown to help muscles heal quicker after a workout. Since this appealed to me so much. I threw my portion of watermelon in the blender, pureed it, and it's now happily sitting in my fridge, where I take it out each morning and enjoy a refreshing glass. To test it out I did a small ab workout, and I wasn't sore the next day, so it works!

P.S. Recognize the towel?

    Not only did I juice yesterday, but I read. A lot. I was so bored that I read three different books, and I'm pretty sure that was all I did. Oh wait, I also did laundry, ate an eggless cookie, and sang songs from the Lion King and some other Disney movies with my darling sister. You could have seen an opera show for free! You probably also would have come out barley being about to hear. Just kidding, we're good singers!
Anyways, the first book I read I don't remember the title, but I do remember that it was really good. Joel Olsteen wrote it, and one of the stories was about how his mom overcame liver cancer when she was told she only had two weeks to live. So miraculous! The second book I finished up was Spoken For by Robin Jones Gunn and Alyssa Joy Bethke. Talk about delightful. I really recommend reading it, because it doesn't just remind you of who you are ,but also who God says you are. To be reminded that you are his bride, no matter what age and no matter whether you are married or not. It came out in April, and is online at amazon.com in Kindle version (that's what I read!) and paperback, so check it out, you won't be disappointed! I'm also finishing up The Moon and More, by Sarah Dessen. Whenever I read her books I think of summer, probably because I'm pretty sure every one of her books take place in the summer and are romances-two of my favorite things. This book is also probably why everything I've been doing is replicating the beach.
I've had a lot of seashells that used to sit displayed on an sea-themed tray on top of my dresser, seashells scattered around the tray and in bowls, adding a decor of an endless ocean and sandy beach. Well now that I'm realizing how much more I hate winter in NYC since it's much more frigid and the snow piles up higher than Pratt's security gates, I've realized how much I've missed and appreciate summer. So, I've been pinteresting, scheming, and designing ways I can effectively use my seashells, change up my room, preserve, and utilize them while also downsizing. I've realized how filled my room has become since I've gotten back from college, and have been a tad bit paralyzed by the large quantities of boxes, clothing, and limited space. So, I've created designs on many of my boring picture frames using shells, sand, and marble stones. I've also filled up a jar with shells, water and a tea light (thank you pinterest.)Today I decided to paint and seashell a giant jewelry box, and create a board that I already had some collected Dove chocolate wrappers glued onto, which I added seashells to and painted a pale yellow. It turned out looking like the floor of Katie's house in Safe Haven, which I love, so I love it! I hope you enjoy what I've been up to lately, and that you choose to keep healthy and craft as well!

Realizing the Beauty

So today was full of sunshine, bubbles, snacks, and drawing. It was beautiful out, I got to babysit two of the sweetest kids in my community, wore my new lifeguard swim top, pet the sweetest old dog, got a glimpse of how mom's feel like while babysitting a seven and nine year old, ate carrots, babysat 2 amazing but exhausting children for the third time in a row this week, learned about trains and cars from Dylan (7) didn't get convinced by Rayvin (9) that Daisy (the sweetest old dog) didn't want to eat her dog food and should instead eat carrots instead because Daisy doesn't like Beneful since it's bad for her and wants Iams-Oh, child- which caused me to go into a semi-lengthy discussion about harmful ingredients in food (thank you senior project in high school), ate delicious spaghetti because my mom is awesome, and drew a picture at the lake after getting very angry and then simmering down to experience true peace and grace. Sometimes on days like these, when I have to be somewhere at 2:30pm (which is this entire week) and don't get ready and motivated until eleven or noon, I do relaxing things but feel useless. I let anger take over, distraction, and start to become consumed by myself instead of letting myself become consumed with God. I didn't really realize this until I got so angry after dinner that I stormed down to the lake with my sketchbook. Yes, I began to angrily draw the dock (yay, it's out and I'll begin life guarding in t-minus two weeks!!) and grumble about how stupid and boring and mundane everything is here in PA, but it wasn't until I sat down drawing for at least half an hour that I felt the true peace of God. I looked down at my paper- black ink, countless pen strokes, monotony- and looked back at the water which was still, timeless, and peaceful. I then realized that in the midst of my crazy busy life, God is always there, he's always peaceful, and no craziness can disturb his beauty and peace. And now, sitting here, I'm reminded of the sunshine and goodness he always brings to me, whether it's in fashion, painting my nails, or sunbathing, there is so much more than the things I can see at the moment. There is b e a u t y.

A picture package of how I began to beautify in the beauty of outdoors!