PORTFOLIO
acrylic, oil, and gold leaf on canvas
When you come to the edge of what you've always known, stop and reflect. Take your time. Stalk the boundary and see what might be there for you to receive, to do, to create in that new world beyond.
"Life on the borders of a group — and in the space between groups—is prone to dangers literal and figurative, with people both at 'home' and among the 'other' likely to misunderstand or mistrust the motivations, piety, and loyalty of the border-stalker. But mearcstapa (Japanese term) can be a role of cultural leadership in a new mode, serving functions including empathy, memory, warning, guidance, mediation, and reconciliation. Those who journey to the borders of their group and beyond will encounter new vistas and knowledge that can enrich the group.”
― Makoto Fujimura, Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for our Common Life
acrylic and watercolor on archival art paper
You have purpose.
You won't be crushed by it. Rather, you'll be established in it.
This gift that is in you, be absorbed by it.
Steep yourself in excellence.
Pay attention to the reason you are alive.
Never allow yourself to be pulled from your assignment by misplaced affections.
watercolor and ink on archival art paper
“To focus solely on endings is to trade conclusions for the very beginnings that created them. And if this tendency should persist, we will likewise miss the beginning that will follow this ending.”
- Craig D. Lounsbrough
How and Why
acrylic and ink on canvas
Today I come to the canvas empty. I have nothing to say, and neither puppy lick nor foamy espresso inspires. The brush feels foreign, the paint a stranger. My mind knows that to create is a calling, a duty even, but my heart needs some reminding. Paint through me, I pray.
“Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.” – Andre Gide
“Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.” – Ai Weiwei
Women are Leaders
- from the 'Women Are' series -
graphite and gold leaf on archival art paper
A woman contains multitudes.
"Women belong in all places where decisions are being made." - Ruth Bader Ginsburg
"One of the criticisms I’ve faced over the years is that I’m not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe somehow, because I’m empathetic, it means I’m weak. I totally rebel against that. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong.” -Jacinda Ardern
Life is Golden
acrylic, oil, and gold leaf on wood
"The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone."
- George Eliot
We have no choice. We must spend our lives, much like we spend gold coin. What will we 'buy' with our moments here in this world? That's the real question to ask.
Grounded in Hope
- painted live on stage during a Full Sail conference in CA -
acrylic on canvas
When I do a live painting at an event my heart is in a state of contemplation and at the same time ablaze with vision. The practice of creativity to me means tuning heart and mind to the inspiration of God, following the Spirit's whims and trusting colors, strokes, and composition to come naturally from my hands. While I have a measure of control, the end product is always a surprise to me.
"Living Hope" was the theme.
Stay open and vulnerable, grounded in the KNOWING that God is in and through all. To live freely means letting go of ego, grounding oneself in the lavish garden of God's kindness and abundance.
Peony
watrcolor on archival art paper
"I paint flowers so they will not die," by Frida Kahlo
"There are always flowers for those who want to see them."
-Henri Matisse
“The earth laughs in flowers.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I must have flowers, always, and always.” - Claude Monet
“Flowers don’t tell, they show.” - Stephanie Skeem
Be Here
acrylic and oil on canvas
Time is a strange thing. It seems to go faster each year I'm on this earth. With all that needs to be done, with all the places I must be, with the inevitable change that comes with growth, and with all that's happening in the world around me, it’s easy to forget to be still. These are a reminder, a prayer, a statement of the way I want to live. There's grace for this moment. Only be here.
"How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon? -Dr. Seuss
Doorway
acrylic and oil on canvas
I've been dreaming about doorways for the past year. To walk through a doorway is to pass from one place to another.
Sometimes we choose and open our own doorways, sometimes we're led.
Sometimes there is only one apparent next step to take, and so we take it.
Sometimes grief is a doorway.
Sometimes imagination is a doorway.
Sometimes change is a doorway.
Sometimes dialogue is a doorway.
Sometimes...
Song of Songs
acrylic and oil on canvas
Awake, O north wind! Awake,
O south wind! Breathe on my garden with your Spirit-Wind.
Stir up the sweet spice of your life within me.
Spare nothing as you make me your fruitful garden.
Hold nothing back until I release your fragrance.
Come walk with me in your paradise garden.
Come taste the fruits of your life in me.
Initial Incarnation I
- part of the Initial Incarnation series -
4' x 8' acrylic and oil on wood
“Any landscape is a condition of the spirit.”
- Henri Frederic Amiel
"The first Incarnation was the moment...when God joined unity with the physical universe and became the light inside of everything". God has always been present, "incarnate". The whole universe, including nature, is a sacred expression of God. There is "one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all", making up the very fabric of the universe.
Eph 4:6, Rom 1:20
Part one in a four-part series, "The Initial Incarnation - God Revealed in Nature". These paintings were the welcoming presentation at the entrance to Sarah's studio exhibition at Marcellus Gallery, CA.
"Beauty will save the world." - Dostoevsky
"Art is the daughter of freedom." - Friedrich Schiller
"I get to." - Sarah Geesey
