Quiet

Quiet

Happy New Year! I hope you have had the opportunity to celebrate during this holiday season, and I hope you feel loved. You are loved, of course, and I hope you know it - and know the One Who loves you more than you can imagine!

This morning I painted for the first time in quite a while, and boy, was it good to return to the studio! I absolutely love the time with my family, and having my adult kids here in our house has been fabulous, AND it is great to be in the studio. 

Updated. Watch for post.
11" x 14"
Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper

Ready to frame

These last few days, my introverted character has been stretched and exercised by not very much alone time - especially compared to my normal routine. While I think it is healthy and helpful, it is also sometimes exhausting. Funny, though, I have not slept as much as I usually do! So I have spent some time this morning looking into introversion.

While I am not at all convinced that I can get a solid handle on things by using an internet search engine, (LMGTFY), still I appreciated some of the things I found, and I am ordering a book on the subject. What do I, as an introverted person, have to offer? How can I build up others in spite of, or because of, my traits?

I also started thinking about people in the Bible who might have been introverted. A few that I would like to look into are David, Elijah, Mary (the sister of Lazarus), and Moses. I actually think there are a lot of people mentioned, even those in leadership, who displayed characteristics that I identify with introversion. 

Psalm 139:23-24 HCSB 
"Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my concerns.
See if there is any offensive way in me;
lead me in the everlasting way."


1 Corinthians 12:23-24, 27 HCSB "And those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have a better presentation. But our presentable parts have no need of clothing. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable...

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it."

One of the new things for this year - at least for the start of this year - is that I am planning to let my paintings speak for themselves a bit more. I am delighted to find that more and more often, my work is surprising me, and "saying" the things that I have been thinking about and working through, even though I haven't forced it to conform to any "rules". I will be posting more work in progress, studies, and some finished paintings, and hope you enjoy the journey with me.