Strange Lands

Among other things, I have been keeping myself busy with tax returns and spending too little time drawing.  While that is the main reason I'm going to cheat and post an old drawing, doing taxes also reminded me again of what a strange country this is sometimes.  Stranger is a drawing I did a few years ago after setting foot in the U.S. 

A graphic novelist who depicts this idea of arriving in a foreign country marvelously is Shaun Tan in his book The Arrival. A real treasure worth looking up at the library! 

Jack and the Beanstalk

"Hey!" 
(Poor mother!)





Here is Jack still comfortably napping while you've been guessing about him! While I have a few drawings still brewing on the stove, I remembered my promise to blog about which Jack I pictured a few posts ago.  I made this last year for a class I took, using old rhymes and tales as exercises in illustration - a great way to practice! 

Let it snow...

Today is a nice, quiet and snowy day after 

a hectic week.  I've lost count of the snowy 

days we've had in our long snowy winter 

here in Boston. 

I'm loving it, and so is Emmeline!

Down in the Depths

That's the title of the other piece I got to exhibit at last week's event.  Today is a good day to show you this one. (You can see the first piece here.)  

On our darkest days we question our existence, our Creator, and our pain.  ‘Why?’ But just as God had great plans for a runaway prophet, our days in the belly of a fish are precious times of preparation and training. The Scriptures tell us that we can “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3-4). Through our brokenness and sin, our scars tell a powerful story of God’s love and rescue. I hope this will encourage you to face your own sea monsters, proclaim at every opportunity your story of being raised from the depths, and join in David’s psalms:

“I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our  God.
…
I have told the glad news of deliverance
in the great congregation;
behold, I have not restrained my lips,
as you  know, O Lord.”

(Psalm 40:1-3,9 ESV) 

Emmeline

Her name is Emmeline.  She is a small girl and she wears small shoes.  She has a love for robots, big and small, and can often be seen dressed up like one!

 

Ropes of Grace and a Broken Roof

Last Friday I got to be part of an art event where I got to showcase two drawings.  The event was called The Art of Hope: (Searching for) Beauty in the Broken and was held at my church.  Besides visual art, there was poetry, musical performances, but most importantly--lots of mingling and answering questions about my art.  It was good practice for me to put aside being self-conscious.  The healthy struggle of creating drawings towards a theme as well as writing the text to go with them were a great experience and opportunity. 

Have you stared long enough at the picture to figure out what it is? I should say, who you are? The drawing is based on the story of the paralyzed man, which can be found in Mark 2:1-12.  He is being lowered through a hole in the roof by his four friends so he can be healed by Jesus.

Meet Jack

This is Jack! He's found a place to relax for a few minutes - I enjoyed every minute of drawing his content. He's Jack from one of the good old tales we all know, can you guess which one? Jack Sprat? Jack and Jill? Jack and the Giant? I will zoom out for you in one of my next posts! I've always had the hopeful suspicion, though, that it wasn't just that his name was very common, but that he's the same Jack jumping from story to story. I wanted you to meet him because you'll be seeing more of him as I hope to weave some of his stories together.


                                                                 

Reset

I'm back online, but this time with drawings! If you're reading this, I am breaking radio silence and resetting this blog to become an outlet for my drawings.  I hope you will enjoy them as much as I enjoy creating them.  Stay tuned!