It’s been a long time coming, but I feel like I’m finally having my own post-birth art renaissance. My little one just turned a year and a half (yikes!), and she’s finally gotten to a great point where she can sit and do her own Jackson Pollocks while I do my thing. It’s so lovely. I also have my first real art show coming up at the beginning of next month! My brain has been on a constant kick to come up with a fabulous but inexpensive table layout while also contemplating and completing new pieces to paint, print, and show.

This is one of those pieces. It’s refreshing to jump back into my work after being gone and truly enjoy and appreciate the work that comes about. There’s nothing that will send me back into my artistic hermitage more than spending long-lost emotional intensity on something that, in my opinion, ends up crappy. But I really like this one…

(The GLA logo is just a watermark)

The Psalms are stuffed full of musical images since they are songs in themselves. Reading them always sends my soul into an artistic mood. This one popped in my mind a couple days ago, so I doodled a sketch and went to town. Can you tell I’m in love with gradients? ;o)

I love thinking about the way the Israelites sang these Psalms, or were at least instructed to. My husband and I were talking about it the other day. We’re so static in church these days (at least at my very Caucasian Baptist/Grace Brethren/Presbyterian churches), I  heard a friend confess she’d love to clap but doesn’t cause it would seem out of place and make too much noise. What happened to passages like “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing” (Psalm 30:11) and “Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!” (Psalm 100:1). Dunno about you, but ain’t nobody shoutin’ in my church unless they have a hearing problem…

By the way, I’m hoping to take a dose of this joyful medication myself. I’m normally pretty reserved, but I think it’s just a sign that I don’t fully understand what Jesus has done for me. If I really grasped the Gospel, I wouldn’t be able to shut up about it!

Here’s my challenge to you (and me!): if you’re the church-going sort, loosen up just a little this week during worship. Stop thinking about what people are thinking of you and think about what you’re singing to God. There are some awesome truths in those songs you might have missed for years.

In love and truth,

Natalie Grace