Feeling so much better these last few weeks as I’ve taken time to really fill up again. Crazy how quickly life can take a toll on our spirit. I really just needed to get out of myself for a bit and focus on my Blessings. God has me in some challenging places right now and I have to lean on Him and TRUST. Like i’ve said before, this is a process for me and trust doesn’t come easy. It’s hard work emotionally and spiritually. But it’s good work and it’s good for me to be tired from it:) The Lord continues to humble me and put me in places where I have to trust Him. I need you Lord and i thank you for your faithfulness.
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A few weeks back I held a workshop called “Pass Me the Canvas”. I had this on my schedule for 6 months and had been anxiously awaiting the nights that 7 brave artist would spend two evenings playing the artistic version of musical chairs. This creative exercise allowed each artist to tap into the deepest part of their creative spirit and challenge themselves to just TRUST the artist within.
I began the workshop with a relaxing meditation, full of positive affirmations, that would help to free us from any strongholds and lies we may listen to.
Here is part of the meditation…
“When we pull back the layers of our TRUE SELF and bring LIGHT into DARK, hidden places inside us, then we will begin to know who we really are inside.
Expose the gentle child inside yourself…the trusting, vulnerable child.
Share her tonight with us.”
After the meditation i had artist choose a pattern, color palette, and inspirational word to guide the collaboration of each artist. I also had artist write out nouns that they thought would inspire the progression of their artwork. Of course I chose nouns like bird, circles, flower, and nature. I chose my inspirational word by closing my eyes and TRUSTING God to pick for me…He picked the word Beauty .
Next, i asked each artist to write out their fear about coming to the workshop and this took an additional dose of humility.

                                 

Then we began the music and spent the first evening building our background by using mixed media supplies and lots of TRUST. We passed the canvas every 35 minutes for a total of 3 rotations.
Here is some of the amazing backgrounds creating the first night…

The next night we passed the canvas for three,15 minute rotations to complete the circle of artist. This allowed each artist to work on every canvas.
The backgrounds were complete and each canvas had a ton of depth and color.
 For the final hour of the workshop the artwork found it’s way home to it’s inspiration and true owner. Artist then added the final touches to their collaborated art. I assisted artist in their final hour so i haven’t finished my piece yet but will post it as soon as it is done.
Here are some of of the finished pieces…

I think we were all surprised and pleased with the final outcome of our artwork. It was a journey as we stepped out of our comfort zone; it took a lot of TRUST. I was inspired by the strength of the other artist who attended the workshop. Thank you BRAVE GIRLS!!
We all experienced humility, creativity, and TRUST and the workshop turned out to be more than i could have ever dreamed.
Gotta be a lesson for me somewhere in that!