These are a few of my favorite quotes

Title: The Woodland Brush : My Favourite Quotes
Materials: Watercolor, pen, ink, paper

Watercolor & Ink
This is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite books, The Secret Garden. Whether the author intended this sentence to be spiritual or not, I took it as such. To me it illustrates how our faith can grow apathetic if we do not “tend” to it. A thistle (sin) has no business in a rose garden, but they will grow if we are not vigilant.

Watercolor

Being a wellspring of life means to fill ourselves up with the waters of Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. We cannot pour into others if we are a drought ourselves. When we are not focused on Christ, our answers are short, our attitudes are poor and we are not an encouragement to those around us. Instead of building others up, we tend to tear them down. I always want to be an encouragement and helper to my husband. I always want to speak hope and truth into my children even on their bad days and mine. I want the same for every person I come into contact with. I know this is not possible unless we are fulfilled in Christ first and foremost. This painting serves as a reminder to me to love others well by keeping my heart in the Word of God.

Watercolor

I love this song by Mumford and Sons. To me it is a reminder that we are broken humans who need our souls to be awakened by something greater than anything earthly. Whether that was the musician’s intention, it is how I interpret it. I love the lyrics “Where you invest your love, you invest your life.. Awake my Soul.. you were made to meet your Maker”. It is totally true that what we care for and put our energy into is where our life is and what our testimony is. If you love your job more than anything else, you will most likely become the most successful businessman or woman to ever walk the earth. But that is fleeting and momentary. It turns to dust when you do. I want my days to be so invested in Christ that my life is a reflection of that and is a light to others.

Watercolor and Ink

This was a personal piece I did for my dad on father’s day last year. I am always drawn to the illustration of light vs darkness. It is such a powerful visual and it tends to feature a lot in my work. It is an analogy used over and over again in Scripture, and for good reason. In the darkness we are blind and things lurk and could easily harm us; we feel lost. The light brings clarity and peace.Things that seem terrifying in the night are no longer threats. That, to me, is the power of Christ in us. This world can easily be a place of fear and worry and darkness. Evil is everywhere. Even as an adult, I am not a fan of the dark. But there is no darkness found in God and as His children, He gives us His light so that we can give clarity and peace to those around us. It is encouraging and beautiful and we need that reminder daily.

Artist Feature | Emily Barnett

Emily Barnett. Full-time photographer and painter, part-time writer.

I love fairy tales and they inspire me, and so I paint about them or write new ones. Even in my photography I am drawn to the magical atmosphere that a session can have. I struggle with the idea that I want my work to be raw and brutally honest. There are some amazing artists out there that can bring you to tears with work that is graphic or depressing. And we probably need that to awaken us when we become lethargic.

However, I don’t paint or write like that. And I realized whether it is painting or writing, I can’t force myself to be like another artist. I love that I write about beauty and hope, we need that in this day. I can’t change who God created me to be, even if some may think my style isn’t edgy enough.

I am an extrovert and I found early on that being an artist means being alone for much of your time. Depression and doubts can definitely creep in when you are so wrapped up in your own mind for too long. I realized how important it is to be in community with my church family weekly. Whether that is discipleship meeting or small group, I crave that. It fuels me enough to be on my own again. Another challenge is the comparison game. I think everyone deals with it in any career. But being an artist, your soul is kind of laid out on the table and if no one stops to look at it, you begin to wonder why. And then you notice other artists who are being noticed, and then you become obsessed with being more like them.

Thankfully, this only brings me back to God on my knees, asking Him to save me from vanity. And to not fear man, but to work to honor God. I have to remind myself of this over and over again, it is so easy to compare yourself this day and age with all of the social media beautiful images in your head. I think what God wanted for inspiration and encouragement from other artists, the enemy can warp into jealousy. It is good to be mindful of this every day.