We must offer ourselves to God like a clean, smooth canvas and not worry ourselves about what God may choose to paint on it, but at each moment, feel only the stroke of His brush.

Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Without the fruit of the Spirit called patience, the landscape never gets painted and the poem remains locked in unarticulated thoughts. Losing patience nips creativity in the bud, preventing it from unfolding. ~ Karla M. Kincannon, Creativity and Divine Surprise

Joyce Kilmer, John Paul II, and the artistic vocation

https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/06/15/joyce-kilmer-john-paul-ii-and-the-artistic-vocation/

“The possible's slow fuse is lit by the Imagination.” ― Emily Dickinson

“When freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God” ~ Pope Benedict XVI

"It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the best paintings." ~ Saint Andre Bessette

Painting is silent poetry.

"Life is a world that is a gratuitous gift...to be sculpted. You sculpt such a life, you do not amass it. It all depends on recognition of the gift - everything does." ~ Dr. David M. Walen, from the lecture: Lewis Ficton: Narnia and the Storied Moral World

In life and art both, as it seems to me, we are always trying to catch in our net of successive moments something that is not successive. ~ C. S. Lewis

"All men and women can make fruitful the talents received from God’s hands, provided they allow themselves to be transformed by the action of the Holy Spirit, forging a personality that reflects Christ’s face. But this does not imply losing one’s own personal traits. Saint Josemaría insisted: “you have to be different from one another, as the saints in heaven are different, each having their own personal and special characteristics.”

From: A Personality Identified with Christ

C.S.Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein's debate acted out

Art is elemental. Reason alone as it's expressed in the sciences can't be man's complete answer to reality, and it can't express everything that man can, wants to, and has to express. I think God built this into man. Art along with sicence is the highest gift God has given him. ~ Pope Benedict XVI

Personalities, lines, borders, gates, sheep, and the Shepherd

I noticed that on left brain right brain tests that I come out just right of center on both generic tests and also with political tests, but usually right brain is associated with being out of the box, and a lot of people associate leaning to the right as being trapped in a box, but I don't think that is necessarily true. Some say the right brainers and artistic and musical people choose left wing politics, but I do lean more to the right on the political tests and it corresponds with my voting choices. Maybe it could just have something to do with the personality or temperament God gave me. Not saying that it's without weaknesses but there are strengths in it I believe. I cannot remember who said it, but there is a quote that says to create a work of art, you must first draw a line. And I see that as literally what is being said about starting the work, and making the first line, but also I see another dimension to it as when we draw a line and understand the limits of something or the uniqueness of something.

For instance some may look at a border between things as a negative, but the border between things could also be a positive, because the border could be protective of both those who are inside it and outside it and a border could direct someone to a gate. A gate to some is seen as a negative, but to others it is seen as a positive. I think a gate can be very welcoming, and so can a door with a knocker and a doorbell. But I think someone breaking down a door to impose themselves is a negative (unless it's something like a medical emergency and the person can't get to the door.) Our houses we live in would not exist if we didn't first make a line somewhere. We would be just sleeping on the ground in an open field. And I'm not saying this to say, oh I'm so great, look at me, I'm better than you. I'm just saying my perspective as a person just right of center in politics, and just right of center on the left brain/right brain tests might also have a gift to offer out of the love in my heart so that everybody no matter where you fall can know where I'm coming from and that I'm not trying to purposely hurt anyone.

Also, for instance, I feel closer with Pope Benedict than Pope Francis and so when I don't understand what Pope Francis is saying because he seems sometimes like a Picasso painting to me (or maybe that is what the media is doing to him as the information is being filtered through it and that may not actually be his true personality but what the media wants him to be.) When I feel confused, I will go read it from the view of our previous Pope Benedict because he seems to be on my same wavelength I guess. Not saying one is better than the other, but one makes me have to stretch my mind very far to try and hear where he is coming from or to get to the truth of what he actually said, while the other felt simple to understand and seemed very straight forward to me. Often I have to shift through so much half truths and media bias' to actually find the truth of what Pope Francis actually said in it's fullness. ButI don't want to shut out Frances because I have a preference for the personality of Benedict. Does that make any sense? But when I go back and read the things Pope Benedict said I can find them in full books and can read from the front to the back and get it all in a context with a beginning and and end with a conclusion at the end.

And John Paul II to me seemed like the Prince Charming coming to rescue the sleeping beauty with a pure chaste kiss on the forehead and he was so encouraging to me as an artist and was the motivation behind a lot of my persevering in working on my art. I was sad when he passed away, and at first I was a little afraid of Benedict because he looked so stern until I actually read his writings and felt they were clear as a bell. So, this is why often I like to quote Benedict.

Do you see sheep herding as a positive or a negative? Do you like Jesus' parable of the sheep and the fence and the gate or do you not like it? I don't think the parable is meant to belittle people like when people call each other 'sheeple'. He means it in a loving way, all like sheep have gone astray, but he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. And all who go through Him will go in and out and find pasture. And He cares so much for each sheep that he will even leave the 99 and go look for the one sheep that was lost and bring it back into the fold. This video of sheep herding is very relaxing for me to watch. It has some nice peaceful music. Maybe we could let that parable in to form us a little bit and understand it's not meant to be belittling but uplifting and encouraging.

"If you love me, feed my sheep" ~ Jesus

"Each particular Church should encourage the use of the arts in evangelization, building on the treasures of the past, but also drawing upon the wide variety of contemporary expressions so as to transmit the faith in a new 'language of parables.' We must be bold enough to discover new signs and new symbols, new flesh to embody and communicate the word, and different forms of beauty which are valued in different cultural settings, including those unconventional modes of beauty which may mean little to evangelizers, yet proved particularly effective for others. (Joy of the Gospel 167)" — Pope Francis

“Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?” ~ Benjamin Franklin

They learn to love the beauty of order and design of color, and the nuances of shade and pattern all around them. They come to marvel, with each new discovery, at the complexity and intricacy of nature's laws and habits. And so in all they confront, they learn to discover and experience the creative loving presence of God and to develop an innate sense of restraint and discipline in the presence of the vast array of gifts poured on them each moment of their lives. In using these gifts, their all pervading mode of action is "not to spoil" but to love, to love that which God is freely allowing them to share, and in return, to use their humanity in bringing all back to God. This is the kind of human formation that recognises and appreciates man's nature as created to receive in openness to God in all of reality. It manifests esteem for man's capacity freely to respond in a human way and to become conscious of this response as his relation to God. ~ Becoming a Person in the Whole Christ, McMahon/Campbell page 50-51

No one has ever laughed at a pun who did not see in the one word a twofold meaning. To materialists this world is opaque like a curtain; nothing can be seen through it. A mountain is just a mountain, a sunset just a sunset; but to poets, artists, and saints, the world is transparent like a window pane - it tells of something beyond....a mountain tells of the Power of God, the sunset of His Beauty, and the snowflake of His Purity. ~ Fulton J. Sheen

"If you see any beauty in Christ, and say, "I desire to have that," God will work it in you." - G.V. Wigram

"God often lays the sum of His amazing providences in very dismal afflictions; as the limner first puts on the dusky colors, on which he intends to draw the portraiture of some illustrious beauty." - Stephen Charnock

Collage became a powerful spiritual practice for me; the drafting table is one of the places where I pray best. It provides a space between and beneath and beyond words, a thin place where memory and hope meet. The practice of collage also provides an image for understanding my work and my life. In much the same way that I sit at my drafting table and take the scraps to piece together a new creation, God does this within me. God takes everything: experiences, stories, memories, relationships, dreams, prayers — all those pieces, light and dark, rough and smooth, jagged and torn — and creates anew from them. I have learned to think of God as the consummate recycler: in God's economy, nothing is wasted. Everything – everything — can be used. Transformed. Redeemed. ~ Jan Richardson

To each person God has given a gift. A gift meant to be used and shared with others. Sharing your talents with others can encourage and stimulate their own desire to wake up the creative dreams within...to express themselves through art, music, the written word etc. Because...to not use the talent that God has given us is to abuse it. ~ Susan Reynolds

"Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing." ~ Camille Pissarro

A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty, the contemplation of mystery, or the search of truth or perfection is a poverty-stricken day; and a succession of such days is fatal to human life. ~ Lewis Mumford

It is not what the artist does that counts. But what he is. Cézanne would never have interested me if he had lived and thought like Jacques-Émile Blanche, even if the apple he had painted had been ten times more beautiful. What interests us is the anxiety of Cézanne, the teaching of Cézanne, the anguish of Van Gogh, in short the inner drama of the man. The rest is false. ~ Pablo Picasso

Art, Window to the Soul ....

If you were just interested in learning to look at art, we could stop here. If this is to be a prayer experience, we need to go further. To begin, think about how we detect the presence of the artist in the artwork. First of all, we note the expression that lives on in the piece. Art is essentially a container which embodies the expressions of its creator. We also say the artist has spoken to us through the work. In addition, we talk of the artist having a characteristic style, which enables us to immediately recognize a Monet or a Renoir for example.

As creations of God, each of these three aspects of art can apply to us: God's expression lives in us, we are containers who embody the spirit of our Lord; God speaks through us; and we can say God has a characteristic mark or signature, which we are able to recognize - as Jesus tells us: "My sheep hear my voice." Each of these realities enables us to find God in each other.

To find God in art, we are joining these two premises together. God speaks through the artist, who speaks through the art. We are already accustomed to understanding this connection as we discover God in written words, especially scripture, but other sources as well. We listen for God in sermons, in hymns and music, in ritual and dance, and we listen for God in the visual arts. This Presence is detected easily where goodness and love are expressed. Elements of hope and beauty (as in Henri Matisse's "The Tree of Life"), justice (as in Mike and Doug Starns' "Lack of Compassion") and mystery (as in Mark Tobey's "Edge of August") also reveal God to us. God may be sensed as the source of life and energy (as in Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night"). Additionally, suffering and darkness (as in Pablo Picasso's "Guernica") may bring images of Christ to our minds.

As you look, be aware of this hidden voice of the Spirit in all of its varied manifestations. You might gain new insights or a broader view of your faith. You will certainly have many opportunities to increase your awareness of the inner realities of your fellow human beings as you listen to their stories from their viewpoint and know their joy, hopes and sufferings. Art allows for a special kind of window into the private, emotional world of another person. It is difficult to be truly intimate with others and not find God, since it is in the center of our being that God lives.

From Drawing to God, Art as Prayer, Prayer as Art, by Jeri Gerding

Jeri Gerding is a Roman Catholic adult mental health counselor, is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, and received a master's degree in social work from the University of Illinois-Urbana.

God's expression lives in us, we are containers who embody the spirit of our Lord; God speaks through us; and we can say God has a characteristic mark or signature, which we are able to recognize - as Jesus tells us: "My sheep hear my voice." Each of these realities enables us to find God in each other. ~ Jeri Gerding, Roman Catholic Adult Mental Health Counselor and Social Worker

Art and prayer both involve trusting in a process. What they share in common is that we don’t know what’s going to happen until we begin, and we cannot control the outcome" - Excerpt from Jeri Gerding’s book, Art as Prayer. Prayer as Art: Drawing to God