Advent Studies

Advent starts this coming Sunday and continues until Christmas Eve.  It's a time to reflect on the real meaning of Christmas.

Mary Brack has again set up an Advent study called Advent Words.  You can find all the information on her blog: Found on Brighton.

At church, I have been involved with a series of blog posts which starts this Thursday and takes us through the Christmas story, right through to the arrival of the Kings at Epiphany in January.  Actually all I've done is transfer the amazing blog posts and schedule them onto the church website.  Alongside the written posts, there is a series of videos for children made by our children's worker.  In addition I designed a craft activity for children with adult help.  But there's nothing to stop adults joining in.

The series of seven blog posts is called Light in the Darkness.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

 

MMM & Studio PlayDays

What is your response if you are asked if you are creative? Most people will say they are not because they think they are being asked if they draw or paint. But creativity is so much more than that! It encompasses hospitality, writing, knitting, sewing, photography, cooking, garden design – the list goes on and on.

In the past few months a team of us at my church have been working on setting up a creative studio – a safe place to have fun, to play with a variety of media and meet up with like-minded people.

The studio consists of three spaces with designated areas for various activities including art, crafts, sewing, knitting, textiles, writing and photography, to name but a few. The studio will be available to the older Jubilee Kids on a Sunday morning and Youth on a Friday evening.

We have lots of ideas for the future. The studio could be used for: individual use during the day or evening, group workshops, parent and child art/craft sessions, a writing group, and Sew Social.

We have begun our ladies photography group, Snapshot Girls, on the second Monday of the month and Mixed Media Monday is on the first Monday of the month.

PlayDays
Our plan is to open up the studio for a ‘PlayDay’ once a month. The next one is on Tuesday 25th April from 10.30am-3.30pm.

Monoprinting

We all need to escape from the busyness of the world from time to time. Sometimes we want to get away from our to do lists and chill! And chat with friends. So we have started Colouring, Coffee (or tea) & Cake evenings.   The next one is on Wednesday 17th May from 8-9.30pm. Why don't you come and join me?

This is an exciting new project and I have loved being able to set up the studio.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

This and that!

This week's challenge in Adventures in Seeing was to be open to the unexpected.  To let photos come to us.  To let go and surrender to life as it happens.

So what happened in my life this week.  Well, unexpectedly I tidied my craft room (actually it's the dining room - and judging by the number of books it could be described as a library!)

It had got to a point where I couldn't work in there.  Actually I could hardly get in there.  The floor was so covered in bags containing unfinished projects that it was really difficult to walk round the table.  So here it is tidy:

Much of what I removed from the room went into more bags in my car.

All of this has been delivered to my church to be used in the Creative Studio we are setting up.  We have been given so much stash and once I've sorted the bags pictured and labelled the cupboards and drawers it will be ready for use.

It's been a great project to work on and I am really excited about how we are going to use the space.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 52

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   We have come to the last blog post but if you have only just found us then why not start at the beginning.  You will find the start here: Creation.

Today's post is about the last prophecy about Jesus in Malachi 3:1-4 which echoes Isaiah 40:3

I decided to use the artwork designed by Crystal Stine for the Advent study I've been reading by Kris Cameally: The Weight of Waiting.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 51

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is about how Jesus came in humility both as a baby and in his entrance to Jerusalem at the end of his life.

I found a picture of a donkey and put the three words on that struck me most in Simon's blog post.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 50

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is about the characteristics of the people who follow God in Zephaniah 3:8-20.

I thought I would use a photo I had taken of a decaying boat as a background and put the four characteristics over the photo.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 49

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post continues with the prophecy in Micah 5 about the coming of Jesus.

I found a 12"x12" scrapbooking paper that I bought some years ago in the States and cut it to fit my journal.  Recently I had bought some wooden words and one of them was 'Peace'.  I painted the word white and stuck it onto the page.  I wrote the rest of it with a Stabilo-All pencil.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 48

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is about the prophecy in Micah 5 about the coming of Jesus.

Still on my theme of keeping the creative response simple, I found a photograph of a mixed media page I had done and put the significant verses on the top.  I used Publisher again for this and printed out and stuck it into my journal.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.


Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 47

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is about Jonah.

I painted the page with acrylic paint, using masking tape to create the straight line.

I stamped a large three on a spare piece of paper and cut it out.  I drew round the 3 with Stabilo All  crayons and wrote the words.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.


Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 46

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is about the prophetic word: ‘Out of Egypt I called My son’ in Hosea 11:1-4.

As you know I don't like drawing but I could only think of the image of a Father cuddling his child and really didn't want to use a photo I have of my son cuddling his child so I drew a symbolic father and child.

I think the head looks a bit alien but I decided to go with it!

 Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 45

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is from Daniel 7:9-14 and the vision that God gave Daniel.

I decided that rather than do a journal page that tried to literally draw the vision I would do my interpretation.  First of all I drew lots of lines fro a centre point using Neocolor II crayons in shades of yellow and a couple of purple crayons.   I coloured the centre and then drew the people with a black felt pen.

It does look a bit like a bonfire party but then that's what I saw last Saturday!

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 44

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is from Ezekiel 36:22-38

For this journal page I downloaded a map from the internet.  I put a very thin layer of Paper Artsy Buff Acrylic paint over it.

Using Distress Ink I sponged 'blood drops' onto the map.

I printed out the words, cut them up and inked the edges before sticking them on to the map.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 43

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is about the coming of Jesus as God's Shepherd in Ezekiel 34.

Sometimes it's quite hard to think of a creative response to these marvellous posts that Simon writes.   I have lots of pictures of sheep so I used another one of them for this page.  The sheep are scattered across the field.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 42

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is about the new covenant in Jeremiah 33.

The next page in my journal looked like this - I have no idea why!

I painted over it with a light colour acrylic.  When the paint was dry I drew a scroll and a heart.

I painted the heart.

I coloured the scroll with Distress Ink.  I wrote the verse on the scroll.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 41

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is about the prophecy in Isaiah 61 which Jesus reads out at the beginning of his ministry (Luke 4).

I love this passageand so I decided I would print it out and put it into my journal.  I was thinking of doing fancy things with it on the computer but then decided to keep it simple.  I took a photograph of the oak tree in my next door neighbour's garden and put the Bible verses over the top using Publisher.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 40

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is about The Servant and sin in Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

You may remember my page from last week which had by the side of it this page.

Which I then scraped the left over green paint onto.

I wanted to keep the chaotic pattern behind the green paint and decided I would stencil over it with a dark ink.  I used a Stazon ink which actually coloured the stencil more than the page.

However it made enough of an impression to add to the darkness and the chaos to represent sin.

I stamped a border around the edge of the page.  It's actually supposed to be a tinsel stamp but it reminds me of the crown of thorns.

I printed out a couple of the verses from the passage and stuck them on the page.  I highlighted some of the circles with a red pen.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 39

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is continuing the series on the Servant.

To be honest as I read today's passage I was thinking maybe I should have used last week's response for this week.  Only then my attention was drawn to ‘For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground’ Isaiah 52:2 and the contrast between a tender shoot and the violent list that follows.

The next double pages in my journal already had some paint on.  Painted string was placed between the two pages and the pages pressed together.

I painted a thin layer of gesso on the page I was planning to use, leaving the what looks like chaotic scribble showing through.  I liked the idea of the chaos behind the image that I was about to put on.

With a pale green acrylic paint I printed a grass seedhead onto the page using a Thermofax screen.

I had squeezed out too much paint so I spread that over the next page.

I put a wash of watercolour over the page when the acrylic was dry.  I wanted to make it look like parched earth so while the watercolour paint was wet I sprinkled sea salt over it and left it to dry.

The finished result didn't look particularly parched.

I stamped lightly over the page with brown ink and a stamp.  I printed out the words from the passage on Kraft paper, cut them up and stuck them on my page.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 38

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is about The Servant's Mission in Isaiah 50:4-9 which talks about the suffering that will be inflicted.

I used this startling piece of clipart I found on Microsoft Publisher and added the crown of thorns which was also in Publisher although I did remove the eyes which were part of the design.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 37

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is about The Servant: Israel and the Nations in Isaiah 49:1-13

I kep this journal page very simple - if not simplistic.  I used clipart found in Microsoft Publisher and added some words.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Glimpses of Jesus 36

Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament is a year long bible study written by Simon Clay of Jubilee Church Solihull.   You can join in at any time.

Today's post is the start of a series on the Servant Songs in Isaiah.

I found it quite hard to think of a creative response to the first post but in the end decided to make an acrostic based on the word SERVANT.

The next page in my journal looked like this from where I had cleaned a stencil off into the book.

I decided to put a wash of blue watercolour paint over the page and put crinkled clingfilm on the top and waited for it to dry.

The result was better than I expected.

I put washi tape around the edges to form a border.

I found some letters I liked and tested them by putting them on the ruler to see if they would fit the page.

 I wrote the rest of the word for each letter.  I chose words that I felt represent Jesus and his character.

Do have a look back through the posts on the Glimpses of Jesus blog where you will find links to other people's art and poetry.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice