True North...

Resetting my compass for "true North"..Habukkuk 2:1 "I stand on my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me;and what I will answer when I am corrected.. The the Lord answered me and said"Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry."
His Word is a lamp onto my feet and a light unto my path....

1) ArtAffections Jewelry

Well it has been at six months since I have painted. I laid my brush down, only to journey a path in creating “wearable art.” I began by taking my artprints to a new small dimension, 1x1inch, and inserted them into little trays with glass coverings, then I tried glass tiles with hand made bails-- lovely, unique pendants, but too limiting… I had to move on to something more challenging. I look back with some regrets that I had not taken the jewelry classes at University (80’s) which my sculpture professor was also teaching…At the time, I was intimidated by the “smallness” of it…I wanted to create BIG and impactful art, like the steel metal sculpture horse “chess” piece I forged which stood 7 ft tall…It found its home in my father’s front garden in rural Fairfield, ME (now rusted and, well, not really standing tall anymore…however, I do still have a scar on my left thigh from sanding it.. lol)
….So I “hit the books” (from the library, that is, a wonderful source in much of my “self-taught” art studies since University--being a wife, homemaker, homeschool mom, and secretary in this season of my life). I began investing in lot$a materials and lotsa tool$ and I grew in knowledge and understanding of metal working with copper and sterling silver wire and sheet… The last six months has been a wonderful time of exploring new ideas, methods and materials. I really enjoy creating “small” now…Each piece gets my full attention and though it be meticulous and time consuming, it is ultimately a rewarding process…to cut, anneal (with a torch), bend, hammer, anneal again, pickle, solder, pickle, solder, bend, hammer, and then again pickle, wash, polish and finally…Ta-da ! …It is awesome to be able to wear my art…and others can too ! You may find these at my new ETSY shop, ArtAffectionsJewelry : http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtAffectionsJewelry
What you will find there is just a beginning…Ideas are stirring and my notebook is full of them. I am about to launch into a new line of copper, sterling and mixed metal pieces in which I’ve added another “step” in the creative process to the copper: Patina, in a lovely traditional Tiffany blue/ Green, a Cupric nitrate Blue, and a “Rainbow” rich mottled brown/orange…*Hope to have those pieces available in early November, 2011.

2) Picking Up the Brush again

Ok…picking up the brush again after 6 months "leave"... This past summer, it began to appear on our radar screen that our family may be in store for some kind of shift, in location that is, perhaps as soon as in the summer of this next year, 2012. My thoughts were, ‘Perhaps, I won’t be able to take many of my paintings with me, at least all at one time…This must be why I had been led to

go “small” (as in jewelry art) so that I can tuck them easily into my suitcase !’ Yet, the desire to squeeze tubes of rich colored medium onto my palette, scoop it up with my bristle brush and push that wonderful viscous oil around on the canvas again has been too strong lately…And as I looked around my studio at the untouched collection of white canvases (still in wrappings) just beckoning me to free them and give them some color and purpose…I couldn’t resist their longing blank “stares” anymore…lol... Fast forward…This month, my husband took my youngest son, Benjamin, on a 20 day ministry trip to Germany, and my time opened up to return to oil painting…I set a goal to complete the ten - 6x6x1.5 stretched canvases, to recreate some of the 24x24inch “End-time Harvest” series paintings in smaller scale, as well as to give some oldies new life…So by this Friday, with a few exceptions, I completed these new landscape oil paintings : short-term mission accomplished ! However, the next step was the least “palette-able” part of the process of making art : to prep the little happy canvas faces into a digital format for viewing beyond studio walls…Taking outdoor photo shots from various angles of 12 + paintings, was grueling, since my first attempt did not produce accurate color matches…So back to the photo shoot, with indoor lighting in my studio, and then again into PhotoShop for hours of comparing digital to actual colors, sizing in a web format, and uploading them. Thankfully, they are finally up in my ETSY shop : http://www.etsy.com/shop/LisaMDSkinnerArt

Passion for Souls

God's Window

God's Window

Original Oil Painting, 18x24, 2009

Description: Windows and doors, or doorways, represent opportunities set before us, in the natural and in the spirit, by God into new places. God wants to take us beyond ourselves and the present circumstances and reveal to us who He is and what He created us for. He created us with great joy and expectation that we would know and trust Him. We discover who we are and who He created us to be by entering into His resting place. (He is our resting place.) Our time on earth is but for a moment compared with eternity. God wants to reveal His love and His higher purpose beyond what we can see… His plans for us are good, full of hope and purpose. To know Him is to know who we are, because He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith, and the One who fashioned and formed us before the foundations of the world.

Psalm 61:2-3 says, "From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy.”

The Revelation of Jesus Christ is the Rock of which we build our lives upon. Though the wind and waves of life want to overtake us, He will set us upon His Rock; His Word…There is our safe place. When we feel overwhelmed in the midst of life, the ever-changing circumstances and uncertainties that would overwhelm us…remain in His Love, and in His Word, for He is a our stronghold, our sure place. Seek His face. His viewpoint is above what we see. He gives us new perspective. From His vantage point, we will receive instruction, wisdom and guidance. We behold our future in Him is bright and hopeful, clear and purposeful.

Reflections of a Young Dancer

Reflections of a Young Dancer

Original Oil Painting, 16X20, 2009

Description: I love painting young dancers; the beauty of innocence. I remember as a young girl, how I loved to dance, and yet the awkwardness of becoming...Sometimes what we see on the inside is not always what we behold on the outside. The process of "becoming" is like an awkward caterpillar trying to find it's wings...I dream of dancing where there are no limitations in my physical body. That sounds a little like heaven to me ! Dreaming with God about what He has in mind for us and our future. His plans are always good and hopeful because He knows us better than we do ourselves.

Psalm 139:13-17 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

Under His Shadow

Under His Shadow
Original Oil Painting, 18x24, 2009

Description: This painting speaks of being hidden by God..."He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty...He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge." Psalm 91:1,4 We are veiled or hidden from our enemies when we yield our lives to Him.

He hides us, and we find rest and peace in Him and His love. Isaiah 4:5-6 says,"...then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain."

Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.
Psalm 31:20 You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.