JENNIFER'S PRAYER

8x16 oil on canvas

I painted this at the end of the school year with the intentions of going back and working on the hands. Well, time has passed and it is no longer the end of the school year. I just returned to school this week to begin the new school year and I still have not returned to these hands.

I always return to school reluctantly, but the minute I walk through the doors, I know that is where I belong. This is Jennifer one of the precious students I get to teach at West Dallas Community School. Jennifer is a delightful 7th grader, soft spoken, very polite, and quite the artist!

I am continuously amazed with the fellowship and friendship that has grown from all of our blogs; thank you so much for visiting and commenting, you are the best!

THE LOVE OF CHRIST

11x14 oil on canvas sold

This painting is a companion piece to Adore His Sacred Name that I posted a few months ago. If you recall, my school opens our day with a morning assembly where we pledge, pray, and sing the hymn of the month. As we learn the new hymn of the month, one of our teachers teaches all of us how to sign the hymn. It's incredible to see children of all ages, along with teachers and staff, learn sign language to accompany our voices. After we have mastered both song and sign language, we sometimes sing with our hands only...a truly beautiful event!

This is 5 year old Ivan, signing the word love in the hymn, Lift High the Cross. Ivan's arms are crossed over his chest to sign the word love. Lift high the cross the love of Christ proclaim, till all the world adore His sacred name.

So, two paintings are now finished, I have several more to complete the sign language series. Thank you so much for visiting my blog, your visits and comments are most appreciated. Take care.

HELEN

9x12 oil on canvas board

From the DSDF blog, Karin Jurick partnered us with another artist and we painted each other. nfs

IN MY SISTER'S ARMS

11x14 oil on canvas nfs

I am hesitant to post portraits because I am not a portrait artist; however, I do want to learn, so what better way to learn. In My Sister's Arms was painted for our friend, Jay Abney's 50th birthday. Jay has been to Chad, Africa several times to help with an ongoing building project on a church and school. He gave me many reference photos to choose from, but I kept coming back to these two little girls because they were especially meaningful to him. Happy Birthday Jay. 

CRICKET

12x16 oil on canvas nfs

This was my grandmother; the woman whose face lit up when she spoke about Jesus. I have such beautiful memories of this precious woman and could fill up many pages writing about her. Mom-Mom loved her vegetable garden and you could find her in it from sunup to sundown; she could grow anything in super abundance and always shared her bounty from the garden. My grandparents were quite the gardeners, in addition to the overflowing vegetable garden, there were lemon, pear, fig, tangerine, orange, kumquat trees...and I'm sure many more types that I have forgotten through the years. 

She had a precious servant's heart and lived by example always putting others before herself. In her portrait, I tried so hard to portray the kindness and gentleness she always showed us.  I asked her one time how she came to be called Cricket and she told me that it was a nickname she was given because when she was little she hopped around all the time.  After she told me that, she shrugged her shoulders and said "That was a long time ago, I think that's why they call me Cricket."

I miss her.