Beauty in the Storm

"Beauty in the Storm"
12X16"
Watercolor

This is a picture that God gave me recently. I prayed before and during its painting, and I am hoping that it will minister to many people. I am grateful that He has allowed me to be His vessel in this way.

"...The Lord has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet."--Nahum 1:3 (NKJV)

I have been through quite a number of storms in my life during the past year, and I wish that I could say that they get easier to weather. They don't. But I have started to appreciate their beauty and power. Storms are sent to mold us and shape us into the purpose for which the Ultimate Artist created us. He wants to wash away the things in our lives that keep us from Him, and He wants to display His power in the midst of our situations to spark our worship of Him. It is not an easy process, but it is worth it if we let God do His work to bring us closer to Himself.

Face #28

This poor guy was part of my 100 faces project.  If I ever get back to working on this project, I will only have 72 faces to draw or paint in order to complete it.

One night during a late shift at the library, I was sitting at the desk ready to fall asleep. Not a good thing to confess to, but libraries on a Thursday night are not exactly hopping, especially when you're working in the basement level.  To keep awake, I grabbed some scraps of paper and practiced sketching. Normally when I do pen & ink, I do at least a rough pencil sketch to make sure that I don't make any serious errors. But this night, I decided to go straight to pen & ink with no previous sketch. Everything turned out quite well, and I managed to stay awake until the end of my shift.