BLESSED BE .....

I've been making one of my spiritual pages again ... as you know, I do this from time to time.  At one stage I considered keeping a separate journal for this kind of work, but then it seemed to me that all my pages belong together - without differentiating between spiritual and more earthly concerns, or indeed the complaints I sometimes commit to paper!  It seemed artificial to have part of my life in a separate box, instead of putting everything into one.

So that's why I break out into this kind of page occasionally, as and when I feel moved to do so.  Which I must have done on this occasion, because some man on the TV had got on my nerves and started me off thinking how glad I've always been to be female.  I love it, I've always enjoyed being a woman (although there are some design faults I might take up with the Almighty one day) and want to celebrate that loudly and often.

All these thoughts reminded me of a wonderful modern Psalm, written by Janet Morley - this is only part of it but you can find the rest in her book called "All Desires Known" if you can find it anywhere: it is probably out of print now.  If you've been with me for a while you will also know that I relate very strongly to a female God (without denying the Father aspects).  God is neither of course, but this is one way of relating that I just happen to find particularly helpful.  Try it and see?

And that's why I ended up drawing another beautiful lady deity, because (idolatry aside) I like to picture God as very calm and serene, and it kind of goes without saying that she'd be beautiful.  I drew direct to paper with a waterproof fine liner pen, and then as you can see below began to add colour - most of it with Caran d'Ache crayons, but the face and hair have been done with Promarkers with the addition of a gold pen to highlight.

You will notice that at some stage I decided I didn't like the pink background and gave her a heavenly sky full of stars instead - much better!  The words speak for themselves I think, and go right to the heart of it for me ....

And although I'm still dotty about my husband, I've always needed women friends too.  I particularly like the part about delighting in their company - the sisters who've walked with me on my journey have been among the most precious things in my life, excepting only my man and our children.  It was nice to celebrate that ....

I'M SO PLEASED WITH THIS ONE

Well I probably shouldn't say that (blowing one's own trumpet being generally frowned upon) but I AM pleased with this - which turned out exactly as I wanted it to. Can't say that very often!! A couple of weeks ago I wrote this "psalm" and wanted to include it in my current journal. I knew that (unusually for me) I'd need to do a double page spread, so began with this Basic Gray paper as a background. Being so focused on the motherhood of God idea, I wanted to express that visually, so began to sketch a pregnant mother ....
Then I started to give her some colour and (I hope) personality. I used my Promarkers here - I'm loving them more and more as I slowly learn how to use them to best effect, and must also say that they're wonderfully fast. Now that might not be an important attribute to everyone, but to someone with a sieve brain such as myself it means I don't forget where I was trying to go while I'm doing it!
The next stage was to write out the words and gradually add more decoration. The gold pen I used here seems to add a whole new dimension, and I used some more of that fine gold mist too but you can't see that here - it gives the figure a very slightly twinkly look.
Then it was time to start working on the other side - again by writing out the verses, and I knew I wouldn't have room for much more illustration. Focusing on the words allowed me to see how much space would be left for decoration, and once I'd drawn the leaves and flower I went back and added some of these to the left hand side to link it all together.
And this is the finished product, and as I said for once I'm very pleased with it. Some days I like what I've done, and others I don't, but then just occasionally I pull off something I didn't think I could do .... and this is one of them.
You may of course be happy with the image of God as Father, and the idea of mother might seem positively alien? Both are entirely legitimate, since God is neither male nor female, but we can find understandings of God's nature in the best of human nature and experience, whether of men or women. There is a redemptive aspect too for me in a motherly God, since my own mother was pretty deficient in that direction ....

Please tell me if you like it, or how you respond (or not). So many of you follow but so few comment, and sometimes its just nice to hear from you and remember that you're out there! I'm grateful for all feedback.