by Amy | Aug 28, 2014 | Blog, The Art of Art
After I posted the first Community Canvas I did for Minot’s Arts in the Park program I got a lot of positive feedback. Enough people took notice that I was contacted by someone involved with the Festival on Main, an annual end of summer street festival. She asked if I’d like to do a canvas that would be on display for a while the morning of the festival that kids and families could paint on.
Yes, please!
So I made a canvas. This canvas to be exact. It’s “downtown” themed and inspired by the actually buildings on Minot’s Main Street. I like it a lot.
Then the weather turned and I heard that the festival was cancelled. To confirm I texted my contact to be sure. This is how that came out.
Nothing like an awkward auto-correct to a person you don’t really know. Especially when it’s someone you would like to think you are professional and responsible…a person appropriate for public events.
So awkward. And the worst part is, I sent this when I was at a birthday party, so I wasn’t really paying full attention. I didn’t realize what I’d said until the next day. The. Next. Day. I wrote back saying that I meant “canvas” not “Canadian.” She hasn’t responded.
Why would I have a Canadian all dressed up? Darn my will to be witty. Just a little witty. Very little.
The moral of the story? Read your texts.
xo
Amy
by Amy | Aug 25, 2014 | Blog, Devotional, The Art of Faith
Those of you who have worked with me or close to me {especially in my early self-employment years} know that I’m not opposed to taking unusual payment. I guess in that sense I’m very old fashioned. The kind of girl who could accept a dozen eggs for an hour of cow milking. Okay, so–maybe that exact deal never happened anywhere. Ever.
But I have been known to accept the world’s greatest chocolate chip cookies, meals, banquet tickets, and {recently} a Muppet-esque puppet made to my likeness. {It’s not quite done but I promise I’ll show it to you when I get it.}
My most recent barter was exchanging some graphic design for two tickets to a local positive music festival called Rock the Leaves. If you live here in Practically Canada you should check them out. They put a second event on in the spring called Beardstock, which I’ve heard had a pretty cool promo in the Rock the Leaves program.
You got me. I made that. To be fair–I genuinely do think it looks cool.
As part of my payment I got a VIP experience with this year’s headliner: Sanctus Real. I took a friend and together with the other VIP ticket holders we got to hear Santus Real play two songs from their new album acoustically followed by a question and answer time, followed by photo and autograph time.
Something they said in response to one audience question really stood out to me. A man asked what the best part of their job is as a touring band. In response, lead singer, Matt Hammitt, told us that the absolute best part is when they meet up with people from the audience who share how God has used their music to speak to them. He told us that he uses song writing as a way to cope with hard times and turn to God. He said he loves learning how God has used the words He inspired to work in others’ lives.
I love that. So what I’ve been mulling over is the idea that we all have songs and music running through our lives. Maybe not literally–believe me, no one wants me to write a song, much less sing it. But our struggles, the way we move in times of hardship, our testimonies, the stories we share, the words we use…these comprise our song. The same way God can use their music to reach someone, help them, pick them up, direct them, affirm them–He can use our lives’ songs to do the same to all the people we see and interact with.
It’s a ripple effect and I believe most of us will never know just how far our ripples have spread. Hard times are…well…hard, but if we use our free will to choose to continue to proclaim the goodness of the Lord, He will carry our song far and wide. The strain of a trial and the victory found afterward become our song, a song that can speak volumes to an unknown mass.
by Amy | Aug 23, 2014 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
Mystery solved. It’s Michelle and Dan! A long journey has led to this point and I couldn’t be more thrilled to share their pregnancy announcement with you. For the record–this is my favorite chalkboard I’ve ever drawn for a session. So sit back and enjoy. Bask in the glow of happiness and triumph.
by Amy | Aug 21, 2014 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
Sunflower Mini Sessions | Part Two
Lots and lots of things going on this week…with tons of amazing photos on the desktop waiting for their turn to be edited, you can expect to be seeing a lot of pretty faces here on the blog in the near future. But let’s pace ourselves.
A week ago I shot these amazing, super-pretty shots of Naomi in the sunflower fields as. All the other sunflower mini sessions got moved, due to work conflicts. That’s okay, though. Naomi and I had a great time. And there was no rush, since it was just the two of us…which is fine by me because she is incredibly easy to photograph.
Just don’t be bummed out…the others didn’t get cancelled, just moved. So there is still one more sunflower post to come before the season is over.
by Amy | Aug 20, 2014 | Blog, Context, The Art of Faith
image via
As I’ve been memorizing Colossians there have been a few verses that have really stood out to me. Tonight I want to tell you about one that has haunted me {in a good way, not a weird-creepy way} for weeks now.
It’s Colossians 1:2.
To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
On first glance it might not look like too much. Just your average biblical greeting from Paul. But God has taught me so much recently through the second half of this verse. Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
Like I told you in my update about memorizing the book, one thing that I’m learning is that every single word in the Bible is important. Right down to the order the words fall in and what words have been chosen, it’s a divine and living book. In this instance let’s look at the words GRACE and PEACE.
Upon first read you may, like I did, not think it matters which comes first. Peace, or grace…who really cares? They are nice words to start a letter with. A nice well-wish. And all that would be true for any other book. But not the Bible.
The Bible tells us that peace is part of a Christian’s inheritance. That doesn’t mean that we will live forever in a fuzzy daze of joy, not feeling the stings of mortality in a fallen world. However, it does mean that the peace that passes all understanding is ours to claim and enjoy. Peace that comes when we trust in the Lord and make a choice to proclaim that He is a good God, a God who loves us and knows what He is doing.
Often Satan tries to steal this peace from me. He nabs it away and replaces it with lies and uncertainty. For me, he convinces me to examine myself and do a lot of self-hating. I look at my struggles and my hurt and can always trace the cause back to my shortcomings.
A week ago I was physically and emotionally miserable. I was in terrible pain, more pain than before I underwent surgery. I was sure that something had gone terribly wrong in my back, sure I had reherniated the disc that was just operated on. I’ll save the details for another time, but I’ll tell you this now: I saw no way out. As I looked ahead it was just a hopeless mess of pain. My heart raced and I was sinking in panic. I laid on the couch and thought of a million reasons to be mad at myself. Consciously, I know God is good and loving and perfect. So I’m never mad at Him–instead, I mirror all my emotion onto myself.
If I had been more careful I never would have hurt my back to begin with.
If I wasn’t so active this wouldn’t have happened.
Was it from the gym? If I could have a little more self control in the kitchen I wouldn’t have pushed it so hard.
Maybe I should have been doing something different post-op.
I should have prayed more before surgery, what if this wasn’t even God’s plan?
Eventually I decided that I could live with the pain {maybe} if I could just have some peace. So I cried out to God…and He replied with Colossians 1:2b–Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
Grace comes first.
The order is important. In order to redeem our coupon for peace we must first accept the gift of grace. Grace isn’t something we earn through works or prayer or living well. It’s not something we deserve. That’s grace. God offering us love and life through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. A deed that allows us to reenter communion with Him, even though there is no way to pay Him back for it–other than committing our lives to glorifying Him.
We must accept God’s grace before we receive His peace.
In essence I was dragging His grace through the mud and demanding that I get some peace in return. I was buying in to the lie that my shortcomings were {are} bigger than the grace He offers. Bigger than the God I serve. I had bought into the lie that this problem was too small, that I was too insignificant, that there were bigger and better things to pray about–and that I should deal on my own instead of bothering God with me. Maybe you have bought into similar lies at some point?
If you are there, or have been there, or know someone who is…chill for a second. Take a breath and repeat after me: Grace and peace.
Find a way to let go of the lies and embrace the grace God is holding out. Then, cash in on that peace.
xo
Amy
by Amy | Aug 18, 2014 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
It was like something from the movies. A big crowd, all gathered and buzzing with excitement, even though it was 5:30 in the morning. A breezy, chilly, South Dakota morning. But most people didn’t seem to notice. They were too busy taking photos, checking the time, corralling children or comparing adorable/witty/brilliant poster board signs.
Homecoming.
This particular homecoming is for Matt and Megan. This is Megan.
Everything is thrown off kilter when they leave. There are tears and anger and sadness and {at least for some} a deep rooted thought that the Air Force is the biggest bully in the world. Eventually a routine is established. And you get used to stepping around the hole left while they are away.
Everything is thrown off kilter when they come home. But its a good off kilter, a welcome off kilter. Because you start to look forward to getting back to “regular,” even if you don’t know how long it will last.
It’s emotional. Always emotional. And this was especially so because it was so much bigger and more TV-ish than any other return I’ve witnessed.
It was massive. And the anticipation was palpable. Seriously. Then it happened. The plane landed. They pushed the stairs up and a line that looked like khaki colored ants started to descend. I’m confident that there is no better feeling than identifying your khaki colored ant.
by Amy | Aug 16, 2014 | Blog, The Art of Art, The Art of Living
Through the summer Minot holds Arts in the Park every Thursday and Sunday evening. A few months ago, I was blindsided when I got a call from the Minot Area Council of the Arts contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in being a featured artist.
Arts in the Park works like this. A band plays in the band shell, people come and listen, and an artist stands off to the side. You can do anything you’d like to as the artist, they just encourage it to be something interactive or a demonstration. Like most things, my art is pretty diverse. I had no idea what they wanted me to do, but they were clear that I could do anything I wanted.
So I did what I usually do in a situation like this. I try to think what I would want to see if I was just attending. This is what I came up with.
It’s a community canvas. I drew a black outline of a design {inspired by sunflowers, so perfect for this time of year.} Then I put a dot of color in every space, denoting what it should be filled with. People are welcome to come and fill in as much or as little as they want. And when it’s all filled we are left with a lovely piece of art that many hands had a part in creating.
And people loved it!
Which was so flattering, since I tend to think that my arty stuff is only stuff that my mom would like. Better yet, a woman from the arts council asked if she could buy it. {Say what??!} But wait–there’s more. Minot has an “Arts in the Schools” program that sends local artists in to schools to teach art to kids…and they asked if I’d be interested in being involved. {Duh!} Nothing is super official, but it’s still nice to be considered.
Here’s a progression of the canvas throughout the night.
What I’m getting at is that is was a great night. A night much needed as this fell right around the time of the “Unstuck” post. It was an up that I was in need of. Arts in the Park is done for the season, but if you live in Minot, you should keep a pulse on the cool things the arts council is doing. These folks are working hard to infuse our community with art, culture and fun activities, which I think is something we are all in favor of.
xo
Amy
by Amy | Aug 13, 2014 | Blog, The Art of Art, The Art of the Moment
Let me start by saying–IT’S NOT ME. Really, truly, honestly…this post isn’t about me.
Recently I had the fine privilege of shooting a pregnancy announcement. When we sat down to brainstorm how they wanted to break the big news, we decided that a custom chalkboard background would be just perfect. So, Derek moved the panels inside and I went to work drawing up what just might be the best background I’ve ever created. Which is why I couldn’t resist showing it to you.
Making this chalkboard wall was one of my best decisions ever. I just love drawing big, giant word art up there.
The photos, however will be kept secret until their friends and family have found out. So until then, I guess you all will just have to speculate.
Amy
