My Collage/ God's Collage

..
My Collage/God’s Collage


Last week’s post showed photos of a ceramic donkey, which I then isolated from their backgrounds using a graphics program.

This little critter, just 4 inches high to the tip of the ears, is a family heirloom.  If my remembrance is correct (and there’s no one left to ask), it was fashioned by an uncle of mine whom I met in person for only about an hour in real life – and that was LONG ago.  By now the donkey might be 80 years old – or even older.  His ears have been glued back in place a couple of times.  But his bright, shiny colors are as vivid as ever.

I incorporated computer printouts of the donkey into a collage.  A collage, by its very definition, is an assembly of elements from unrelated sources, fastened or glued together to form a finished picture. 

The backing sheet was a glossy-paper advertising flyer that came folded in with a newspaper.  The yellow paper is an opened-out business mail envelope.  Cuttings of clouds emerged from the white paper around the printouts of the donkeys.  The grass is recycled blue painter’s tape that I’d used to anchor a paper I was coating with white housepaint, which will become the backdrop for another artwork.  Marking pens added the red lines, and the blue around the clouds. 

Individual, unrelated parts have been brought together to make a unique (or quirky?) design.

In the same way, God always remembers exactly who I am and who he wants me to become.  And he’s putting together pieces from many seemingly-unrelated sources.  I trust that he’s fashioning me into a surprisingly wonderful design that only he can imagine. 

“Long ago, before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own, through what Christ would do for me; he decided then to make me holy in his sight – without a single fault – we who stand before him covered with his love.”  (Eph 1: 4 TLB)
==




This post is shared with "Seedlings in Stone" and
"Playdates with God"





It would be a joy to me to find my inbox filled with your comments.  You are blessed, and loved, today.

Seeing Things Differently

"Over the Sea 21" - Randall David Tipton   used by permission

overlay, old man outline, by M. Miller

.

Seeing Things Differently

Not long ago, professional artist Randall David Tipton posted a painting on his website titled, “Over the Sea 21”.  The cotton candy pink cloud looks scrumptious.  But beyond that, a tiny, shiny white spot within the cloud reminded me of a star shining through the cloud.  My attention was captured.  Suddenly, the white dot became an eye, and hmmm, there was a thin “eyebrow” (in slight change of color) above that.  And then, of course, the nose was unmistakable to me. 

And there, the whimsical face/head of an old man----.

(I’ve outlined him that you might better share my view.) 

I like to think of him as the “essence” of the cloud, or a cloud-spirit (or sprite?) of some sort.  As children, we looked to find images in clouds.  Well, here was one not only discovered, but in my mind, seeing a further image in a pink cloud added to my enjoyment of the painting.

I asked Tipton if he meant to put a man in the cloud.  “No no old men placed in my clouds or anything else,“ he replied.

But you know how it is with an optical illusion?  You don’t see it, and then you do!  After seeing that illusion, I can’t “not” see it – though Tipton didn’t place it there intentionally.

Just as sharing our different perceptions about lovely paintings can open up new pleasures to many, so also may collaborative insight add to our ability to solve problems, tackle work that needs doing, or cope with new patterns that show up in our lives or in the wider society.

Aren’t we lucky that artists’ imaginations see things differently?  And that people with differing visions may enhance their (or our) fruitfulness or understanding?  In such a case, artworks – or life -- can be true serendipities.

==

artist's website    http://randalldavidtipton.blogspot.com


This post is shared with L. L. Barkat and Laura Boggess.