Mountains Make One Look Up

Mt. Baker

9" x 12"

Oil

Who doesn't love lifting their eyes to the hills?  Something about looking at a mountain does things for the soul.  You immediately come into the presence of something that is bigger than you are. You are reminded of a greatness and grandness that extends beyond the ordinary and daily round of life.  Your perspective is altered.  Your place in the scheme of things is proportioned to the majestic presence of something of enormous magnitude. There is something very solid and enduring about a mountain.

Mountains by nature make you look up.  There is a lifting of your gaze that can impact your heart.  Mountains are so full of metaphor. The writer of Psalm 121 spoke of looking up to the mountains on his way to Jerusalem.  But gazing at those mountains caused him to consider the Maker of those mountains as being the true source of his help.  We are all poor and needy in some way.  How reassuring to know that there is Someone mightier than your circumstances who is standing beside you and watching over you.  

I see Mt. Baker on every sunny day that I drive to work.  I love looking up at its immense mantle of snow and all the crevices around the peak.  I envision myself hiking up around it and exploring its wonders.  Most of all it reminds me of the truth of Psalm 121 and also of what Psalm 93 says about God:  

The Lord is King!  He is robed in majesty.  

Indeed , the Lord is robed in majesty and strength...

But mightier than the violent raging of the seas,

mightier than the breakers on the shore---

the Lord above is mightier than these!

(Watercolor study of an elk)

(Pencil commission in progress)

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tunes without the words

And never stops----at all.

                                                                                       ---Emily Dickinson.

Be brave and courageous!

Dutch Treat

Hello to you and welcome back!  It has been two months since I last posted on my blog. Lots has happened since the end of August.  I moved from Omaha, Nebraska to the Pacific Northwest and have been slowly getting settled, unpacked, and organized.  Here is a peek into my art studio.  It feels so good to finally have a place in which to create art again! 

Currently I am working on a commission for a nurse from Omaha who wants me to do a work in pencil of a chapel from the private college she attended in Yankton, South Dakota. Here is a glimpse of the beginning structure:

Getting the perspective accurate plays a crucial focus in these beginning stages!

So what is the Dutch Treat aspect of this blog?  The community I live in is called Lynden and a large segment of the population come from Dutch immigrants.  One sign leading into the town makes the claim of being a little bit of Holland in Washington.  Here's some photos that give the feel of my neighborhood:

This Dutch heritage brings with it a love of culture and fine arts. Think Rembrandt and Vermeer.  This past week was the Lynden Music Festival and Sunday I enjoyed getting in on the final performances of some great talent.  I share some of that with you via these video clips:

The first was a terrific performance by the Western Washington University All Male Choir:

The second video is of Marja Kaisla from Finland who taught master classes in piano here during the week, as well as performing numerous times:

The third video clip is of the Borealis Brass from Fairbanks, Alaska:

Wherever you live, make time to nourish your life with the Arts in your community.  Better yet, nourish others by creating some of your own!  I leave you with these words from a great educator, Dr. Frank E. Gaebelein, headmaster of the Stony Brook School on Long Island, NY:  

When it comes to the kind of things that make up our cultural environment and when it comes to our relationship with each other, the arts are the business of us all.  Why?  Because each of us has in one way or another an aesthetic faculty.  Because we each have in some measure the capability of responding to artistic expression.

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                                    Be brave and courageous!