Three Dog Night

Three Dog Night

11" x 17"

Graphite/charcoal

Besides an early 1970"s rock band having this as their name, the phrase "a three dog night" has been around for quite a while.  It's use meant that it was so cold that you would need to have three dogs in bed with you to keep you warm.  That's cold!!  That's close to what I felt sleeping on the ground 1,000 ft. below 14, 500 ft. Mt. Whitney in California when I climbed to the summit in 1980.  

This phrase reminds one that many things in life are accomplished by teamwork.  When I look back over my life I see that many people have been very influential in my life.  Some have been there at point's in my life when what I did could not have been done without their help.  Our culture focuses so much on "what's in it for me".   I suggest that the greatest satisfaction comes when we work together as a team on endeavors.  I appreciate a quote by Mother Theresa:  

I can do things you cannot,

You can do things I cannot;

Together we can do great things.

Those of you who are followers of Christ know that all His followers are part of a bigger endeavor...the building of His church in this world.  We are all individually gifted but as we bring those gifts together much more is accomplished for good than remaining isolated. What an honor to be fitted together in teamwork to reflect Christ to a world that needs Him.

Here is a lovely piece of music composed by Antonin Dvorak, the Humoresque, portraying how important teamwork is in producing a beautiful sound:

Live bravely and beautifully!

It's Empty!

The Empty Garden Tomb

14" x 17"

Graphite

Over the centuries Western art has depicted the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ in masterful works.  Christ's death is the pivot point in our B.C./A.D. time keeping.  His resurrection provides the mighty hope that has empowered millions.  Here's a few of my favorite paintings on this topic:

(Etching by Rembrandt - 1653)

Christ and St. Mary Magdalene at the Tomb

Rembrandt - 1638

I love how Rembrandt portrayed Christ as looking like a gardener to Mary at the tomb.  

Doubting Thomas

Caravaggio - 1597

I like what Eric Liddell, the 1924 Olympic gold medalist of whom the famous movie Chariot's of Fire was made, said about the resurrection:  

The cross  is not the end; there follows the victory of the resurrection.  What does it mean?  Here was a creative act of God.  It was a new revelation of the living power of the living God.  Christ rose from the dead!  

The resurrection has a meaning for life.  It means the possibility of new life here and now, a risen life, a new quality of being.  Life!  Eternal life!

New life!  New joy!  New hope!

Happy, joy-filled Easter to you all!  

Live bravely and beautifully!

In the Flow

In the Flow

6" x 8"

Oil

Want to join this little robin?  If it was a hot July day, you'd want to be splashing away with delight, too!  I happened upon this happy bird last summer at the beautiful Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, Nebraska.  It didn't take much for this small feathery friend to make the most of a situation and be contentedly happy.  She found it in the flow!

As I worked on this little oil study, I got to thinking about what makes people happy and what being "in the flow of things" feels like.  Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has spent his life studying what it is that makes people happy.  He observed from his childhood experiences in Europe during WWII that even though some people had lost everything, yet they still possessed an inner strength and resilience that enabled them to live life with purpose.  But he saw that others who lost everything lived a withered and bitter life.  His quest was to find out what was essential to people's happiness.  He found that when people were focused, had clarity, and had a passion about life that distinguished them from everyday people, they were enabled to be "in the flow" which was a very ecstatic and uplifting state of being. Much more is explained in Mihaly's work, but I want to highlight the aspect of what makes you feel fully alive.

(Watercolor/ink study of falls on the Yellowstone River)

Research shows that income and fame don't create more happiness.  It is intrinsic.  It is being a person who is cultivating a rich inner life.  Daniel Goleman says it well in his book, Emotional Intelligence:  "...people who are self-reflective---who take time out to pray or to meditate or have some way of being in nature regularly, who spend time being with themselves and have a rich interior life---are better able to pay full attention to other people."  Goleman's statement also highlights the fact that happiness is not self-serving, but is attentive to our fellow man.  Improving the lot of others brings happiness!

May I also suggest that cultivating a rich interior life and being fully alive can be found by drinking the living water that Jesus spoke about to the woman at the well.  He said to her, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water."  

I love being around water.  Waterfalls, springs, flowing rivers and rushing creeks always mesmerize me.  So when Jesus speaks of my life being like a fresh, bubbling spring...wow! That gets my attention!  He invites anyone to experience this..."those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again.  It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life."  (John 4:14)  That's being in the flow, no matter what circumstances life has you in.  You can still be fully alive and intentionally focused on living a selfless, joyous, and deeply satisfying life.

Speaking about "flow", the beautiful Iguazu Falls in South America and the music of The Piano Guys portray in metaphor what one's inner life could be like when lived in flow.  Enjoy!

Here I am enjoying another of the world's great waterfalls...Yellowstone Falls in Wyoming.  

Live bravely and beautifully!

Tyger! Tyger! Burning Bright

Watercolor study of a tiger

While working on this little watercolor sketch, I couldn't help but remember that famous poem about a tiger by William Blake from The Oxford Book of English Verse.  Here it is, so enjoy!  By the way, the word tiger is spelled tyger in this poem:

The Tyger

Tyger!  Tyger!  burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand?  & what dread feet?

What the hammer?  what the chain?

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil?  what dread grasp

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,

And water'd heaven with their tears,

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger!  Tyger!  burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

                                                                                       ---William Blake

To add a little fun and variation of artistic experience into the theme of tigers, I will throw in the London Philharmonic's version of The Eye of the Tiger:

Live bravely and beautifully!

On Staying Thirsty

Watercolor study of a deer grazing

6" x 8"

Remember how thirsty you got as a kid on a hot July day playing outdoors?  Every pore in your body was drenching you in sweat and your mouth was caked dry.  The dominant thought demanding immediate response was to get some water fast!  The garden hose was fabulous for instant refreshing with cold water being gulped and splashed everywhere.

Being thirsty is a condition we should maintain for the rest of our lives.  The thirst I speak of is not one of physical desire to stay hydrated.  As humans, we are designed for so much more than just the daily grind of working, eating, and sleeping.  Something in us seeks to reach beyond that to find deeper meaning and significance in life. This is the thirst we are encouraged to maintain, to not settle for "the ordinary of the everydayness of things".  It is an ardent desire for what is sustaining and great in life.  It is about satisfying the thirst in your soul.  

  

"Deer in Yellowstone River"

8" x 10"

Pastel

All too often we settle for just plugging away at life, punching it out, and not thinking much about shaping our lives and being hungry and thirsty for what is enriching and deepening. May I encourage you to plunge in deeper, to be thirsty in your life?  How do you do that?

    

One way to be thirsty is to read.  Read widely and read deeply.  Author Steve Leveen writes that reading "is a way of living higher, with your eyes open to an astonishing world and your mind daily learning more---about the world, yourself, and your untapped capabilities."  You live your life differently because of what you read.  So read....ask questions and read to find answers.  Keep searching.  One of my favorite quotes is from Abraham Lincoln:  "I must read and study to prepare myself, for someday my chance will come."  Abraham Lincoln was thirsty as a young boy....he was largely self-taught through the books he read.

Deer in Yellowstone River, Wyoming

Another very important way to stay thirsty was encouraged centuries ago by King David by what he wrote in Psalm 42:

"As the deer longs for streams of water,

so I long for You, O God.

I thirst for God, the living God."

This is the thirst that underlies all other thirsts in life.  Jesus stated that He was the Living Water in John 4...claiming that "those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again.  It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life."  The more you drink of Him, the more satisfying you find Him, and yet the more of Him you desire.  Keep thirsting and drinking deeply of Him.  You will experience life in more meaningful, adventurous, and astonishing ways through all the stuff of life.  Take time to regularly get away from all the distractions in your life and drink deeply from God's Word.  And read well and widely in all the great books.  You will be enriched and have much with which to nourish the lives of others!

Live bravely and beautifully!