My Paintings

*(For current painting pictures and stories, click on the “Paintings” tab in the section labeled “Categories,” located on the left hand column of the main blog page.)

Growing up, I did not claim an artistic ability, unless it was in the field of music. Sure, we did many crafts, colored and had art classes in school but I never had a passion for it. I loved music. There are three sides of music for me: singing, playing and signing. My singing started when I was really little. I would sing HoneyTree songs in church and be in the kid plays, often lead roles. My voice started changing in the 4th grade. By 6th grade it had changed so much that I stopped singing. Kids at school would ask me why my voice sounded funny; my family would tell me to relax my voice. (Even now, the classic adult question is if I have Laryngitis.) 😀

Playing music started in the 1st grade. I took piano lessons and continued them even in high school. In 5th grade, I learned to play the flute. I loved middle school marching and concert band!! In high school, I bought a bass guitar and played until I graduated. I did not pursue any music in college. By that time, my hearing was steadily decreasing and I was too busy with my studies/ministries.

I also consider sign language an art. I used to worship in music by signing the words with my hands. I learned some basic signs at a summer camp in junior high. Two years later, I was teaching myself out of books and signing songs for church. Spring semester of my sophomore year in college, my hearing dropped drastically. I stopped signing with music to signing with my interpreters.

My first painting was in college for a gen-ed class about Music/Art. It was my final. I painted again for my senior semester class, but had no real interest in painting other than a grade. After I graduated, I was living with some roommates who had artistic abilities. I realized I that I did not do anything artistic anymore and found myself bored on days off. For my dad’s birthday that year, I did not know what to get him–so, I decided to paint a picture.

That was it. The little triangle between the legs and the branch took me almost 40 minutes. Seems funny to me now! After that, I did not paint again until Christmas. I started painting more and more. My friend would come over every Monday to paint and try new colors/designs. After painting a few other gifts, I realized that painting brought me joy like music once did. God gave me a new passion. It has been a learning process, figuring out which styles I like and blending colors. I am excited to see where it goes from here.

These are some of the paintings I have done for family and friends:

My sister said not too long before her birthday that she has always wanted to own a peacock. Now she does.

Another painting for my dad. We saw this everyday out our window in CO: The Great San Dunes National Park with the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

For my dear friend back home. It is based on the hymn, “In the Garden.”

I titled this painting, “Children’s Aspirations”. This painting and the two below, I painted for the art auction that Cedarville University was hosting. The proceeds would benefit the non-profit, The Preemptive Love Coalition.

http://www.preemptivelove.org

“Reconciliation”.

“Rebuilding Hope”.

I had been with Children’s Hospital at Denver since I was 14. I grew close to my doctors and nurses especially during the year I started chemo July 2010-June 2011. I painted this for the Oncology Department not only as a thank you for everything they did for me, but also because during that time of chemo I noticed the children. I am old enough to understand why I am sick, why I was enduring chemo treatments and why my body changes and hurts sometimes. I looked around while I was having chemo and saw most of the patients were very little children. I wanted to paint ants, because most often we forget about ants. We step on them and they annoy us at picnics. But when you study them closely, you see their strength. The children I watched reminded me of those ants, because they are small yet their strength is strong!

For my mentor/professor in college: “Poseidon’s Temple, Greece.”

MORE PAINTINGS