Amy Boucher Pye

Category: Watercolor Wednesdays

Paintings by my father that inspire thoughts to ponder.

  • Watercolor Wednesday: At the grave of Lazarus

    A painting of Jesus beckoning Lazarus out of the grave amid several onlookers.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    One of the best things about immersing myself in a writing project is how much I learn in the midst of the research. Lately I’ve been working on a short book for small groups on the prayers of Jesus for Lent next year. There are seven recorded prayers of Jesus, and we look at six of them. One, you may recall, is the prayer that Jesus prays at the grave of Lazarus. It’s a prayer of thanksgiving – of faith – and not of petition. Jesus thanks the Father for always hearing him.

    Sometimes we simply don’t have enough faith to know that God has heard our prayer, but we can ask him to give us the faith to believe. At other times, we need faith even to pray.

    Whatever our needs, I believe we can approach our loving God, who hears our prayers. I hope you believe that too.

    I hope you enjoy this painting that my dad created for me, for some talks I will be doing on Mary, Martha, and Lazarus! Isn’t it wonderful?

  • Watercolor Wednesday: A time to reflect

    Grey and gloomy clouds lay heavy over a bridge in which a few people walk along.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved. 

    The beginning of Lent can feel a bit like this watercolor of my dad’s – grey, overcast, a bit dreary and rainy. Very English weather, in fact. We don’t know how long we’ll feel like this, and if the clouds will lift.

    Many Christians don’t observe Lent – they see the work of Jesus on the cross as freeing them from their sins, and thus Easter is the moment to celebrate, not the time before. I respect that, but also appreciate these forty days before Easter as a time to prepare myself for Resurrection Sunday. A time to examine my heart and mind before God, asking the Holy Spirit to search me and make me more like Jesus.

    However you observe the season – or do not – I pray that some shafts of Light will shine through and give you warmth and grace.

  • Weekly Watercolor: A cabin in the woods

    A little red cabin nestled among trees with mountains in the background.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; All rights reserved.

    Are you more of a mountains or a beach person? Mind, I don’t think you have to be one or the other. I think I’ll claim both. I love the refreshment of soaking up the sun, listening to the waves pounding in musically. But I also love drinking in the cool mountain air, looking up in wonder or cozying down in a welcoming cabin in the woods.

    Take a few moments to transplant yourself to this little mountain cabin. What does it look like inside? Who is with you? What are the day’s activities that you look forward to? What will be the feast you return to – perhaps something cooked over the fire? How do you think God might meet you in this mountain cabin?

  • Watercolor Wednesday: City life

    An abstract painting of city buildings in red with swathes of color for the sky and foreground.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    Have you ever thought about how life in the new heaven and new earth will revolve around a city? Well, that’s the picture we see in Revelation 21:1–2: “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” For many people, living in a city is not their ideal. Pollution, noise, crowding, crime – all things that they want to avoid. And, of course, the lack of the beauty of nature surrounding them.

    But the city John speaks of in Revelation will be like none we’ve ever experienced. I can only imagine what it will be like. We’ll definitely not experience excess noise or overcrowding!

    Take a few moments to enjoy this abstract painting by my dad, Leo Boucher, of a part of New York City, as you contemplate the new city.

    Do you like city life? Why or why not?

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Revealing what’s underneath

    A watercolor of evergreen trees in various hues in a winter scene of whites and yellows.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    Our first painting of 2020! My dad just finished this wonderful landscape of life in Minnesota with its atmospheric snow. To create it, he covered the canvas with a number of coats of white paint. Then he painted with his watercolors, and when the paint was almost dry, he took a whittling knife and scraped off some of the paint to get the white highlights. I love it!

    Sit with it for a moment as you contemplate the new year. How could scraping back some of the color in your life actually produce something more beautiful?

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Stark hope

    A late autumn scene of a brook with bare trees and one fallen tree with yellow leaves.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    I meant to take a walk in the nearby brook today, but some stuff happened and I didn’t make it there before darkness descended – which when I checked the time of sundown, was 3.51pm. That’s feeling early. I have to be more organized to enjoy the outdoors in December.

    But my dad sent me this watercolor from a photo I took in the brook recently, and that made me feel like I’d enjoyed its beauty (although my Fitbit doesn’t reflect the accompanying exercise). I love how he’s captured the stark beauty – the remnants of autumn and the bare branches.

    What remnants of color are hanging on in the wastelands of your life?

    How can you pray for more color to surround you, or for life to grow in what may seem like a wasteland?

  • Watercolor Wednesday: A bridge of hope

    A Roman bridge covering a darkish blue river with a blue sky and a barren tree to the side.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    A fitting scene as we start Advent, for my Dad’s watercolor shows a barren tree, but signs of hope too in the blue of the flowing river – maybe it’s the river of life? – and the shades of beauty in the sky. 

    How could Advent be a bridge for you this year as you approach the Christmas season? Could you see it as a time of waiting in hope, of joyful expectation, even when the trees feel barren?

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Grateful hearts

    Horn of plenty, overflowing with produce
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    It’s the week of Thanksgiving! You may or may not be celebrating; we will be feasting on Saturday, enjoying good food and the company of friends and family. Although we face challenges, which is not uncommon in this life, we have much to give thanks for. May our hearts overflow with gratitude for all of the goodness we experience. 

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Stark beauty

    An atmospheric pink sky, set off by two barren trees.
    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    As the trees once again become bare, the sky sometimes flashes into a panorama of color and we glimpse a stark beauty. We have a momentary reprieve from a grey, overcast sky that bears down on us. Our spirit soars as we gasp in wonder and thanks.

    May you experience wonder today.

  • Weekly Watercolor: Hope in drab times

    A cityscape of Minneapolis with a red truck driving along on its own.

    In this painting, it’s a drab winter day in Minneapolis. It’s a bit of a drab day here in London too, so I thought it fitting to share this painting today, especially as Minnesotans have received some snow and are shivering in the cold. 

    What do you do to brighten the clouds that descend in your life, whether physical or metaphorical?