Today’s painting is one where, as my dad says, the water does the work. He spreads the water and the paint and sees what it creates. If you have something satisfactory, paint the fisher person and the shore. If not, try again. He says you can create a painting like this in 20 minutes!
If you were fishing on that lake, or that seaside, what would you be thinking and feeling as you cast out your line? Take a few minutes to place yourself there, and breathe deeply.
Time on a boat affords much thought, if you’re a solitary rower like the one in this painting by my dad. As we turn to autumn, why not take some time to reflect over your summer. What were some highlights? Lowlights? How did you react to them? How did you sense God moving in and through you during the highs and lows – and all the times in between? As you take some time to reflect, consider what speaks to you in the painting.
For me, summer involved travel. Times to see loved ones making new and precious memories; times to experience new places and sights; times to remember that as physical beings, we get tired and hungry and need some down time. The tree stretching across the water tells me that God erects a shelter over me, to provide relief from the baking sun and reminds me to sink my roots deeply into the rich soil, that I might access his living water.
How about you?
As the news has been filled with fairytale stories of a commoner from the former Colonies marrying a prince, it seemed fitting this week to showcase my dad’s abstract of a castle by the water. You can picture this as Windsor, where the wedding will be next May, or perhaps a fortress in the North of England, a haven of safety against marauding invaders.
What does this picture say to you?
A bridge, a boat, some trees. Where does this scene take you?