The Beautiful Gift of Art.

- An artist's experience of touching a life through the beautiful gift of art.

"The more I make art, the more time I spend in the studio and the more I develop as an artist, I've discovered something about it. Art is a therapy.

For me personally I could also say that it's a spiritual experience.  Usually God speaks to me while I'm creating.  He speaks truth into my life as I push the contrast in my drawings or struggle to mix the colors I want.  I've noticed that I become the most productive with my art during times of struggle.  I need to paint to get my emotions out.  My emotions seem to bottle up...but then when I paint, they just pour out onto the canvas and I feel a release as I paint.

I am a planned, detailed person, but I purposely do not plan out every detail of my art projects from beginning to end because I know that not planning is better for me.  It stretches me, challenges me, helps me become more spontaneous in my art making...and also in life.

And I recently had the opportunity to try some art therapy with someone else.

You see, there's this woman I know.  She's British and her story is an extremely sad one.  She married a Muslim and she became a Muslim.  She was shunned by her family.  Her husband left her when she became pregnant. She is living in a room at a hostel with her son and struggling to make ends meet.  She is without a job.  Without a lot.  And she has a bitterness in her.  A bitterness that just seeps from her pores.  I don't blame her from her bitterness.  She has been through a lot.  If you could just sit down with this lady and hear all that has happened to her, you would be shocked.

One day recently, she came over for tea and we had the chance to pray for her as a group.  We prayed for a good bit and as I opened my eyes, I could see that she had tears streaming down her face.

"No one's every prayed for me like that....you all are the first nice people that I've met here."

I invited her over to the art center the next day to sit and create with me.  She enthusiastically accepted the invitation.

On a Monday she entered the studio, wired up as usual by what had happened that day.  Tense and bitter--that's how I would describe her at that moment.  We sat down to draw and paint and I believe we spent the next hour or two just creating and chatting.  And you know what?  As we created together I noticed how she relaxed and laughed more.  She smiled.  And on top of it all, my friends and I had the chance to share quite a bit about our faith in Jesus to her that day.

I was just so amazed how art literally enabled the entire experience.  I've never seen it work so literally and directly.  Something happened between the time she entered the art studio and when she left.  Art may not have solved all her problems, but I believe it definitely helped her release some of her built up emotions that day!

Thank you Lord for the beautiful gift of art."

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