That I May Receive
encaustic
8×8 inches
Back to my bowls again. Does it seem like I am all over the place with my art? Well, that’s alright if it does. I’ve come to terms with this. I used to worry about how I am drawn to different media and depending on the media, my work shifts. I’ve discussed it with other artist friends, asked for advice, written about it my own journal and I’ve come to the conclusion that I am a multi-faceted person and my art reflects that.
And I’ve also come to realize that whether I am working on book art, encaustic painting, or acrylics, or journal mixed media covers- they all speak to my communion with the natural world, with myself, and with my Maker.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how often my paintings feel like meditations or prayers, while I am working on them. How art-making can be at times like a spiritual practice. I’ve been re-reading Madeleine L’Engle’s book Walking On Water: Reflections on Faith and Art. I read this book in my very early 20s and it’s interesting to re-read this now, in my mid-30s and as a practicing artist. Things I underlined and wrote notes in the margins 15 or so years ago, still speak to me. But with different significance. Here is one that was underlined and starred, and if I were reading this for the first time today, I would do the same:
“There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the Incarnation” -Madeleine L’Engle
There’s something so…sublime, spiritual, simple…about this piece that I’m sitting here with tears about to spill. Not unhappy tears, but the kind you get when you see high art that touches your soul.
Thank you for sharing this piece.
beautiful! I must learn encaustic. I’m drawn to the effect.
I’ve forgotten that book of M’s. It’s time to read it again. Thanks for the reminder and for your lovely bowl.
Love this piece Bridgette. And love the fact that you work in so many mediums and they all end up looking so special…and so you!
So beautiful Brigette ~ I’m happy that you’re back to bowls, I love them in any medium!
There is such a sense of rest, yet fullness in your painting. I love.
And that book is going on my list. How did I miss this book?
The bowl is a symbol that has so many layers, and your lovely piece affects me deeply. L’engle has been a favorite author of mine since childhood- a very wise woman indeed.
it’s a good painting. madeline always inspired my thinking when i was younger. she was not afraid to really look at things.
every artist finds their zone.. whether it is experimenting with different media and subject matter or working in a series.. you have found your zone.