Secret Santa Questionnaire

Just a litte questionnaire for the dorm gals to get our secret Santa event going. I looked at some reference images to draw the Santa, then colored him in Photoshop. Flyer was done in InDesign. 

Christmas Illos

A couple of sketches inspired by our Scripture readings the last two weeks at church. We've been camped out in Luke 2.

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." 

- Luke 2:8-20

Sketches from Scripture

Tonight at BCM Rose was talking about John 10:7-10 and Jesus being the gate. It reminded me of a sketch I did a few months back about the same verse when my pastor was preaching on the same set of verses. I've done several sketches over time inspired by scripture, so I thought I'd share some of them. I just finished scanning some that have been in my sketchbooks for a while, and I was surprised just how many there were! Some of them I drew during sermons. *gasp* I never thought I'd do that! One of my professors in college said he always did that and I used to think he was crazy. It's just not something I ever thought I would do - I raised or taught, if you will, that during the sermon you're suppose to sit and listen and do nothing else. I've found, however, that it helps me remember later on the story or the point of the message, which is pretty cool.

So below are a smattering of pencil sketches and fully finished art I've done over the last several years. Hopefully if you click on them the images will get bigger. 

Sometimes they're funny, like these two: 

Left: The whale slurping up Jonah              

Right: In Exodus 32, when Moses comes down from the mountain and Aaron had led the people in making the golden calf. It always sounded to me like Aaron was surprised and the calf just came out of nowhere. "It just . . .poof!"

 

I've tried to illustrate Psalm 23 and John 10 a few times. God as our shepherd. I like my cuddly sheep.

And some other well-known and lesser-known Bible stories:

Top Row: David with his slingshot; Hannah praying; the guy that Jesus healed after his friends lowered his through a roof

Middle: Mary Magdalene on Easter morning (left: at the sight of Jesus, right: telling Peter the news); I can't recall the Scripture for this one, but it's one of the stories where the guys are fishing, Jesus shows up on the beach, and Peter just jumps right out of the boat and swims to shore. I was trying to imagine all the weird looks his buddies must have given him. 

Bottom: Mary and Martha. I tried to capture the look on Mary's content face as she's listening to Jesus.

      

Some that don't necessarily have a 'story' behind them. 

Top: Matthew 6:25-34 (Do not worry); Isaiah 40:27-31 (run and not grow weary, soar on wings like eagles); caterpillar struggling to get out of his cocoon (dealing with troubles)

Middle: the widow who gave her last coin; a candle and a lighthouse from a message on being light

Bottom: from a message about service

    

 

Almost done! 2 more. These are 2 of my favorites: 

Exodus. Take off your shoes, for where you are standing is holy ground. A friend of mine once told me she takes her shoes of during praise & worship because of this verse. I often do the same now.

Inspired by the verses in Isaiah 6 when Isaiah sees the Lord.

Animals Playing Instruments

Doodle United's latest theme was "Animals Playing Instruments." I was super excited when they posted it (cows!). While I had cow plans, I did also color some banjo playing pigs I drew a long while back:

These are inspired by the site Dueling Banjo Pigs. Colored in Painter.

Next, I drew a couple of individual cows playing some unique instruments. 

Medieval Cow playing a hammered dulcimer.
Inspired by my love for the middle ages, the desire to one day learn to play the hammered dulcimer, and an obsession/longing to join 3 of my friends in SCA. (one day!)

Highland Cow, in a kilt, playing the bagpipes.
Inspired by my friend Elise, who has a fierce love/obsession with both Highland cows and all things Scottish. 

The fourth piece I did, I will post in the next post - because it's pretty epic . . .
 CLICK HERE FOR NEXT POST.

Oops! New Unicorns

About to post the lasted Doodle U and realized I never posted my unicorns from 2 themes ago. Anyhoo, here they are. See everyone else's unicorns HERE.

Old Unicorns

This current Doodle United theme is 'unicorns.' I was really excited for this one because unicorns were one of my favorite things to draw in middle/high school. While I'm busy inking/coloring my new sketches for the theme, I thought I'd pull out some of my old unicorn art: (click to view larger)

Top Left: an early ink sketch (probably from middle school)
Top Right: a plushy sketch (from college)
Bottom Left: another middle/high school colored pencil sketch
Bottom Right: Unicorn batik from high school. This is one of those things I'd love to try again. Batik has kind of a learning curve, so I didn't really get the hang of it right away. Super fun process though.

Lending a Creative Helping Hand

Once a month, my church has what's called "6:35 Service." Basically, it's an 'artsy' evening service. I haven't been able to go for a while, but lately they've been working with the Micah 6:8 - "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." This past Sunday was time for the 'act justly' part. We divided into four groups to participate in different service projects. One group collected hats and mittens to hand out locally, another made laundry soap for Next Steps (a women's recovery home), another made 'Blessing Bags' (bags full of helpful things like food and hygiene items) to give to local homeless, and the other was charged with making artwork to decorate the Department of Child Services (DCS) rooms where children have visitations with their parents. I was fortunate enough to be part of the artwork group. (Also blessed because originally I was suppose to work and they called it off!)

I had a blast creating some melted crayon art; something I had seen on Pinterest but never tried before. I decided to incorporate one of my favorite characters Totoro into mine. Basically I drew Totoro on the canvas, inked him with a black sharpie, then carefully covered the sketch with blue painters tape (love that stuff!). Then I hot glued the crayons to the top and used a heat gun to 'make it rain.' After that I carefully peeled the tape off and painted Totoro with some gouache paints. Super jazzed about the end result. Hopefully it will make some child smile.