My dear friend, Katie Calvert, has been responding to Psalm 126 through art for a couple of years. She boldly walked in obedience to the Holy Spirit’s nudging in pioneering an artistic response series at our church. When she introduced the idea to our worship leaders, they RAN with it beautifully, bringing great detail and intentionality to each artist’s story and piece. The vision of this series has become so much greater than any of us imagined and has introduced a great partnership between our pastors and artists within the church. It is a stunning collaboration and visual of Jesus at work. There was a total of ten featured artists partnering with a pastor this summer, each one responding to a different Psalm. I’m beyond grateful to be a part of a church that is working hard to welcome opportunities to work together with everyone’s various giftings within the Body! See below for my response to Psalm 139 along with my artist statement:
Read MoreAdoption Art Piece // Floral Watercolor
This print holds a very special place in my heart. It was inspired by our friends, Matt and Monique, and their adoption journey. I remember standing in our dining room talking about the little love they had been praying for and awaiting. I began painting one day and their family was instantly laid on my heart.
Read MoreRice Paddy Art // Inakadate, Japan
Who knew that rice paddy fields could be a piece of art?! This blew our minds. These fields were planted with different kinds of rice to create ginormous elaborate artwork. (You can see a person walking on the road as an example of a scale in the photo block below.) Each year, they have a different design or scene, plant the rice then reap the harvest when it's time. They did Star Wars one year and this year they have two separate Japanese scenes. The field pictured above was inspired by the Japanese folklore, "Momotaro," which means "peach boy." It was so interesting!! We read that the entire village partakes in planting and reaping. It really gives a new meaning to, "It takes a village."
Read MoreJust the Two of Us // Our Last Trip Solo!
It's hard to believe that the next time we'll be traveling, we'll have a tiny little travel companion with us! JD and I were so excited to spend this last trip enjoying Hawaii together and hanging out on the days he didn't have to work. It's the end of an era and we wanted to celebrate the sweet season we've had as well as the exciting season that's about to happen.
To be honest, we spent a lot of time resting. Our time traveling is normally spent hiking and exploring but throughout this pregnancy, we've been keeping it pretty chill. From what we've been told, we won't get as many opportunities to rest in a couple of months. ;) Here are a few highlights from the trip.
Read More50 Day Art Challenge Featuring Each State // It's Complete!
The 50 Day Challenge is finally complete!! To those of you who kept with me the whole time - thank you! Your encouragement kept me going. And to those of you who found Jitney's because of the challenge, thanks for joining us! We're so excited about you!
Fifty days. Fifty states. Fifty art pieces. The challenge took a little longer than 50 days but I had so much fun! The challenge has certainly molded my skills but also pushed me to try new techniques. I hope I represented your state well! To get a closer look at the pieces, you can find them on our Instagram feed. We've also posted a few of them up in our Etsy shop for purchase.
Read MoreInspiration for Mia Kai's Nursery // Mood Board
We have made it to the third trimester!! I can't believe Mia Kai will be here in less than three months. Ahh!! We have a lot to do before she arrives, but we thought it'd be fun to share the inspiration for her nursery with y'all today. Lots of floral, delicate colors and soft accents... it's actually developing differently than I originally expected, but I think it will be perfect for her. :)
Read More50 Day Design Challenge // State-themed Gouache Paintings
Happy December!! This year has flown by. We've had quite a few transitions in our family in 2015 between changing our focus from 'craft-based' to 'art and design-based' with Jitney's, and, of course, the exciting addition of our little Mia Kai arriving next year in April. Yay!!
This October, I decided to challenge myself with a 50 Day Design Challenge.
Read MoreWatercolor Wednesday // Your Path is Beautiful and Crooked
It's official. You can buy your first Jitney's Journeys original watercolor print here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/204701274/original-watercolor-print-5-x-7-vintage
But before you purchase, read the story behind this print below. Hint: You may find a little surprise waiting for you at the bottom of the post.
In all honesty, many of my days feel chaotic. My mind is a jumbled mess and my path seems completely at a standstill, blocked by trees (at least the view is nice!).
During JD's most recent trip, I decided to take a watercolor class. This class was amongst many, many things I did during his absence to keep my mind preoccupied and my hands busy (so that I wouldn't bite my fingernails - a dreadful habit I never noticed until my brother pointed it out a couple of months ago).
While searching for inspiration, I fell in love with a quirky yet charming photo of pigeon-toed vintage brogue shoes. I immediately began sketching and painting.
Most days, I'm super quirky. But not on purpose. It just happens that way. My feet turn inwards and my face turns a sweet shade of pink when conversations navigate towards me.
Some days I feel completely confident in what I'm doing in life. Then I snap back to reality and realize I have no. I. dea. And that's okay.
"Your path is beautiful & crooked & just as it should be."
Just being honest here... it would be nice to have thousands of "likes" on FB or Instagram on all of the things I post but that's certainly not the case. This watercolor, however, had the most "likes" - by far - of anything I posted.
That tells me that you're with me. Not only do I need to be reminded that my path is beautiful & crooked & just as it should be, but YOURs is too!
So let's walk these paths together.
Our beautiful, crooked, just as they should be, paths.
Side note: In honor of our first "Watercolor Wednesday", we're offering free shipping on your purchase of this watercolor print.
Use code YOURPATH at checkout. Offer expires Sunday, September 28!!
