Psalm 25 // Teach me Your Paths

A Word of Compassion: David begins Psalm 25 petitioning for himself and ends his lament petitioning for Israel. Oh, how deeply this resonates with our church right now. In many ways, this piece began as a personal journey and has progressed into petition for the Church at large. My husband and I are close to several people experiencing deep hurt. Our hearts are incredibly heavy for each of you. We’re listening. We’re praying. We’re seeking Christ. Psalm 25 is a psalm for us all. May grace and truth prevail as we seek Christ, clinging to the God of our salvation. 

While my past couple of art pieces for this series were watercolor and calligraphy based, I decided to study a new fine art this summer: handcrafted paper flowers. Garden imagery is the focal point of most of my pieces, reminiscent of Eden, the restoration and hope in the future glory of Christ. The pathways in this passage reminded me of a maze and the ways God directs our paths, intersecting with one another and with unexpected twists and turns. The watercolor sketch to the left of the main piece illustrates my original vision for my floral display, one which creates a maze of stems while all of the flowers have a posture of uprightness, reflecting the action of “lifting up our souls (v. 1)” and keeping our “eyes ever toward the Lord (v. 15).” The twelve words entwined in the stems are all characteristics and actions found throughout the chapter which root our hearts and guide us in likeness of Christ. 

The nets and dried flowers draped over the columns represent guilt, shame, afflictions, transgressions, and loneliness in which we can be so easily entangled. This imagery alludes to the truth that God is the only One who can “pluck our feet out of the net” and restore our brokenness with beauty. 

Each flower in the bouquet is intricately pieced together with layers upon layers. The Italian crepe paper is delicate and could be easily torn if not handled with gentleness, especially the pieces I dyed and trimmed. Isn’t that wildly reminiscent of our Maker? All things created with intricate design and delicacy. I dyed most of these papers by hand and hung them from twine on our back porch as the sun dried them, a constant reminder that by God’s grace, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).” The outcome of each strip brought unpredictable results, but it wasn’t until I cut each petal, shaped them and combined them with other petals and florets that the beauty emerged. The process took hours upon hours, far longer than any other project I’ve constructed. That patience and perseverance led to each flower offering significant beauty and its own unique story of refinement. 

As I began assembling the stems for the maze, the stems were jumbled and messy. It looked awful. I had no choice but to unravel it all and pivot. Most of my plans for this piece failed… until I began wondering, “How did God see David in this lament? How does God see me? How does God see us?” The larger piece with the single stem and bouquet represents ‘the bigger picture,’ as the perspective of how God sees us while the watercolor sketch offers my humanly limited view of God’s plan. Rather than the flowers all pointing up, you, as the viewer, see the perspective shift as if God was looking at His children with radiant faces gazing up at Him. The single golden stem is shaped to reflect the twelve leaves representing the words included in the watercolor sketch. It represents His character, the way His truths cover us and sustain us, upholding the cluster of flowers which represent the body of Christ. 

On a personal note: Lord willing, JD and I will be joining a new church as it takes root. Therefore, this will most likely be my last art installation for the Psalms series at this church. Serving in this capacity and sharing my art has altered my story in astounding ways that only God could orchestrate. It has been a true honor and joy to work with other artists in our church. Displaying artwork is vulnerable and humbling. Thank you for viewing my work with care and encouragement the past three years.

ABIDE // Psalm 1

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Isaiah 40:8

Oh, how often I forget. How often my mind withers and fades. How often I fail to cling to the Words of Life our Father has so graciously gifted us.

Throughout my life, I have written notecard upon notecard of scriptures to meditate on, to have at hand when my mind grows dim. I’ve painted verses to hang on the walls of our home, lest we forget. A few years ago in the midst of fighting depression, a dear friend showed up on my doorstep with her own set of cards which have now endearingly been entitled The Character of God cards. One side had a characteristic of God written on it, the other side had a supporting verse. As I meditated on those words, I picked up my paintbrush after two years and began illustrating the verses as a form of worship, to know God and to let His Word sink deeply in my soul. Through art as worship, I delighted in the Word of God as it washed over me. 

Inspired by a recent trip to Switzerland, surrounded by waterfalls, the raw edged notecards are meant to emulate a cascading waterfall as the Word washes over us, with verses on one side and brushed watercolor strokes on the other. Each card is copied from a notecard collection I’ve added to since high school but these feature a keyword to help spark memorization of that reference. While scripture memory is foundational in our walk with Jesus, it is imperative to remember that it should lead us to a deeper love for the entirety of God’s Word and act as additional support to the larger Gospel story. This idea is reflected in the individual cards (scripture references) creating a wholeness of the waterfall (God’s Word).

In the larger work of art, you will see florals, greenery and nature singing of God’s glory keeping in theme with the majority of art pieces I create. My hope is that this will evoke a sense of returning to The Garden, a sense of Wonder before the fall.  

I again embraced the concept of the psalm handwritten in calligraphic styling as a continuation of the Psalms Art Series from 2022. The scripture frames a firm, deeply rooted tree incorporating the idea of His Word abiding within us. The branches extend beyond the canvas frame, signifying the overflow of God’s Word from our lives and bearing much fruit beyond what we can see or perceive. The calligraphy is written in acrylic ink and brushed faintly with burnt umber watercolor signifying the Word of God hidden in our hearts. 

One side of the river hosts the deeply rooted tree encompassing the Word which grows deep into the fruitful soil. This is the Gospel taking root in our hearts. It represents a life interwoven with Truth, displaying wonder and an abundance of beauty. 

The opposing side of the river mirrors a drought, a withering and desolate land. A blazing amber and golden sky may be recognized from the passage as day and night, or a sunrise and sunset. However, it may also be perceived as an expression of the chaff being burned as ashes in the wind from a fire. 

Several elements of this installation include others’ stories and participation: My husband helped with brainstorming and tearing some of the notecard paper. My dad crafted the frame out of sassafras and coated it with tung oil to maintain its natural state. The embroidery thread is from my mom’s old thread keeper books. A few of the ladies from the art collective helped bring the cascading waterfall vision to life. Overall, this entire installation is a picture of community at work.  

As we hold tight to God’s Word, our life is sustained, unwithering, basking in overwhelming joy. As you breathe in and take delight in His Word, may you experience our Father’s sheer delight over you too. 

Beautiful images courtesy of Meghan Medlen Photography

Trusting the Equipper // Our Story about Taking the Dive into Wholesale

Y’all. I feel like I’m dreaming. The JITNEYS collection is now officially in stores and we could not be more thrilled! The celebration is continuing and I’m currently in the stage of remembering how we actually arrived to this exciting venture. Let me share it with you:

You see, JD has been encouraging me to contact retailers for quite some time. Like, for years. But fear set in. My work wasn’t good enough. Our branding wasn’t quite the way I’d like it to be. I didn’t have the proper training or know retailer / supplier etiquette. My illustrations weren’t perfect enough. I didn’t have a wholesale catalogue and certainly couldn’t match the prices of competitors. We didn’t have the space to handle mass quantities. Our warehouse is comprised of our den and a small area in the garage. In fact, I didn’t even know of a manufacturer that could print exactly what our customers were wanting. Putting my work into the hands of someone that has the power to say “yes, we’d love to stock your work” or “no, (fill in the blank)”? That’s vulnerability and it scared the living daylights out of me. It honestly all fizzled down to the mindset (and the garbage lie) that I wasn’t enough.

I was ready to stop designing for public use toward the end of last year, but - out of the blue - a manufacturer contacted me last December about potentially printing our agendas. I thought it was a scam. But I did all of my research, prayed earnestly about it, had tons of conversations with JD and close friends concerning the decision, debated wholeheartedly… then said, “okay, let’s do this. If it doesn’t work out, I wasn’t planning on keeping this up anyways.”

Side note: I know. It’s a total contradiction to the ‘hustle’ we all hear about from entrepreneurs these days. I’m totally embarrassed to admit that I almost quit something I’m so passionate about, but I’m just being honest with you.

Oh, but how the Lord intervenes on our behalf! It was not a scam. In fact, they were able to print everything I had hoped for in a planner. I had a few patterns I had recently created for a company so I used those for my tab pages along with our trusty layouts from previous Agendas. God’s provision was strong. Little things like that continued to happen throughout the past year. God continued to show His faithfulness and reminded me that this is exactly the direction we should be headed toward every step of the way.

He also reminded me with a gentle voice that He has equipped me for the good work of His will, that His hands are over the work we do for His glory.

“Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—with the blood of the everlasting covenant, equip you with all that is good to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. Glory belongs to Him forever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21

And that is enough.

One of my favorite fellow creatives sent a text praying over me before walking in to meet with my first potential retailer:

I’m praying for an overwhelming sense of peace in knowing you don’t have to DO anything to accept that you are enough… that your gifts will be used because they are just that - gifts and an anointing God has put in you to be creative and bless others by sharing them You are a good mama and wife, not because of anything you have done but because of who Christ is in you. Amen!

Amen, indeed, y’all. I still have a flood of fears that enter my head and heart when pursuing Jitneys, clients and retailers, but since clinging to the Truth that God has equipped me to do His will, His faithful promises have continued to carry me. I get so nervous with every phone call and email I write but I have to remember that our Gracious Father has already gone before me. He knows the people who will say yes and the companies that will say no.

A dear friend asked me the other day, “What’s the worst that can happen by reaching out to a retailer?” They say no. I have the choice to feel defeated or the choice to learn from it, figure out what happened and grow from it. So what is the greatest thing that could happen? Ideally, that they would say yes and we establish a healthy, long-term vendor/retailer relationship. :) But ultimately, the absolute greatest thing that could happen - regardless of anyone’s response to our products is that God would receive glory. And that, my friends, is more than enough.