creativity

Lifetime of Learning

adult learning, art, Cezanne, cognitive decline, Habits, John Ruskin, Transfer of Learning

Art and Math

“Transfer of Learning” is a concept in which anything learned in one situation or environment can be applied in another. When I taught art, I would have my students use mathematics and fractions when they cut mats to present their work for exhibition. “Why do we have to use math in art?” they whined, “We’re never going to use it in our lives again.”

“Are you going to buy a house, a car, or shop for clothes or groceries? How will you know you’re getting a good deal?” They got out their pencils and rulers, even though they hated fractions.

Step 1: draw a light under painting

This was decades ago, before “Train for Today’s Workplaces” became a mantra among some politicians. The only problem with training for today is the ever-changing nature of the modern workplace, which can make skills obsolete in a mere two years. Executives believe nearly half of the skills that exist in today’s workforce won’t be relevant just two years from now, thanks to artificial intelligence. However, human creativity will always be needed to guide AI. Folks who want white collar jobs today will need to buy into continuous learning, since the current job market will require ever changing skills.

Step 2: add some thin washes to build up the solid surfaces

We’ve all heard the saying, “Jack of All Trades vs Master of None,” but this might be the best possible scenario for our modern world. In our highly professionalized society, we all want the best physician and the top-notch lawyer on our case. Not everyone has the goods to acquire their services. We get the best we can afford. This is the capitalist society in which we live. In a utopian society, the poorest among us would get the same high quality medical care as the President of the United States.

Step 3: add details once surface is dry enough the paint won’t bleed. Doing background while waiting for objects to dry allows you to tighten up the edges of the objects.

“Those who can’t, teach” is a misconception, similar to the Jack of All Trades. Art Teachers can’t stick only to their specialty, but also must offer the gamut of skills from drawing to painting, paper cutting to plaster sculpture, clay pottery to cloth dyeing, and even more multimedia experiences. They have to be able to reach students with a wide range of talents, interests, and expertise, as well as encourage those who are ashamed of their work. Plus, they need to convince the talented to work and improve so they fulfill their promise.

This background discussion brings me to our class’s second experience in watercolor. I noted some instances of Transfer of Learning I can point out when we meet again.

Gail’s Still Life

When we paint a house, we dip our brush in a bucket of paint, apply it to the wall in one stroke, and then go back to the bucket for another dip. We don’t keep wiping the same spot on the wall over and over trying to make this one spot look better. In fact, the damp brush is just picking up the paint off the wall! Move along and cover the wall.

Tim’s Still Life

Don’t take your eye off the ball. If you want to catch a ball in any sport, you have to track it into your hands or the mitt. I noticed the ones who looked up, drew, looked, drew, checked, drew again, adjusted, and drew some more, had closer proportions in their drawings.

Measure twice, cut once. This is similar to the above sports metaphor. I learned it in the art school wood shop when I was cutting wood for my stretcher strips. Using the thumb or a brush to note the proportions of the still life objects and comparing them to the proportions of your own work helps get an accurate drawing. Check once, measure, check again, measure, and then cut. Air drawing or visualization helps to imagine the proportions before drawing the lines. Drawing lightly so you can draw over the less appropriate shape is an example of measuring twice, and cutting once.

Gail W’s Still Life

Sheep will eat the grass down to the roots, but goats will move on. Actually, I have zero experience with sheep and goats. My shepherd experience is limited to leading a congregation, none of whom could be accused of being either sheep or goats. I only know this fact from Bible Study lessons, and no one rents out sheep to clear a pasture of weeds, but they use goats because goats are smart enough to move on. In art, we need to take a lesson from the goats and move on to another section of our painting to let our colors dry, so we can avoid our colors running into each other.

Cornelia’s Still Life

Our group isn’t training for a new occupation, but keeping a challenge on our plates is a good idea for anyone of any age. Whether you’re trying new recipes or learning to play an instrument or taking up an exercise routine, whatever change you make in your life is important. Doing creative writing or crafts or arts is especially crucial for keeping our brains healthy, for these activities build new pathways in our brains. As we age, having redundant brain pathways is important to keep our minds healthy.

Participation in arts interventions have been linked with improving cognitive function and memory, general self-esteem and well-being, as well as reducing stress and other common symptoms of dementia, such as aggression, agitation, and apathy. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, the interventions which promote social interaction, have multiple psychosocial benefits. While none of our group are experiencing these effects, participation also staves off the same symptoms. Researchers found visual arts programs reduced depression, improved socializing, and increased self-esteem among participants.

Expressive arts activities also help individuals relax, provide a sense of control, reduce depression and anxiety, encourage playfulness and a sense of humor, as well as improve cognition and self-esteem. Making art also nurtures spirituality and reduces boredom. Art also can reflect the emotional and cognitive condition of the artist.

Watercolor with Prang Oval 8 Student Palettes

In the classes I teach, I encourage each person finding their own voice, rather than copying my style. In the art education classes I took in college, the goals of teaching were for students to recreate the closest replica of the teacher’s model, as they followed the instructional steps to the letter.

I’m thankful I never had those teachers growing up, but by the 1980’s, regimented lesson plans were all the vogue. When I began to teach, I gave certain boundaries or requirements for each lesson, such as the use of certain color schemes or coiling verses slab built in clay sculpture, but the rest was left up to each student’s creative interpretation.

My principals were always surprised by the lack of discipline problems in my class, but when young people are given an opportunity to develop their imagination in a positive direction, rather than use it in negative behaviors, life is good. They especially liked the “hand-mouth pop quizzes” I would occasionally make them take, especially when they discovered cookies or chewing gum were involved.

Years later when I went to seminary, I constantly heard the refrain, “Will I be able to put this in my toolbox and use it in the local church?”

As a person who was preparing to be a fifth career pastor, I could only roll my eyes in silence. Every job I’d ever had prepared me for the ministry: renovating old apartments, teaching, preparing lesson plans, selling insurance, studying art history and painting, and learning how to renew and retrain my old skills for a new career. The idea of having a single toolbox that would never need new tools never crossed my mind. Seminary was where my skills to be a lifelong learner were reinforced.

I was writing this on My Daddy’s birthday. He would have been 105 if he’d lived so long. He always maintained an interest in archaeology until Parkinson’s and dementia robbed him in his late 70’s of his memories and his brilliance. He would take us on arrowhead hunting field trips on Saturdays when we were children. Armed with a cooler of lemonade and sandwiches from home, we’d go out to the countryside to walk in a farmer’s newly plowed field, with his permission of course.

In his early retirement, he enjoyed giving tours to school children at the LSUS campus Pioneer Heritage Center and driving the church bus to the food pantry to pick up the monthly food rations for distribution to the neighborhood. Staying active, engaged, and eating a healthy diet are other ways we can keep our minds building new neurons.

One of the interesting research opportunities in art and the brain is the question of whether neurodegenerative brain disorders will show up in an artist’s body of work. The progressive loss of neurons causes changes in the brain, which leads to a number of symptoms, from altered multi-sensory processing to difficulty moving and using one’s body, to subtle changes in mood, emotions, personality, social interactions; to major, disabling cognitive and behavioral impairments. Although we currently only offer art therapy for the elderly, perhaps we ought to be emphasizing the arts from earlier ages and integrate it into all of our studies to help everyone develop limber learning skills to last for our lifetimes.

Joy and peace,

Cornelia

 

Half Of All Skills Will Be Outdated Within Two Years, Study Suggests

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2023/10/14/half-of-all-skills-will-be-outdated-within-two-years-study-suggests/

National Endowment for the Arts Study: “Research Gaps and Opportunities for Exploring the relationship of the Arts to Health and Well-Being in Older Adults,” Published by the national endowment for the Arts Office of Research & Analysis

Click to access Arts-and-Aging-Building-the-Science.pdf

Pioneer Heritage Center

https://www.lsus.edu/community/pioneer-heritage-center

Can we really ‘read’ art to see the changing brain? A review and empirical assessment of clinical case reports and published artworks for systematic evidence of quality and style changes linked to damage or neurodegenerative disease

Physics of Life Reviews 43 (2022) 32–95

 

 

 

 

Introducing Watercolor Painting

adult learning, art, brain plasticity, Cesanne, Children, cognitive decline, color Wheel, Faith, Imagination, John Ruskin, Painting, perfection, quilting, renewal, United Methodist Church

Our art class has worked in acrylic paint for several years, but toward the end of last year, they expressed an interest in learning about watercolors. I said, “Sure, we’ll do that. It’ll build on the color theory you already know, but you’re going to have to learn to plan ahead and learn not to rush to overwork one area. Transparencies are the mark of watercolor, so leaving your painting underworked is better than overdoing it.”

Transparent Watercolor Model

I was met with silence. Then laughter. “What the heck! We’re up for it! Bring it on!”

I love this group. They’re always up for a challenge. I think they’ve bought into my philosophy we aren’t going to be perfect, but we’re always going to learn from everything we do. As a teacher, I reminded parents their children wanted to engage with the medium to learn how far they can mix the colors before the image becomes a dark gray smudge. Then they might even push it even further until it’s solidly black. If you ask a child about their story, they might say, “The family took shelter in the house, but the storm came and blew it all away.” The story would evolve as they pushed the medium to the maximum. They learned the limitations on that day and wouldn’t go as far the next day. The process, not the product, is important.

Young children aren’t ready to draw subject matter from life but prefer illustrating stories from their imagination. They use symbols, rather than attempt to construct two dimensional designs to represent three dimensional objects. Somewhere around age 11 to 14, children begin to try to construct a realistic world in their art. While their drawings at this stage display the use of value, perspective, and light, children are extremely critical of their own success. They consider their drawing only as good as the level of realism they achieve, and they’re easily frustrated. Most people quit making art works about this age, so even as adults, their “functional artistic age” is somewhere between 11 and 14.

When my mother was teaching ceramic classes at her church, she once complained to me how her students, all senior citizens, were like “spoiled children, who each needed to have their own fresh jar of glaze to paint from.”

I asked if she was putting all the new paint jars out in the workroom, or if she kept them hidden in the supply closet. You might have thought I’d just pulled the clouds back from the sun from the way her face lit up.

“Of course! I should have thought of that! I’ll just pour out the colors they need and tell them that’s how it’s going to be. They can share.”

Paul Cézanne: The Park of the Chateau Noir with Well, 1904, graphite and watercolour, Private Collection

The old masters didn’t teach their students light, dark, shading, values, perspective, color mixing, temperature, or any other aspect of the art trade until the apprentice reached around age 10 or so. The rule when I was growing up was a child had to be able to write in cursive. That rule won’t work today, but another hand-eye coordination achievement will take its place.

It takes a while for me to know a new student’s nature, so I can give them the appropriate nurture. Some of my students will go ahead and do exactly what they want to do anyway because they have to see for themselves. They have a high tolerance for “learning,” and “experimentation.” Other students need to be kept from these excesses, because they can’t stand “failures.” Some students need to creep up to the edges of failure in order to progress, since they are so fond of being in control. Gaining the confidence to let go and let the medium have its way will be a growth opportunity which watercolor offers. Other students I can leave well enough alone, and come over when I sense they’re at a struggle point. I can recognize this when they quit working or begin to sigh loudly as they push back from their work area.

Cutting on the Fold

I’ve actually had some grownups in art classes cry because they couldn’t master a technique on the first go around. I always expected at least one child in my kindergarten class to shed a few tears when they were first learning to cut on the fold, but didn’t “hold the fold” when it was time to cut. I can repeat this rhyme, ask them to check, and then cut, but at least one will hold the open edges, which leads to two half pieces. I always have to remind them I’ve been practicing this skill longer than they’ve been alive. One day they’ll get good at it also. Effort will pay off. The same encouragement goes for adults, though most of them are too proud to shed tears.

For our first class, belated as it was due to the recent weather and my brief hospitalization for a small blood clot at the turn of the year, we chatted about the difference between acrylic and watercolor painting. Acrylic painting is more forgiving, since we can paint over our less precise marks. We saw some Cezanne watercolor landscapes to see how a real master draws and paints.

Paul Cezanne: Le cruchon vert, watercolor, 1885/1887, Louvre, Paris.

Watercolor’s luminosity depends on the sheet on which it is painted, for its brilliance is a balance between transparent washes of pigment and the light bouncing off the bright paper back to the viewer’s eyes.  At first, Cézanne worked much as he did in his oil painting, applying the watercolor densely, filling in underlying pencil outlines, covering the paper completely, and highlighting with white gouache. Later he thinned his watercolor and laid down veils of color, incorporating blank paper for highlights. He often applied watercolor to dry, semi-absorbent paper, creating layers of crisply defined brushstrokes with ridges of pigment at their edges.

Our class, because they are used to the dense pigments of the acrylic paints, painted much like the early Cezanne gouache works. It takes a while to learn a new medium, especially one so radically different from their prior experiences. But just as it takes time to learn, it also takes time to unlearn! Ask my golf coach about changing my swing sometime. We’ll get the hang of it eventually.

After checking out the master, we then worked on mixing the secondary and tertiary colors from the primary colors from our Prang 8 Color palettes on our 140-pound watercolor paper (not sketchbook paper, which is thinner and will buckle under the slightest bit of water).

Cornelia’s psychedelic mushroom rainbow

I was still on painkillers for my shingles, so my painted circle never quite closed itself. Instead, it was more of a rainbow, an image of hope after all this rain and my health troubles. My secondary colors looked like rainbow mushrooms popping up from the rainbow. The wetness of some areas bled into some of the colors, giving me the tertiary colors. I had a bit more success working the wet in wet in the blue grey cloudy sky.

Gail W’s Flower

One of our new students, Gail W., imagined her color wheel as a flower in a field. Tim W. focused on the colors as patterns. I had the sense I was looking at a portion of a quilt in progress. While we had the color wheel as an image, we weren’t bound to recreate a wheel.

Tim W’s quilt patterns

Tim B. Always has a unique viewpoint, so his color wheel is moving through space. Mike used some pastel colors in addition to the Prang colors to experiment with the difference between them. He’s used to thick paint with his acrylics, so allowing more water to flood the surface and allow the light to bounce back through the paint will allow his painting to glow more brightly.

Tim B’s flying color wheel

Gail S. finished out her wheel in good form. She has good transparency of paint and mixing of colors of the three sets of colors on the wheel. Gail typically paints with thinner washes in acrylics, so her technique in that medium passes over easily to watercolors.

Gail S’s transparent color wheel

As a first start, we’re on the way. Next week we’ll try a small still life. I hope to be in less pain, so I’ll have more of my brain cells available, or at least they’ll be within hailing distance. I have some great Cezanne still life watercolors to share. A still life will test our drawing skills and our painting skills both. The Victorian art critic John Ruskin said, “No good work whatever can be perfect; and the demand for perfection is always a sign of a misunderstanding of the ends of art.”

Mike’s color wheel with Prang and opaque watercolors

We aren’t being graded, so when I say “test,” no one ever fails. We only find out what we’ve learned and what we need to improve upon. Trust me, “we’re all going on to perfection, by the grace of God.” After all, this is a United Methodist art class. If I may quote Ruskin again, “The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.” By this he means, art changes us. Art also opens new horizons, allows us to overcome challenges, imagine new solutions, eases our stress, finds companionship, learn resilience, appreciate culture, and develop new skills. At every age, art builds confidence, teaches us compassion for ourselves and others who try new things, and helps us keep an optimistic attitude. I personally believe art keeps our inner child alive and well. May God renew you daily in joy.

Joy and Peace,

Cornelia

 

Drawing Development in Children: The Stages from 0 to 17 Years https://www.littlebigartists.com/articles/drawing-development-in-children-the-stages-from-0-to-17-years/

John Ruskin—The Stones of Venice

A Guide to Cézanne’s Mark-Making and Materials | Magazine https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/589

Cezanne’s Watercolor Pigments.   https://cool.culturalheritage.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/annual/v14/bp14-09.html#:~:text=C%C3%A9zanne%27s%20watercolor%20technique%20allowed%20the,before%20application%20to%20the%20paper.

 

 

 

 

What’s the Point of Suffering?

art, city, Creativity, inspiration, Israel, Megiddo, Painting, righteousness, Solomon’s Temple, suffering

I’ve visited the Holy Land twice, and I’m always surprised how small this country is. So much history and events of our faith happened here, yet the land isn’t much bigger than Vermont. This land is a place of great suffering, marked by the historic sites of Masada, Megiddo, and Golgotha. It’s also the place of great joy, as evidenced in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Map Painting: Temple Mount of Jerusalem

When we speak of the Holy Land, we include the ancient kingdoms of Judea and Israel, as well as modern day Palestine. The modern state of Israel was formed in 1948, as a homeland for diaspora Jews, who are the ones whom conquering foreign nations had exiled from their homeland over the centuries.

The history of the Hebrew people has been marked by suffering. As Deuteronomy relates, they are a “people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession. It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you—for you were the fewest of all peoples” (7:6-7).

They endured slavery in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness until they entered the promised land, and then were at the mercy of stronger nations who wanted to control the trade routes, which intersected inside the borders of Israel.

The earliest diaspora was the Babylonian exile in 586 BCE, plus a later exile to Alexandria, Egypt, in the 1st century BCE. That first exile was marked by the trauma of the Jews’ loss of Solomon’s Temple and their residency in the holy city. They’d always depended on these two as permanent and a source of God’s special protection. However, their failure to honor God completely negated this protection. In the exile, the people learned how to live as God’s chosen people by studying God’s word, keeping the law, and separating themselves from the Gentiles.

About five million Jews lived outside of Palestine during the Roman era, but most of them lived within the confines of the Roman Empire. Even before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE, diaspora Jews outnumbered those who lived within the bounds of the territory of the Holy Land.

Western Wall of Temple, Men’s prayer area nearby and Women’s area in distance, 2019

After World War II, with the Nazi massacre of over 6,000,000 Jewish individuals of all ages and sexes, this Holocaust ignited the desire within those others who shared with Jews the same values they represented in the world. Social justice and compassionate assistance to the weak stood in the way of Hitler’s regime, for he believed Jews opposed the Nazi natural order, which was the powerful exercise unrestrained power on behalf of the superior white race. In Hitler’s view, any restraint on the exercise of white power would inevitably lead to the weakening, even the defeat, of this master race. (We hear echoes of this heretical view in the current replacement conspiracy, which claims migrants are poisoning the blood of our nation.)

Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis: Comparative Size of Israel and Occupied Territories to State of Vermont (11,200 square miles to 9,200 square miles)

An entire book in the Old Testament is dedicated to the question of suffering, especially the question of do the righteous suffer. Under the retribution theory of justice, a good person should not suffer, and a sinful person deserves suffering. However, all of us know infants born with dread physical conditions, who obviously haven’t had a chance to sin. In the Old Testament view, his parents’ sin would have caused his suffering, but Jesus reminds us in John 9:3–

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”

Ossip Zadkine’s The Destroyed City (1951) is a man without a heart and is dedicated to the city of Rotterdam, destroyed by the Nazi Luftwaffe.

The book of Job reminds us suffering happens to all of us, and how we react to it is evidence of our transformation into the image of God. Do we seek mere retribution, or will we let suffering transform us? This is a moral question for us today, especially in our suffering adverse society. Yet, we’ll let those on the margins suffer, while we avoid suffering ourselves. The 31st chapter of Job lists the acts of a righteous man who cares for the widows, orphans, and strangers in his land, yet he suffers. But Job is no quitter, even if he is a complainer. He asks God, “Why do the righteous suffer?”

The Gaza Strip, where all the fighting between the Israeli army and the Hamas militants is currently ongoing, is slightly more than twice the size of Washington, DC., our nation’s Capitol. The Capitol is 68.35 square miles, while the Gaza Strip is just shy of 139 square miles. As a comparison, Little Rock, Arkansas, is 123 square miles in area. Little Rock has a 2024 population of 200,546. Compare this with the two million people live in the Gaza Strip. After living in rural Arkansas most of my ministry, I find Little Rock crowded. The Gaza Strip is 10 times more crowded than our state capital.

September Megiddo Painting 2023

Why do I mention this? When a tornado rips through a town or a city in Arkansas, it causes damage on a large scale to those people in that area. Because we don’t have densely populated areas, our suffering is limited to a few. This doesn’t discount their particular suffering, but it does mean suffering is limited, for which we can be thankful. When 2,000 pound bombs drop on high rise dwellings, numerous people are made homeless, and the possibility of injuries is high. Perhaps we don’t see this suffering because it’s in a distant land, or because some of the injured call god by another name. If we can’t recognize human suffering as the suffering of another child of God, we’re losing our ability to see the world as God sees God’s world.

The famous Banksy’s Armored Dove of Peace, the painting of a peace dove wearing a flak jacket. The dove is painted on a wall near the separation wall between Bethlehem (Palestinian Territories) and Israel. Nov. 18, 2023

Rebuilding Gaza will be a massive undertaking because Israel’s bombardment has caused mass destruction. Current estimates are at least a half million Palestinians in the enclave won’t have a home to return to when the war ends, according to the UN aid office. By the end of 2023, about 1.9 million people had been displaced, or nearly the entire population, some more than once, as people moved in search of safety. Because of bombing, by the end of 2023, about 65,000 housing units across Gaza Strip have been destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. In addition, over 290,000 housing units had been damaged, according to the Government Media Office in Gaza. Officials estimate many more will be unable to return immediately due to the level of damage to surrounding infrastructure, as well as the risk posed by of Explosive Remnants of War.

The Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza, believed to be the third oldest church in the world, was hit by missiles as hundreds of Palestinians sought shelter there during a Israeli missile strike in its war against Hamas.

Currently residents in Gaza are facing famine, for the existing World Food Program ready-to-eat food options are falling short of meeting people’s crucial caloric needs. Bread, made from fortified flour, holds the potential to address some of the unmet requirements for essential vitamins and minerals, which the current ready-to-eat baskets fail to provide. Moreover, providing bread as a no-cook food option is crucial when households lack the means to cook meals. Thus, incorporating bread into aid provisions is not only as a practical solution, but also is a key strategy to fulfill immediate nutritional needs.

Children try to get food relief in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on December 31, 2023.

I first visited the Holy Land in 2000, just before the intifada of 2001. At the time, the Gaza Strip was under Israeli control. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly formed Gaza Strip; Israel captured it in the Six-Day War in 1967. Under a series of agreements known as the Oslo Accords signed between 1993 and 1999, Israel transferred to the newly created Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civilian responsibility for many Palestinian-populated areas of the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank.

After June 2007, when HAMAS took over the Gaza Strip, Israel and Egypt have enforced tight restrictions on movement and access of goods and individuals into and out of Gaza. Fatah, another political movement, and HAMAS have since reached a series of agreements aimed at restoring political unity between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank but have struggled to enact them. Therefore, Egypt and Israel have maintained border control over the Gaza Strip, determining who and what enters or leaves.

Since Hamas’ surprise attack on the music festival and the settlement nearby, not only have the Jewish people suffered harm due to 1,200 immediate deaths but also the continued terror of those held captive by the Hamas terrorists. Some say Christ suffers only for those who go on to have faith in his saving work on the cross. I was asked once on an Emmaus walk, “Are we saved when we profess our faith in Christ, or when Christ died on the cross for us?”

Byzantine Mosaic apsidal, San Clemente, Rome

They were surprised when I answered, “Yes.” It’s not an either-or question. After all, Christ died once, for all, as an act of saving grace. God raised him from the dead to make him the first of many to cast off the chains of sin and death. When we, centuries later, profess our faith in Christ, we accept his suffering on our behalf and his resurrection as our promise of a life to come. As Christians, we often base our world view on our claim to the promises of God, but we forget Christ’s death and resurrection is a promise to all people, even to those who haven’t professed faith in Christ. As the writer of Hebrews (1:8-9) once said:

“Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

Red Megiddo Cross

As I worked on my painting, it went through several iterations. First it stayed close to the map of the ruins of Megiddo, which I painted in yellows. Megiddo is the site of the battle to end all battles, and the place where the forces of good meet the forces of evil. Because Israel is on the crossroads of many trade routes, nations have always met there to contest for dominance. I left many scar scribbles on the canvas to represent the destroyed walls of the ancient city. As is my usual practice, I hung up my canvas to live with it awhile, but the longer my painting hung on my wall, the more unsatisfied I was. I can always tell when my inner vision isn’t meshing with finished work. When I took the work down, I flipped it 180 degrees and repainted it in red, for the bloodshed of this most recent war. As I painted out most of the scribbles, I saw the cross appear out of the image. By destroying the remnants of destruction, I had simplified the image down to its essence.

In all things, the cross is crucial. We moderns don’t understand suffering or pain. We deny it, reject it or medicate it with something that keeps us from feeling it. My personal medicinal choices are ice cream and chocolate. If I can combine them in one substance, so much the better! A recent bout with the shingles this past December had me consuming both foods for medicinal relief. Other people use wine, TikTok, or another medication of choice to escape from emotional or physical pain.

The winter of my discontent, brought by Mayhem

Revenge is is a dish best served cold because if we take revenge in the heat of the moment, we’ll over do our response and won’t know when to stop. If we wait, cooler heads will prevail, and a more limited response will likely be our action. Less damage, and less mayhem, but we humans don’t seem to be built this way. Those who have suffered will often return suffering in kind as a “hair of the dog cure.” This is why abuse and family violence is generational. The ancient Hebrews practiced the BAN, or a primitive religious practice of dedicating for destruction an entire group of people and their possessions to the LORD. This was done to cleanse the land and keep the Hebrew people pure from idolatry. Paul had Deuteronomy in mind when he wrote in Romans 12:19—

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

While the western world has the crusade mentality, which is similar to the extreme ban, we also have the just war theory. Modern wars are fought by democracies mostly with this mindset, for the international community is in agreement the ends should justify the means. Unfortunately, terrorists don’t agree and fight according to their own extremist beliefs. We have to ask ourselves what happens to us when we adopt their policies and inflict extreme suffering on civilians to the point of causing starvation and homelessness by destroying their homeland. If we act the same as those whom as we despise, have we become them instead? We lose the moral high ground when this happens. It’s time to draw back and reconsider our motives and our methods: how can we be just, compassionate, and holy, as God is holy? Otherwise, we’re suffering for nothing or causing others to suffer meaninglessly.

When we read scripture, God’s Holy Spirit should work in our hearts and minds to make a change in us to confront and conform us into God’s holy nature. If no change happens, we need to ask God to open our hearts and minds to be conformed to God’s Holy Spirit. If it’s painful to read scripture, remember Christ suffered for us. Many of us can’t read the scriptures to be transformed, for change is difficult and painful. However, staying the same is also difficult and painful. (Maybe this is why only 10% of Americans read their Bible daily.) I find God has compassion on those who suffer, especially those who do so while “working out their own salvation in fear and trembling.”

Remember God has compassion and is near to the broken hearted,

Joy and Peace,

Cornelia

Gaza Strip – The World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/gaza-strip/

Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #85 | United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – occupied Palestinian territory
https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-85

Holocaust | Definition, Concentration Camps, History, & Facts | Britannica
https://www.britannica.com/event/Holocaust

Little Rock, Arkansas Population 2024
https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/little-rock-ar-population

Ban – Encyclopedia of The Bible – Bible Gateway
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Ban

Report: 26 Million Americans Stopped Reading the Bible Reg…… | News & Reporting | Christianity Today https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/april/state-of-bible-reading-decline-report-26-million.html

Art for the Inner Child

adult learning, Apocalypse, art, Christmas, Creativity, Enneagram, Faith, Holy Spirit, hope, Imagination, inspiration, Light of the World, Ministry, Painting, perfection, purpose, salvation, Spirituality, vision

Discovery is exciting

What is the purpose of an art class? Why does anyone learn to speak a foreign language or take up a craft or sport they’ve never attempted before? We must want to explore some unknown universe or get out of our comfort zone, or as my old favorite television series would announce weekly, “to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

Light of the World Icon: Stencil effect

There are art classes and then there are Art Classes. Just as we shouldn’t make up our minds about a subject or a food until we experience it directly, we can have an open mind about a novel event, rather than rejecting it out of hand. Many of us have lived our lives under judgmental circumstances, dealing with rejection and disappointment at not being the best. “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” the NASCAR themed film of redemption and finding one’s purpose in life, stars Will Ferrell, whose father crippled him with this tragic life message:

“If you ain’t first, you’re last. You know, you know what I’m talking about?”

Near the end of the movie, Ricky Bobby learns this all was just crazy talk:

Ricky Bobby: Wait, Dad. Don’t you remember the time you told me “If you ain’t first, you’re last”?
Reese Bobby: Huh? What are you talking about, Son?
Ricky Bobby: That day at school.
Reese Bobby: Oh hell, Son, I was high that day. That doesn’t make any sense at all, you can be second, third, fourth… hell you can even be fifth.
Ricky Bobby: What? I’ve lived my whole life by that!

According to Baseball Reference, Ruth’s 183.1 career WAR — combining his value as a hitter and pitcher — is the highest all time, well ahead of Walter Johnson’s 164.8. For reference, the highest mark among active players is Albert Pujols’ 99.6 WAR.

We call this living out a “bad script” our ancestors have written for us. We see it all the time in the movies and on television. We read about it in novels and in comic books. For the most part, people don’t change their wicked ways, but get the consequences they’re due. The bad suffer and the good prosper. Or we read fairy tales in which the good little children get rewarded, or the unjustly treated ones are raised up, like Cinderella. These are the popular stories, but not the biblical tales. The book of Job calls this “retribution theology” into question, as does Jesus in the New Testament.

Annie French (1872 – 1965) Scottish: Cinderella and the Ugly Sisters, About 1900 – 1910, Pen and ink, watercolour and gold paint on vellum paper, 23.50 x 21.50 cm, Scottish National Gallery of Art.

In the Bible, God sends prophets, not only to call the people to account (critique their actions or behavior), but to offer the hope of a better future if they return to God and God’s ways (positive changes in behavior). In this way, a good art teacher is like a biblical prophet, who offers both positive and negative critique on the artwork. The teacher also offers “hope” or suggestions on how to improve the work. Teachers aren’t telling the person they don’t measure up, only that they need more time invested in making art to be able to bring their own artistic vision into reality.

Mike on Being the Light in the World

If we expected babies to chew steak from the moment of birth, the world would be a lonely place. If we expected these same babies to get up right away and “bring home the bacon” to buy their own steak and potatoes, they’d starve. Babies aren’t meant to walk before they crawl, nor or they chewing meat before they drink milk or pablum for a year or two.

Bacon Cake: Oh, Baby! I hope that’s REAL BACON!!

Someone who comes to art class should always come to learn something more, no matter how much they already know. I’m always learning new ideas and techniques. The act of making art is always an act of exploring new territories. We also grow by sharpening one another. Folks in the class are always excited to see how each other approaches the subject each week.

Mike’s May 2022 class work shows he’s been learning some things.

Only the apocalyptic writers in Scripture had a fixed view of the future. For them, God had given up on humanity. We humans were too far gone, too broken, and had destroyed God’s world beyond our weak means to repair it. Their only hope was for God to create “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” (Revelation 21:1)

Gail went the extra mile with Cri-Cut lettering

Of course, this isn’t a prediction of a certain time, but it’s a future hope for all times. It’s the hope all we creative people have every time we face a blank canvas, a pile of found objects, or a bag of scrap cloths. We also do this when we pull together a dinner before we go to the grocery store, and we take some of this and that which we have in our cupboards and refrigerators. We’re going to make something new! We do hope the Spirit of God descends to make this an inspired concoction! And if it doesn’t work out, we always know our salvation isn’t at stake over a single random supper creation. If I’m hungry enough, I’ll eat anything. Or there’s always peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Leftover Doughnuts and Sausage Bread Pudding Bunt Cakes

I was reading Richard Rohr’s Enneagram commentary on the American people. He says America is a nation of Threes: competitive, striving, always looking for success and improvement. When we hit a down cycle, and economics tells us we always have ups and downs in our economy, Americans act like we’ve been insulted. This doesn’t happen to us—to others maybe—but not to us! We’ll look both for a scapegoat and a savior, but never realize these conditions are a natural part of life.

Always be the best YOU. There’s never going to be another one just like YOU.

Likewise in groups, we’re always judging who got more, who has the most status, who’s preferred, and who’s on the out. We’re even liable to self-select to be on the outer group if we believe we won’t measure up, just to spare ourselves the shame of being found wanting. Joyce Rupp has a great poem about this very topic:

WE CAN LOVE THE IMPERFECT SELF
If I wait to be perfect
before I love myself
I will always be
unsatisfied
and ungrateful.

if I wait until
all the flaws, chips,
and cracks disappear
I will be the cup
that stands on the shelf
and is never used.

Magic Teacup Cake from Alice in Wonderland

If we’re faithful scripture readers, we know God never chooses the best persons to do God’s work. When we were children, we saw these characters as heroic figures, just as we saw our parents as great and invincible. The Old Testament records how Moses was a murderer, Joshua was afraid, Amos was a lowly shepherd, and David was an adulterer. Not exactly Perfect Role Models, but transformed people can do God’s mighty deeds if they let God work God’s purpose through their lives.

This word doesn’t mean what the headline writer thinks it does.

In Art Class, we don’t reject “poor work.” We aren’t a factory producing widgets. We have other goals: art appreciation, learning about colors, learning to see more clearly, developing a creative mind, and developing drawing skills. Art is a unique visual language, so learning how to render a three-dimensional form onto a two-dimensional surface takes some time and practice. Developing our own voice is the step beyond mastering the basics of artistic vocabulary. As I used to tell my parents at back-to-school night, just enjoy whatever your child brings to you! If you leave your “critical parent” at home, and bring your “inner child” to Art Class, life is way more fun!

Mike’s Christmas Card Collage

We’re currently on holiday sabbatical at Oaklawn UMC, but classes will return in the new year. We meet in the old Fellowship Hall at 10 am to noon. We always have coffee, and on occasional days, a tasty treat. Our class will begin working in watercolor beginning on January 5, 2024. I don’t charge for the class instruction, but each person should bring their own supplies. Supplies needed are:

Prang Oval 8 watercolor paint set with brush
  1. Prang Oval 8 watercolor paint set (containing brush)—on line at Walmart and Amazon. This has best color and pigments. I found a prime deal on Amazon for $3 each if you buy 3, free shipping.
  2. Watercolor paper pad 9” x 12” or larger (90 lb or heavier)
  3. Tall plastic container for water (iced tea glass size plus)
  4. Your inner child

Joy and peace,

Cornelia

MERRY CHRISTMAS, PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TO ALL

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0415306/quotes/?item=qt0425224

Babe Ruth’s Top 10 career statistics— Shohei Ohtani produced 9.1 total WAR during his spectacular two-way campaign in 2021. Even he maintained that level of performance for 20 consecutive seasons, he would still be 1.1 WAR short of matching Ruth. https://www.mlb.com/news/babe-ruth-s-top-10-career-statistics-c163792958

Sharansky’s Hanukkah

art, Creativity, Faith, Hanukkah, holidays, hope, Imagination, inspiration, Israel, Light of the World, Painting, righteousness, risk, shadows, Spirituality

NOTE: This extraordinary story comes from Arguable by Jeff Jacoby, an opinion writer for the Boston Globe, on December 12, 2023. I’m sharing it with all of you because even in the worst of times, even with the least of resources, if we have faith in God, we can be a light unto the world.

In his transcendent prison memoir, “Fear No Evil,” Natan Sharansky tells the story of his nine years in the Soviet gulag, a fate to which he was sentenced for the crime of wanting to emigrate to Israel. Even now, 35 years after it was published, it is an amazing read, a great narrative by a great man who refused to be intimidated by his captors. The more the KGB tried to berate or punish him for his Jewish pride and Zionist yearning, the more joyfully and fearlessly Sharansky embraced them.

To mark this week of Hanukkah, consider this extraordinary incident recounted in “Fear No Evil.”

Davis Stark Design, Architectural Digest 2017

Sharansky was in the Siberian prison camp of Perm 35 and Hanukkah was drawing near. Intent on observing the holiday as best he could, Sharansky had a menorah constructed from some wooden scraps. A few candles were found, and each evening Sharansky lit his menorah, reciting the blessing, and describing to his fellow prisoners — none of them Jewish — the story of the Maccabee rebellion long ago. On the sixth night of Hanukkah, the authorities confiscated his menorah and candles. When he demanded to know why, a prison guard claimed that the menorah was made from “state materials” and therefore illegal.

Sharansky declared a hunger strike. “In a statement to the procurator general,” he recounts, “I protested against the violation of my national and religious rights, and against KGB interference in my personal life.”

Two days later, Sharansky was summoned by Major Osin, the prison camp warden. Osin wanted the refusenik to call off his protest before the expected arrival of an inspection committee. In that case, Sharansky said, “Give me back the menorah, as tonight is the last evening of Hanukkah.” He promised to end his hunger strike if he was allowed to light the candles.

Davis Stark Design, Architectural Digest 2017

But a protocol for its confiscation had already been drawn up, and Osin couldn’t back down in front of the entire camp. . . . I was seized by an amusing idea.

“Listen,” I said, “I’m sure you have the menorah somewhere. It’s very important to me to celebrate the last night of Hanukkah. Why not let me do it here and now, together with you. You’ll give me the menorah, I’ll light the candles and say the prayer, and if all goes well I’ll end the hunger strike.”

Osin thought it over and promptly the confiscated menorah appeared from his desk.

When Sharansky said he needed eight candles, Osin took a knife and cut the candle into eight stubs. Then, with amazing audacity, Sharansky said that the ceremony required everyone present to stand with head covered, listen to the blessing, and answer “Amen.”

Osin complied. He stood behind his desk, donned his major’s cap, watched as Sharansky kindled his eight candle stubs, and then waited for his prisoner to recite the blessing. Speaking in Hebrew — which Osin, of course, did not understand — Sharansky recited a blessing he had composed himself: “Blessed are you, O God, for allowing me to light these candles. May you allow me to light the Hanukkah candles many times in your city, Jerusalem, with my wife, Avital, and my family and friends.”

Then he had a brainstorm.

Inspired by the sight of Osin standing meekly at attention, I added: “And may the day come when all our enemies, who today are planning our destruction, will stand before us and hear our prayers and say ‘Amen.’ ”

“Amen,” Osin echoed back. He sighed with relief, sat down, and removed his hat.

Sharansky writes that he returned to his barracks “in a state of elation.” Who can doubt it? What magnificent chutzpah! What a triumph of the spirit! And what an uplifting reminder that even in the depths of the gulag — even in a time and place filled with the enemies of Jewish faith and freedom — those who refuse to fear can turn the table on their oppressors and dispel the darkness with a candle’s light.

From Book Blurb: For anyone with an interest in human rights—and anyone with an appreciation for the resilience of the human spirit—
he illuminates the weapons with which the powerless can humble the powerful: physical courage, an untiring sense of humor, a bountiful imagination, and the conviction that “Nothing they do can humiliate me. I alone can humiliate myself.”

Hachette Books: Use HOLIDAY23 for 20% off site wide until 12/31. (Order by 12/13 to get your gift under the tree!)

This link also has links to other retailers. Price is set by publisher.

https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/natan-sharansky/fear-no-evil/9780786723249/

Nativity at Night by Geertgen tot Sint Jans, c. 1490, after a composition by Hugo van der Goes of c. 1470; sources of light are the infant Jesus, the shepherds’ fire on the hill behind, and the angel who appears to them

Joy, peace, and light,

Cornelia

Prints, Pumpkins, and Possibilities

adult learning, art, Attitudes, beauty, Creativity, Faith, Family, Food, holidays, Imagination, Ministry, Painting, purpose, Spirituality, Stress, Thanksgiving

Go Fish: Recycled Print and Collage

Here we are shortly before Thanksgiving, at the time I call the “high holy days of family gatherings.” We’ll be in this space-time continuum until the last whistle of the last Bowl Game—the grandaddy of them all: Sunday, February 11, 2024. That would be Super Bowl LVIII, or three days before Valentine’s Day, as a reminder to those who forget these things. As far as big games go, this tradition is almost old enough to take an early retirement. Thanksgiving is a much older tradition, however, for folks have been celebrating harvests as long as autumn has been a season. It’s always good to get a few pounds on before the winter gets here for good.

Leftover Blueberry Donut Bread Pudding

Our final class for November had a celebratory snack. Both Tim and Gail brought gifts of food: a delicious pumpkin spiced cream cheese roll and yummy blueberry and cake doughnuts. Tim let me bring the remaining doughnuts home, so I made a leftover blueberry doughnut bread pudding from them. Very good!! The recipe is on my Cornie’s Kitchen blog now (link below).

Gail’s Turban Pumpkins

Gail painted a still life of turban pumpkins and Tim finished up his leaf drawing. I worked to complete my print project. I added some bible verses cut from an almost century old Bible. The pages fall apart when I try to read it, but fixing it to the canvas will keep keep it from decaying further. As Isaiah 40:8 says—


“The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.”

Tim’s Textured Leaf Study

Sometimes the best part of art class isn’t learning how to create a more beautiful painting, but discerning how to live a more beautiful life. We’re constantly surrounded by the woes and suffering of our world, and this experience can cause us to cast a jaundiced eye on life. We can end up with negative attitudes and emotions that affect our own equanimity and wellbeing.

This is a time when my life experiences in ministry and personal suffering help others see God’s transformational grace at work in human suffering. God doesn’t cause suffering, but God can use this time for good. As Paul reminds us in Romans 8:28—“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

Even Jesus suffered and those of us who bear his name and image aren’t spared this fate. How we handle suffering is the mark of a redeemed person. No one is called to submit to abuse, but we’ll all suffer from illness, indignity, lack of respect, or the ravages of old age. Some of us suffer needlessly because we don’t measure up to an unrealistic ideal image, so we tear ourselves down and say, “we’re no good.” We’re just fine; our expectations are excessive.

Greetings from a Distant Time: It was a hope even then, not a reality.

The high holy days, which we enter into now, are fraught with expectations for many people. Families, who have estranged relationships, may feel a sense of loss if someone doesn’t appear at the family table. Likewise, those who’ve experienced a death will feel the pain of the empty chair. We can’t bring back what was, but we can honor their memories and tell their stories. We can live in the present and build new joys for the family we have now.

In the Bible, inviting someone to eat with you is equivalent to making them part of your family. Therefore, family is the people you choose, not just your blood relatives. We can have many families, but we are to love, care, and protect them all. I consider my art students as part of my chosen family.

In the new year we plan to experiment with watercolors, so if that’s an interest, a Prang 8 color watercolor box, brush, and watercolor paper should be on your Christmas list. Our December schedule is light:


• December 1–class—
• December 8–no class—I’m going to Raney Lectures at PHUMC
• December 15–class—
• December 22 to January 3—vacation—no classes
• January 5—Watercolor class

Joy and peace,

Cornelia

Post Prandial Poses

Recipe for Leftover Blueberry Donut Bread Pudding:
https://cornieskitchen.wordpress.com/2023/11/22/leftover-blueberry-donut-bread-pudding/

Inspired by Autumn Leaves

adult learning, art, Attitudes, autumn leaves, cognitive decline, Creativity, Enneagram, Imagination, inspiration, Matisse, Ministry, Painting, Spirituality, trees, Van Gogh

I returned from a spiritual retreat at Mount Eagle, at which we studied the Enneagram. This is our United Methodist camp site dedicated to holy listening. Of the nine spiritual personality types, I happen to be a Four: The Creative. I’m “The Sensitive, Introspective Type: Expressive, Dramatic, Self-Absorbed, and Temperamental.” Fours are self-aware, sensitive, and reserved. They’re emotionally honest, creative, and personal, but also can be moody and self-conscious. Fours sometimes feel vulnerable and defective, so they’ll withdraw from others, and they can also feel disdainful and exempt from ordinary ways of living. A Four typically has problems with melancholy, self-indulgence, and self-pity; but at their best, they’re inspired and highly creative, and they’re able to renew themselves and transform their experiences.

One of the things I’ve learned over my years of teaching art is every student is unique. They all aren’t Creative Fours, even if they have an interest in art. When I taught in schools, some of the students didn’t even have an interest in art at all. It was a requirement, and they were unwilling prisoners, who were set on rebellion because they knew they wouldn’t succeed. In most education classes, this would be true. Art education classes teach young teachers how to make lesson plans with distinct outcomes and a list of steps. This makes grading easy: did the student follow the steps and how close did their product match the model?

I don’t teach art this way. Children learn to walk by crawling, but they have to roll over and pull up first. Each step is an improvement over the first one. As long as a student keeps working and learning, their work will improve. We adults have to silence the judgmental voices in our heads that tells us, “You aren’t any good.” Instead, let’s listen to that inner voice of joy which says, “Wow, we’re having fun playing with the colors and making shapes appear—it’s like magic!”

We first looked at a few images of leaf paintings to get some ideas. Often by Friday morning, my brain needs some extra caffeine as well as extra jolts of creative input to get an inspired thought to percolate through the fog. We don’t all learn just by listening, but by seeing also. Sometimes students need a demonstration or hands-on experience to figure out the best way to use the materials. I always try to let them manipulate the materials themselves, since the best way to learn is by doing. This isn’t brain surgery, so we won’t harm anyone. We also won’t lose our salvation if the paint gets out of hand. We can always save our old works and say, “Look where I started from!”

Yayoi Kusama: Leaf painting (1990)

Tim was entranced by the Yayoi Kusama Leaf painting (1990), so he began to work on drawing a leaf in this manner. He’s recovering from carpal tunnel surgery, so smaller movements are better therapy for his hand.

Tim: Leaf drawing in progress

Not everyone is focused on details. Milton Avery is a modern colorist who simplifies the landscape into its essential elements. His trees often look like large leaves.

Milton Avery: Landscape with Trees

The bright colors of the autumn leaves in the landscape provided Mike’s color scheme for his one brilliant tree. Mike has exuberance in all he does.

Mike: Tree Aflame

Henri Rousseau was famed for his jungle scenes. These were green in every shade possible. He visited the botanical gardens in Paris for his inspiration.

Van Gogh favored yellow and orange, especially in his later years. The Mulberry Tree from 1889 is a lovely example.

Norton Simon Art Foundation, Pasadena, CA

Gail went outside to grab an actual leaf, rather than work from her imagination. She has a direct connection with nature, maybe because of her years with the national parks.

A leaf against our painting cloth

Repeating this leaf shape, she covered the canvas with it, allowing it to overlap in some areas and run off the edges in others. Using a monochromatic color scheme, she gave the illusion of shadows and light.

Gail’s Golden Leaves

Matisse sought to reunify humans with each other and with nature. As the great painter said, “What I dream of is a balanced, pure and quiet art which can avoid the trouble of frustrating subjects. This kind of art gives everyone’s mind peace and comfort, like a comfortable chair where they can have a rest when tired.”

Matisse: The Dance, 1909-1910

Viewers in Matisse’s day thought his brightly colored painting of dancers was quite daring, but today we can appreciate his work as an ode to life, joy and nature.

Cornelia: Dancing Leaves

As I’ve been watching the brisk winds blow the gold and red leaves from the trees this fall, I’ve also watched them dance against the bright cerulean sky. When the sun shines on these dancers, they glow even brighter than before. They don’t have a care for tomorrow, much less for today. Now and this moment is enough for them. They remind me of the Lord’s advice to us on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:34—

“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

I painted the back side of the leaves with a thin coat of acrylic paint and laid them one by one down on the white surface of the canvas. Then I gently hand rubbed the top of each leaf until I thought I’d transferred the paint. The hansa yellow was least successful as a print color, so I over printed it at the end. I mixed the green ground with the cerulean blue and two yellows. The sky has cerulean, violet, Ultramarine, and white. These I mixed as I painted, so the sky wasn’t an even color. (All skies change color due to atmosphere and distance: they get lighter toward the horizon).

Next Friday we’re going to make stamp prints. You may have cut your own design in a potato once upon a time in scouts or used vegetables to make prints. We can also use leaves, natural materials, metal objects, or found objects to create prints. Art is a time to explore and experiment. We’ll find out what works and what doesn’t!! Curiosity and the willingness to experiment and explore are all aspects of creativity. We can all learn to stretch our boundaries and learn resilience, which are experiences that help us address the stresses and challenges of daily life.

I learn something new every day. Today I learned a starfish has a brain that covers its entire body. Its whole body is made up of brain nodes! There are days I wish I were a starfish: I would have loads of brain cells!

Joy, peace, and happiness to everyone!

Cornelia

 

 

Type Four: The Individualist — The Enneagram Institute

https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-4

The 9 Enneagram Types — The Enneagram Institute

https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions

Art Analysis: Dance by Henri Matisse – Artsper Magazine

Art Analysis: Dance by Henri Matisse

Rabbit! Rabbit! Welcome to November

Abraham Lincoln, All Saints Day, Altars, art, change, chocolate, Civil War, Constitution, Day of the Dead, exercise, Faith, Family, Food, generosity, Habits, Health, holidays, inspiration, Love, nature, poverty, pre-diabetes, pumpkins, rabbits, Thanksgiving, trees, Ukraine, Uncategorized, US Constitution, Van Gogh

My parents would often say, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” If this is so, I’ve had a one whale of a time in 2023. I don’t know where the time has gone, for I’d swear I just woke up in the bright new year of 2023, and now this year has grown a beard of some length. Indeed, the ground was bare, awaiting the warm breath of spring, and now it has experienced its first freeze.

Autumn is a time of transitions. Not only do the trees change colors, and then lose their wardrobe altogether, but we rabbits go from Halloween’s sugar high on October 31st to overstuffing ourselves and the roast beast at the Thanksgiving feast on the Fourth Thursday of this new month. Then we segue into Christmas somnolence with yet more cookies and egg nog (spiked and plain). On occasion we tramp out to decorate the house or scour the woods for greenery, but those days are long gone for most urban dwellers. We’re going to buy from local providers or have it delivered online.

Some of us on the first day of November will still have some of the 35 million pounds of candy corn which are still produced each year. That’s about 9 billion pieces — over a billion more than there are people on Earth. As far as this bunny is concerned, this is 8,999,999,999 pieces of candy corn too many. I’m not a lover of this form of sugar; give me dark chocolate any day. Fortune reported the “dangerous” amount of sugar consumed by kids on Halloween — three cups of sugar in 7,000 calories of candy. For context: That’s 675 grams of sugar, or the same as chomping down almost 169 standard sugar cubes, according to a Fortune article published in 2017.

A Young Bunny

When I was a young bunny, sugar was so restricted in our home, my friends and I would escape our parents’ notice during fellowship time at church to go to the empty adult Sunday school classrooms. We knew where they kept the wonderful Domino Pure Cane sugar cubes for the coffee the grownups drank. We didn’t care for coffee, which was already gone, but the sugar we fell upon like pirates on buried treasure. We didn’t ever consume 169 cubes at once, since that would’ve destroyed the entire stash.

If these had been the 35 million pounds of candy corn, which are still produced each year for Halloween, neither I nor my bunny friend would have ever touched them. The idea about 9 billion pieces — over a billion more than there are people on Earth—are still produced today is incomprehensible to my bunny brain. I think the texture of corn syrup and gelatin isn’t my first choice.

Of course, when the weather turns colder, our bunny bodies sense the need to stoke our internal fires. We do this by consuming more calories, especially the quick acting carbohydrates we find in the sugars and starches that provide the instant “heat” boost our bodies crave. Actually, any food will heat us up, but fruits and vegetables don’t have the same appeal as warm, savory, and fatty foods do in colder weather. The shorter days and the decrease of light in the winter cause problems with our body’s biological clock and lower the levels of the brain chemical serotonin. Plus, many of us reduce our physical activity, so our exercise induced levels of serotonins drop.

Healthy Eating includes More Fiber

We can overcome this loss by planning to be outside during the daytime and making sure to exercise at least 30 minutes daily. Having protein rich snacks and fiber rich soups with complex carbohydrates will help control our hunger spikes. Perhaps this transition time into longer nights and shorter days is why the First Wednesday in November is always National Eating Healthy Day (November 1). If we do only one new healthy choice per week, and add a new healthy option each week thereafter, we can transition our lifestyle into “Eating Healthy.” As a bunny, I remind my friends, it’s also National Vinegar Day—have compassion on yourself and on others. We can love ourselves and others into a better life with kindness rather than harshness. As my grandfather Bunny always said, “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.”

Day of the Dead Skull

All Saints Day and Dia de los Muertos both are celebrated on November 1. Both recognize the departed loved ones. All Saints recognizes both those who have worked miracles as well as those ordinary saints who have lived among us and given quiet witness to their faith. Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is a three-day festival to remember the ancestors and friends who predeceased us. People decorate altars with marigold flowers, photos, and skulls in memory of the dead. They make special food offerings in their honor also.

All Soul’s Day on November 2 is a Catholic holiday to pray for the souls which aren’t yet in heaven, but are in purgatory. Protestants don’t believe in purgatory, so we don’t attend upon this day as holy.

Cookie Monster: “Me want COOKIES!”

Many of us do celebrate Cookie Monster Day on November 2, because who doesn’t like cookies?! The same goes for National Sandwich Day on November 3, for hot or cold, almost anything can be slapped between two slices of bread and get slathered with avocado or mayonnaise, and it’s good to go.

Sandwiches first appeared in American cookbooks in 1816. The fillings were no longer limited to cold meat, but the recipes called for a variety of things: cheese, fruit, shellfish, nuts and mushrooms. After the Civil War sandwich consumption increased and were sold both in high-class lunch rooms and in working-class taverns. A typical turkey sandwich in the 1980s contained about 320 calories, according to a report from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Twenty years later, a turkey sandwich contained about 820 calories. Choose whole grain bread if possible.

We seniors have more than time on our hand

“Fall Back” on Sunday, November 5, when Daylight Savings Time Ends. We get another hour of sleep on this day when the clocks go back 1 hour at 2 am. I won’t be awake to notice it, but I suggest those of you who aren’t good sleepers begin to look at your evening routines. Set a wind down time on your clock, watch, or mobile device. Let it remind you to turn on quiet music, read inspirational books, or begin your bedtime routine. Sometimes taking off our outside clothes and wearing our “at home” clothes is a signal to our mind to let go of the cares of the world.

Fighting over Van Gogh Pokémon Gifts at the Museum

Go to an Art Museum Today Day and National Chaos Never Dies Day are both celebrated on November 9 this year. I don’t normally consider chaos and art museums as being in the same category, but Disney has made several Night at the Museum movies that revolve around the trope of ancient Egyptian gods awakening to cause havoc. Actual chaos recently erupted at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam when visitors realized the gift shop had already sold out of the Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat promo card, which was modeled on the Vincent self-portrait. Evidently a small group of fans descended on the gift shop, causing a ruckus, and buying out the merchandise. It’s now for sale on eBay.

2023 Veterans Day Poster

Armistice Day marks the November 11,1918 anniversary of World War I, a war which began in August 1914, that few expected to last beyond Christmas. In 1921, an unknown soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This First World War was “the war to end all wars,” but we’re an overly optimistic nation. We’ve had a Second World War since then, plus many a regional conflict. Every time our battle ships show the flag somewhere, people think it’s going to be WWIII. Fear mongering doesn’t help the nation. We’re better and stronger than that. Plus, we have the moral duty of leadership: our country needs to show the world there’s a better way.

As I recall, both the North and the South expected the great Civil War to last just a short while, just as Putin entered Ukraine believing his army would roll into Kiev in mere weeks. Yet WWI lasted four years, WWII was six years (the US was involved only the four years from 1941-1945), and our Civil War was another 4-year slog. Wars aren’t so much “won” as lost by attrition: one side loses more men, materiel, and willpower so they surrender to the other. War is the most brutal way to settle our differences.

Armistice Day now is Veterans’ Day, November 11, but observed a day earlier (10th) this year. We celebrate our veterans who do the difficult and challenging work of using judicious force against enemy combatants, rather than civilian populations. All of our enlisted personnel take the same oath to protect and to defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic:

I, (state name of enlistee), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (So help me God).”

The US Constitution, 1787

We are an unusual people, we Americans, for our loyalty isn’t to a party, a president, or a person. We are loyal to the constitution, which protects our democratic institutions, values, and freedoms. We can be thankful for those who were inspired to write it, heard the prophetic call to amend it, and have the wisdom to keep us on the straight and narrow.

National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week is November 11-19 this year. While the economy is recovering, the loss of pandemic assistance funds Is hurting lower income households. They are making hard choices: food or rent, medicine or food. The number of homeless veterans has decreased, but so has the overall population of veterans. The bad news is veterans are still overrepresented in the homeless population. As you prepare for your own feast this year, I hope you remember the hungry in your community. The best way to help is with a financial donation to the local food bank. The bank can purchase food from the warehouse food bank at greatly reduced prices, thereby providing more food per dollar than individuals can purchase on their own.

World Diabetes Day is November 14. Diabetes is a disease on the increase in the world today. In the US alone, over 37 million people have this disease and over 8.5 million have it but are undiagnosed. Over 96 million US adults have prediabetes, a condition in which their insulin doesn’t take the sugar out of the bloodstream well. Switching to whole grains, less processed foods, and adding more fiber to the diet usually helps lower the blood sugar. So does daily moderate exercise.

National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day is November 15. This is a good day to practice this task, since you’ll be filling it up with excess foods if you’re hosting the feast, or you’ll be traveling away from home. If the latter, you don’t want to return home to spoiled food if the power goes off for any length of time. Ugh: I won’t regale you with the story of stench of the refrigerator in the garage which didn’t power back on after a power outage. Those outlets need to be reset manually because they’re in a “might get wet” zone. The refrigerator inside will come back on automatically. (This turned out to be a get rid of the refrigerator day.)

National Stuffing Day is November 21. If you bake your bread mixture outside of the great bird, it’s called dressing, but if you cram it into the bird, it’s stuffing. It’s safer to cook the bird without stuffing, also quicker. When baking stuffing inside a turkey, it can get get wet and mushy. If you make a flavorful stock from the turkey neck and giblets, you can make your stuffing moist and flavorful without turning it into mush.

If you live in a giant pumpkin, buy a smaller pumpkin for your pie

Pumpkin Pie Day is also November 21, so you can prepare this ahead of time if you wish. You can make a handmade crust or use a store-bought crust from the grocery. Pre bake it and fill it with the pumpkin mixture.

National Cranberry Relish Day is November 22. You can easily make your own with the juice of an orange, some sugar to taste, and cinnamon combined with a package of rinsed cranberries. Heat over medium in a saucepan, stirring frequently to keep from sticking. When the berries burst, reduce heat to simmer and reduce the liquid. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Take off the heat and put into container for icebox. Chill overnight to let seasonings combine. Serve cold as side dish.

Thanksgiving Day is Thursday, November 23. You’ve baked the turkey, and it smells amazing! Let me introduce you to pan gravy from the drippings. You need a little flour, about 2 Tbs; some pepper, about ½ cup of drippings, and 1 cup of hot water. Put the drippings in a heavy saucepan or skillet, add the flour, stirring constantly over medium high heat until flour turns caramel color. This is a medium roux. Slowly add hot water, stirring so no lumps form. Keep stirring till smooth, reducing heat. Add more water slowly if gravy thickens too much. Pepper and salt if necessary.

The idea of “thanksgiving” for the harvest is as old as time, with records from the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Native Americans in North America celebrated harvest festivals for centuries long before Europeans appeared on their soil and before Thanksgiving was formally established in the United States.

In the 1600s, settlers in Massachusetts and Virginia had feasts to thank for surviving, fertile fields, and their faith. The Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts, had their infamous Thanksgiving feast in 1621 with the Wampanoag Native Americans. The three-day feast consisted mainly of meat: wild fowl procured by the colonists and five deer brought to the feast by the Wampanoag. A a stew called sobaheg was most likely served as a side dish to the main course. It was an easy way to make use of seasonal ingredients, for the stew often included a mixture of beans, corn, poultry, squash, nuts and clam juice. All are used in the traditional dish today, and all would have been available in 1621.

Potatoes weren’t around in 17th-century New England, but corn was plentiful. Natalija Sahraj

Corn and cornmeal were the main carbohydrates on the first thanksgiving meal. The first New England crop of potatoes was grown in Derry, New Hampshire in 1722, so no mashed potatoes were on the menu. Corn bread, corn mush, and corn puddings abounded, since the Native Tribes had shown the colonists how to plant beans, squash, and corn together to maximize growth of all three. The harvest of 1621 likely included beans, squash, onions, turnips and greens such as spinach and chard. All could have been cooked at length to create a green, pulpy sauce that later became a staple in early New England homes. Sweet dishes concocted from sugar or maple syrup weren’t on the menu, nor were honey sweetened deserts. At least, the Pilgrims didn’t have to save room for pie.

After the Pilgrims, for more than two centuries, individual colonies and states celebrated days of thanksgiving. The first national celebration of Thanksgiving was observed for a slightly different reason than a celebration of the harvest—it was in honor of the creation of the new United States Constitution! In 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation designating November 26 of that year as a ”Day of Publick Thanksgivin” to recognize the role of providence in creating the new United States and the new federal Constitution. During the Civil War, President Lincoln called for a national Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November after the Battle of Gettysburg. In the Great Depression President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving Day to the next to last Thursday in November. After two years of public unhappiness, Congress passed a law in 1941 setting Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving, 1858, by Winslow Homer, Boston Public Library

During the week of Thanksgiving, from November 19-25 or 26, we have the holidays of Church/State Separation Week and National Bible Week. If you haven’t been giving thanks for your blessings up to this time, take a break, breathe, and rejoice that you are alive. Give thanks for your hands, your food, your breath, and your heart of love. Share this thanksgiving with someone else. If each of us gives a bit of hope to someone else, we can help others have something to be thankful about.

Chocolate answers all questions.

After the rush of Thanksgiving, some of us bunnies may need medicinal chocolate. November 29 is Chocolate Day. Depending on your personality, you can buy fancy chocolate to share, or you can enjoy it by yourself along with a good book and some lavender tea. If Thanksgiving Day was really overwhelming, National Personal Space Day on November 30 might be calling your name. We all have times in our lives when we don’t need hugs, either because of physical or emotional distress. Besides, we bunnies need to catch our breath before we dash into the Christmas season.

I’m thankful for each of you who read and share my stories.

Joy and peace,

Cornelia

Thanksgiving Pan Gravy From Scratch

 

2023 November Holidays Information from Holidays and Observances

http://www.holidays-and-observances.com/november-holidays.html

15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Halloween Candy Consumption in the US

https://www.businessinsider.com/halloween-candy-consumption-usa-facts-statistics-2019-10

Control Your Winter Appetite

https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/control-your-winter-appetite

 

History of Thanksgiving in America | The Old Farmer’s Almanac

https://www.almanac.com/www.almanac.com/content/when-thanksgiving-day

What the first Thanksgiving dinner actually looked like

https://theconversation.com/what-the-first-thanksgiving-dinner-actually-looked-like-85714

 

Is Stuffing Your Turkey Safe?

https://www.marthastewart.com/8163046/is-it-safe-stuff-turkey

 

Wall Street Journal: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem – Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE)

https://chibe.upenn.edu/news/wall-street-journal-the-american-diet-has-a-sandwich-problem/

 

History of the Sandwich | The History Kitchen Blog | PBS Food

https://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/history-sandwich/

Van Gogh Museum pulls its Pokémon promo card after opening day chaos

https://www.engadget.com/van-gogh-museum-pulls-its-pokemon-promo-card-after-opening-day-chaos-083349757.html

 

Megiddo at the Crossroads of History

911, Academy for Spiritual Formation, Apocalypse, art, Astrology, Faith, Healing, hope, Imagination, inspiration, Israel, Megiddo, Painting, pandemic, purpose, Spirituality, vision

Archeological Remains of Tell Megiddo

On a visit to the Holy Land, I walked in the ruins of Tell Megiddo and also climbed the hills above the Jezerell valley. From this vantage point, I could imagine the great battles of nations warring to conquer land and control trading routes. Megiddo lies at the crossroads and therefore in the crosshairs of international politics, both in ancient and current times.

 

Valley of Megiddo

The plains of Megiddo, the breadbasket of Israel, also were known as a great battleground in ancient times. Egypt came more than once to fight the kings of Israel and Judah. The world’s earliest recorded battle occurred here between Syrian princes and Pharaoh Thutmosis III (ca. 1469 BC). Judah’s king Josiah was fatally wounded when he confronted another pharaoh, Neco II, near Megiddo ca. 609 BC (2 Kings 23:29-30). Although Megiddo is only mentioned in the Old Testament, the New Testament refers to it once in Revelation 16:16 as Harmagedon (mountain of Megiddo), the final site of the battle between the forces of good and evil at the end times of the age. Of course, scholars have different interpretations of when these “end times” are at hand.

 

Map of First Recorded Battle

The final book of the Greek New Testament is ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ, or the Apocalypse of John. The word apocalypse means “disclosure of truth, instruction, or reveal, disclose, uncover.” It especially refers to Jewish and Christian writings of 200 BCE to 150 CE, which are marked by pseudonymity, symbolic imagery, and the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a messianic kingdom.

Chariot Sculpture at Megiddo Battlefield

I remember a presenter on an Academy for Spiritual Formation retreat saying she had difficulty saying the prayers in the psalter, for the psalms of lament meant nothing to her, since she had no griefs to bear. Her spiritual adviser reminded her, “We pray these prayers for others, not just for ourselves alone.” As an artist of faith, I sense the needs of the world: it’s longings, fears, hopes, and dreams. I don’t always paint “art for art’s sake.” Certainly the conflict our beloved United Methodist Church has been experiencing lately factored into this “end times vision,” for too many on both sides of this dispute have resorted to calling the other “evil.”

Megiddo: Bronze Version

I felt called to paint the landscape of Megiddo in these recent weeks. Beginning in mid August, I was working on several paintings using Google map views of the landscape around the ancient site, with inspiration from my personal photos from my visit several years ago. I struggled over it, with the colors changing from bright to earthen tones. I left it alone for a time, to look at it and take time to live with it. Doing this allows me to see if I got too interested in noodling about making different colors, rather than considering the whole area as one unit. It didn’t take long before I came to the conclusion I didn’t have unity in my work. I had no overarching focus. My life has been like this for a while, with multiple distractions.

Megiddo: Blue Version

In our broken and fallen world, I find people today are in a rush to run to the extremes. Cooler heads don’t always prevail. The moment disorder rears its ugly head, folks run around like Chicken Little screaming, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” They might as well scream, “The end times are here!” I’m reminded of the Y2K hysteria with everyone panicking about filling up their cars for fear the gas pumps wouldn’t work, getting cash in case the credit cards wouldn’t swipe, and buying generators for fear the grid would crash (computers not able to recognize all those zeros). As I recall, my antique VCR kept recording on schedule, and the local Walmart took back loads of panic purchases in January.

The latest outbreak of hostilities in Israel and the Gaza Strip have added to the apocalyptic atmosphere and thinking of those who are given to extremes of thought. America has sent two of its eleven aircraft carriers into the Mediterranean Sea as a deterrent to all the other nations to rethink their plans to join the fighting now going on. For the apocalyptic thinkers, this is a sign of “It’s going down!” For those of us who have calmer heads, we realize the United States is the only one of six countries with more than two of these floating armed cities. Every other country has a single one only.

General Eisenhower (R) confers with French generals French 1st Army Corps Headquarters November 25, 1944 Ranking allied leaders look over a situation map outside of French 1st Army Corps Headquarters.

It’s been the habit of American presidents and their advisers in the gamut of crises since World War II to move aircraft carriers around as a “Geopolitical Chess Piece” to demonstrate American concern, resolve, or outright anger. Because carriers are operate on the high seas where permission to move is not needed from other countries, and because they carry their own fuel, weapons, and maintenance, they’re ready on arrival at the scene of a crisis to deliver power. Moreover, since modern U.S. carriers are large and imposing, and have been unchallenged on the seas, they “show the flag” to great effect. They provide excellent “visuals.” In fact, if one carrier doesn’t do the job, sending a second with several attendant ships along is a sign of “we mean business.”

Since this is a habit, and not a novel occurrence, it’s not the sign of the end times. As the gospel of Mark records in 13:7-8:

“When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”

Benjamin West: Death on a Pale Horse, oil on canvas, 1817, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

Will these carriers be used for their traditional purpose—a floating airfield—and will our military aircraft and service personnel actually join in the actual combat operations in the MidEast? That seems unlikely, given the Just War principle taught in American War Colleges. The moral concept of Just War begins with a good reason to go to war. A reasonable cause is to right a wrong, recover stolen property, or self defense. Not liking someone isn’t a good reason to go to war.

The just war must be fought proportionately to the harm that was done to the aggrieved. Today, if someone were to insult you or cut you off in traffic, honking your horn is acceptable, but shooting a pistol isn’t. That’s a disproportionate reaction to the harm, or an unjustified assault. Responding in anger usually leads to regret, but our emotions often get the best of us.

I remember my first year in the classroom. I was making a grand total of $8,250 a year—the extra $250 was for my master’s degree—and the school wanted to know if I wanted this pittance in 10 or 12 checks. “Oh, make it ten! I’ll figure out summer some how.” The first day of class in 1982, I had well over fifty students in the high school sign up for art because the former teacher had taught elementary lessons to the older students: she had fifty ways to draw turkeys. I brought the principal in: “This isn’t going to work. Let’s get half of them in another class.” He was good with that.

This was a country school. Most of the kids would marry right after graduation. Many of the seniors already had jobs, so young art teachers weren’t high on their respect list. I was fortunate to have taught in an inner city school back in the Northeast where the boys play ice hockey. Like an aircraft carrier sent to the Mediterranean Sea, sometimes I’d have to throw my short body into the middle of two factions who were about to throw punches. These boys were usually over six feet tall, so there was no likelihood I’d ever get hit, but just my presence would cause them to reconsider and pull their punches.

Just because we send war ships to the Mediterranean doesn’t mean we want to wage war. We Americans have a track record of showing up to keep wars from breaking out all over. World leaders know how our military is trained and the rules by which we engage in conflicts. This is why as a person of faith, each of us has to search our hearts to discern how we respond in times of conflict, whether that’s a war or just a disagreement with our neighbors.

In addition to a just cause, we must have the right intentions, the possibility of success, and enter a conflict only as a last resort. Those who follow the Just War Principles aren’t “trigger happy,” but are inclined to gather community support, decide their limits ahead of time, seek to resolve the conflict in other ways first, and if that fails, then enter the fray. The USA didn’t enter WWII until the 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, even though the war in Europe had been going on since September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. Up to that time we were supporting Great Britain with armaments.

A plan for after the fighting is done

Theologically speaking, scholars are of two minds: the end times are already here or the end times have yet to come.

1. The end times are already here—Scholars who believe this understand Matthew 24:6-8 as an ongoing event, which began with the ascension of Christ:

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”

For some, the tribulation will happen beforehand (pretribulation), while others believe this suffering will occur after the return of Jesus (post tribulation). I remember as the year 2000 approached, many of the faithful were excited about the camera facing the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, since this was the place from which he ascended, therefore it would be the place from which he would return. Daystar Ministries setup the camera so “everyone could see it firsthand.”

We humans tend to think our Gods are small, even if we ascribe to them “infinite powers.” We don’t realize the power of an almighty who can interrupt and reveal all of the past to be nothing but dust and introduce a new age with his appearance. No one will need a computer or video screen to view the in-breaking return of the messiah. Everyone around the world will hear the thunderclap at one moment in time, and the flash of lightning accompanying his appearance will brighten even the darkest night. This day will be overwhelmingly bright. Most of us will hide our eyes so we won’t be blinded by the brilliance of a thousand suns.

The Jesus Cam will most likely melt when Christ does return, but his return wasn’t on the first day of 2000. That wasn’t the millennium anyway, but a year early for the math challenged hopeful. It was also the year 1420 for the Muslims and 5760 for the Jews, so who’s counting matters anyway, since numbers aren’t what God depends on, nor the stars (astrology).

Durer: The Four Horsemen

2. The end times are yet to come—While pandemics, stock market crashes, and rumors of war may all sound apocalyptic, the Temple at Jerusalem has yet to be rebuilt. Complicating this task is the Dome of the Rock, a major Islamic holy site built on the same location. A Pew Research Center study in 2010 found most Americans believed war, terrorism and environmental catastrophes were at least probable by the year 2050. Nearly six-in-ten (58%) saw another world war as definite or probable; 53% said the same about the prospect for a major terrorist attack on the United States involving nuclear weapons. An even higher percentage (72%) anticipated the world would face a major energy crisis in the next 40 years. This fits with the theme of “apocalypse as the collapse of environment or society.”

Other characteristics of the apocalypse include:

1. Literal battle between physical armies under supernatural leadership—These are battles of extremists, who are convinced they have a holy calling to fight. The Crusades were fought as “Christ’s army against the infidel.” Their purpose was to restore the Christian holy sites in the Middle East and resanctify them for holy Christian worship. This mentality doesn’t respect the humanity of the enemy. The war may have a just purpose, but not be fought with just means: eradication of the enemy is unjust.

2. Holy wars against non-believers—This is an unjust war, fought with unjust purposes, with excessive force, and seeks to exterminate the enemy, who are reduced to non-persons because they don’t share the same belief system. When opposing sides can’t recognize the common humanity of one another and rage rules decisions, the lust for blood feeds upon itself. Shakespeare said it best when Marc Anthony came upon the body of the just assassinated Julius Caesar in Act 3, scene 1:

And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,

With Ate by his side come hot from hell,

Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice

Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,

That this foul deed shall smell above the earth

With carrion men, groaning for burial.

My final reworking of Megiddo includes streaks of rockets in the dark night sky and swirls of chaos which churn the world’s peoples, just as Ate, the Roman personification of recklessness and folly incites the passions of Caesar’s bereaved followers. We don’t know when Christ will return, no matter how many may prophesy or calculate the date. As Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 24:36,

“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

This present darkness is only momentary, for if we’re in the end times, we also have a promise we can hold on to in Matthew 28:20—

“Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Joy and Peace,

Cornelia

 

 

Armageddon / Harmagedon – CDAMM

https://www.cdamm.org/articles/armageddon

 

Aircraft Carriers by Country 2023 – Wisevoter

Aircraft Carriers by Country

 

Public Sees a Future Full of Promise and Peril | Pew Research Center

Public Sees a Future Full of Promise and Peril

 

 

Robert C Rubel: The Future of Air Carriers

https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1551&context=nwc-review

 

Rubel, Robert C. (2011) “The Future of The Future of Aircraft Carriers,” Naval War College Review: Vol. 64 : No. 4 , Article 4. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol64/iss4/4

 

Case Study: Just War Doctrine

https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=122406

 

Messiahcam at Y2K

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jan/01/jamesmeek

 

‘Cry ‘Havoc!’ And Let Slip The Dogs Of War’: Speech & Analysis

https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/cry-havoc-let-slip-dogs-war/

Brookdale Community College Eisenhower Collection

https://www.brookdalecc.edu/center-for-world-war-ii-studies/the-meserlin-gallery/witnessing-history/

Left to right, French 5-star General De Lattre De Tassigny, commander 1st French Army; U.S. Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, commander, 12th Army Group; French 4-star General Marie Emile Bethouart, commander 1st French Army Corps; U.S. Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers, commander, 6th Army Group; and General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander.

Texture Paintings

adult learning, Aristotle, art, autumn leaves, beauty, brain plasticity, cognitive decline, Creativity, flowers, Holy Spirit, Imagination, Leonardo da Vinci, Painting, renewal, Uncategorized, vision

Leaf Textures

I don’t do wine painting classes. Since I teach in a United Methodist Church, our Wesleyan temperance tradition holds sway: we serve no alcohol. However, out in the world beyond there are classes where everyone drinks wine and paints the same image. They’re out for fellowship purposes more than for art, but these classes serve to get people started in the basic techniques of the media. Students copy the teacher’s model painting, often working along as the teacher instructs the class. This is the “show and tell” style of teaching, which usually results in most students’ works approximating the teacher’s example.

Wine painting classes: One Lion to Rule Them All

College art education classes often are taught this way, but art classes in art schools are never taught like this. Why you might ask? Because art schools exist to help students find their own voice, for they know copying another’s style only diminishes a student’s true voice. The creative spirit within each of us is unique,
breathed into us by a holy God. Ecclesiastes 12:7 reminds us at our end, “the breath (Spirit) returns to God who gave it.” If art students are copying any art works, their teachers are humble enough to send their students to the masters first, or to life itself.

Laguna College of Art and Design art class

Art, like golf, is a humbling experience. In both we’re always playing against our handicap: we want to be “Perfect,” but we weren’t given the means to accomplish this goal without God’s grace. We go on to perfection by degrees, with the help of God, if we don’t get lazy and take the shortcuts, as the Adam and Eve, Prodigal Son, and many other great stories tell. As Jesus reminds his followers in Matthew 23:11-12—

“The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Why is it difficult to draw from life? Or for that matter, to really look hard at a painting to copy it? From an early age, most of us are taught it’s impolite to stare. In some cultures, even looking directly into the eyes of another person as you speak is unacceptable behavior. I know my parents taught me to look at them when I was in trouble, even when I wanted to look down in shame. I had to face their anger. While I didn’t enjoy it as a child, it prepared me as a teen for hateful comments from my peers, and as an adult for discrimination in the workplace. I could look people in the eye and call them out. This is likely why our early teenage children roll and flutter their eyes at us when we call them to account. They “look at us” without “looking.” And why we say, “Look me in the eye!”

19th century humorous postcard: The Artist’s Studio

We also have thoughts running through our heads: our to do lists, our concerns about our friends and loved ones, as well as the woes of the world stage. The more we learn to focus on the present moment in which we find ourselves, the better off we are. I find when I can pay attention to my colors, patterns, and how they come together on the canvas, I forget everything else.

I have some artist friends who always have a glass of wine in the studio, since it helps them relax. I think they just like wine. I’m a coffee lover, but too much caffeine makes my hand jittery, and too much wine would make my hand sloppy. I personally believe in moderation in all things, but then I’m sold on Aristotle’s “golden mean,” or the “Goldilocks zone,” where

“at the right times, about the right things, towards the right people, for the right end, and in the right way, is the intermediate and best condition, and this is proper to virtue.”

We barely avoided the 15th government shutdown since 1981, but we now have a House majority without a Leader due to a few extremist members. These Republican Party members who are “pirates who take no prisoners and make no compromises” might want to catch up on their ancient philosophical reading before chaos ensues. Sometimes life imitates art: if you have MAX, you can watch Michael Cain in “Our Flag Means Death.”

Little Vase of Flowers

All creativity improves with either time or wine. Both allow you to loosen up and not control what happens but go with the flow of what happens on the canvas, instead of forcing the paint to go where you want it to be. I have canvases which began in one direction and ended up in quite another. I can only say my original idea was rejected by the painting in progress, for I had to “listen to what the painting wanted to become.” As Psalms 104:30 says:

“When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.”

In case you’re wondering, the “ground” of a canvas is the white primer, so it’s not a stretch to say, God’s Spirit works through us to renew the face of the “ground.” Some texts translate this as the “earth,” and God’s Spirit also works through us to restore and renew our planet to health after all the damage from industrial pollution and man made climate changes.

Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance genius, claimed, “There are three classes of people: Those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” We can all learn to see. How we learn to see takes time and effort. This is why I always talk about some examples of good art before we begin our work. I know most people haven’t seen the masters, so getting images in mind is important. A little art history lesson never hurt anyone. Then I explain the project and we get to work. Stephen King, the noted author, says this about the creative experience: “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

Tim’s Flower

In class we were using the flower arrangement which had been residing in the kitchen fridge for the past several weeks. I don’t know who to thank for it, but we put it back where we found it. Our group was given the key to use patterns and textures in the work.
Tim wants to learn to draw from life better, but he was struggling to get his proportions to scale. I showed him the trade skill of using a pencil or part of his hand to measure part of the object and compare its size to another part.

We give away our secret sauce recipe all the time! Everyone knows how to multiply with a ruler for a scale drawing, but that idea often doesn’t occur to them if they aren’t using it on a flat plane. If they have no real ruler, the idea of using an ordinary object as a measuring device also doesn’t enter our brains. This is normal, but once upon a time, we used our bodies to measure the work in progress: a cubit was the distance from the elbow to the middle fingertip and a hand-width was just that: the width of the four fingers. Over the years these were standardized to 18 inches and 4 inches. Horses are still measured in hands today, but we moderns measure in feet and meters rather than cubits.

Gail’s Texture Painting

Gail lined out some lovely patterns on her canvas and made good progress on her painting. She always gets a good plan and executes it.

Mike was glad to be back after doing renewal work/manual labor. This creative exercise of moving bold colors and strong patterns around his canvas was a welcome respite after all that physical activity. A mental challenge seemed welcome to him.

Mike’s Flowers

I had done a pattern piece in the week before, so I enjoyed painting the still life, and may use it as a study for something larger later.

Late 1800’s Levi Strauss advertisement

We finished up our works on the second session. Tim reworked the pumpkin drawing from an earlier time and Gail finished up her texture painting of the flowers. Mike dropped in with Van Gogh books before going out on an errand of mercy to rescue a young client. He was impressed with the amount of blue clothing the people wore in Van Gogh’s paintings. I reminded him the very denim jeans we wear first came from Nimes, France. We call these “jeans,” because the weavers in France were trying to imitate the techniques of Genoa, Italy, but failed, and made instead the sturdy fabric that’s blue outside and white inside. Hence, “jeane de Nimes.”

“I did not know that!” He exclaimed.

Art is for wondering, for seeing new things, for opening up our minds to new realities and new possibilities. Whenever we go beyond what we already know, we open a new brain pathway and create new connections between the neurons. This keeps our minds agile and staves off the worst aspect of aging: the pessimistic belief that nothing is new under the sun. If we keep the optimism of a child, for whom everything is the newest and best, we’ll keep a youthful heart and spread joy wherever we go.

Joy and Peace,

Cornelia

The ‘Golden Mean’: Aristotle’s Guide to Living Excellently —Philosophy Break
https://philosophybreak.com/articles/the-golden-mean-aristotle-guide-to-living-excellently/

Weights & Measures
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/weights-measures

History of Denim & the Origin of Jeans
https://www.hawthornintl.com/history-of-denim