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Around the World with my Watercolors

https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-cheryl-wallace/collections/celebrating+europe

Some of these are from photos my husband and I took in Germany as we walked around Nuremberg, as we whizzed by in a bus, a couple are from photos friends took on their travels, and one I found in a magazine and just had to paint. I LOVE watercolors! What an amazing adventure it has given me. I’d love to travel in Europe again but we’re holding off on the big trips until the world and all the drama has settled down.

I read a quote from the 18th century Anglican pastor, George Whitefield this morning that was so powerful. If you are anxious or stressed by the world at large or your own world, I pray this encourages you:

“The safest place in the world is in the hands of the living God. The Father protects His children in the hollow of His hands, and His Son walks with them along the path He has chosen. The prayerful take no detours. They don’t play it safe, they walk in safety.”

Be brave, trust God, step out in faith and trust your Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us, and our loving Savior who loved us to the cross and back.

Blessings.

Carrying One Another’s Burdens – Gal 6:2

A LOT of people I know and love are being challenged physically, emotionally and spiritually in brutally painful circumstances lately. As I’ve gotten older and learned more about the world and how life works, I’ve realized that as prepared as we may think we are, life can throw us some significant curves. Many of us say we’re not afraid to die because the other side looks so wonderful! But the journey to get there will often be fraught with tragedy, pain and great loss. As ready as we may think we are, we may find ourselves in a struggle we could never have prepared for.

I confess I am a “fixer” by nature. Tell me your story and my first reaction will be to provide some kind of ‘helpful’ solution. But the older I get the more I realize that fixing is off the table in most cases. Sometimes it’s not what we say but what we do that speaks love and comfort to others: a hug, a card, a listening ear. I can also pray for you in your time of need that Jesus would be present and close to you where you are and that you would be comforted and find strength. Praying is not just something we can do. Praying brings the Holy Spirit and the power of God into the equation.

Galations 6:2 encourages us to carry one another’s burdens referring to helping others as they struggle. We are not commanded to fix, but to walk alongside and maybe give someone “our cloak” as it may be needed. I loved doing this painting as it is such a picture of doing life with others and being team players helping others get to the finish line.

Carrying Each Others Burdens

This post is a heartfelt HUG to any of you who find life excruciating right now. Trust the Lord, keep on keeping on, share your pain with a trusted friend, reach out to someone who could use your counsel or extend such to you. Let’s keep the fire lit while we can and warm the hearts of others’ whose hearts are cold and broken and need the love of our Savior.

Cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Some of My Favorites 🎨 Paintings of Hope

I’ve been painting with watercolors since Christmas 2015 when I decided I’d experiment with the process. I’m still experimenting, to be honest! People have asked me to teach them to paint. I wouldn’t know where to start! Each painting I do I find I am still learning more. I imagine that’s how the creative process works.

I love to play piano and to sing. Music and art are both different sides of the same coin of creativity. I can remember telling someone that as I’d stand and sing before a congregation of people, I had the sense I was speaking an emotional heavenly language to one person. By that I mean, each person received it themselves and the person next to them, the same. It was a powerful realization that maybe that is similar to how Jesus reaches us – all of us in real time receiving what He has uniquely for us. Yes, of course I have no clue about that imagining, but it struck me as MY way of understanding the power of Jesus to the world, one person at a time.

One of my favorite authors, Jan Karon the writer of the WONDERFUL Mitford series of books wrote**, “Something out of nothing. Isn’t that the very crux of the creative process? Isn’t that, in the end, one of the great keys to living!” **the Mitford Bedside Companion, Jan Karon. As I take a blank piece of white paper, some clean water, a handful of paintbrushes, and paints I endeavor to create a representation of something that SAYS something without words. As singing speaks melody and the piano speaks without words, paintings create an emotional reaction. They tell a story that you, the viewer, understand individually from your own perspective.

So I invite you, from your unique perspective. to take a watercolor journey and hopefully find some peace and a measure of hope as you see from a different viewpoint. I can’t impact but one person at a time. But I pray that, should this encourage you, you would share with one other person to brighten their day.

New Every Morning
Ocean Breezes
Desert at Dusk
Taking my Breath Away
Off the Road to Hana
All Aboard
Heading Home
On a Hill Far Away
Forest Pathway
Aspens to the Sky

Does Your 1st or Last Name begin with an S?

I’ve painted some unusual things just because. I painted this featuring the letter S for my granddaughter Sara, who loves music and color. The website makes lots of gift items available. I gave her a coffee mug. These are just some other options:

Starts with an S

Or maybe you like music

Or paths~ I don’t know quite why, But I love paths. Maybe because of Proverbs 3:5, 6 – look it up 😍

I’m always surprised by joy when someone finds this little fish (me) in the great big ocean that is the art world of the internet and orders one of my paintings. Thus I invite you to take a look. I have almost 300 paintings in the following categories:

ARIZONA DREAMING CREATION HOPE CELEBRATING EUROPE CHRISTMAS

FURRY & FEATHERED FRIENDS OCEAN BREEZES PEN & PAINTBRUSH FLORAL FANTASIES

I invite you to look around. You will find tote bags, pouches, cell phone covers, shower curtains, yoga mats, throw pillows, stickers, T-shirts, towels, mugs and framed prints, wood, metal or canvas

I invite you to stop in and visit.