JoDee Luna's Blog, page 20

Dare to Dream Beyond your Fears and Limitations

Dream is an artistic expression of my creative aspirations.

What if we dared to dream of possibilities beyond our present skills or the obstacles life throws our way?

Dream is a mixed media piece I created to express my desire to develop as a writer, artist, and singer/songwriter.

I don’t know about you, but my fears often get in the way of the purposes I believe God has for me to pursue:

Fear of failure
Fear of time limitations
Fear of not being good enough

The list goes on and on.

“The eyes are the window of the soul,” is often interpreted to mean that we can see into someone’s soul through his or her eyes. Yet Dream presents a different perspective:

What we envision spills out into creative expression.

Artistic projects begin with “seeing,” whether in the natural or spiritual world, or in our imagination.

 Yet, creativity is difficult to manage because the ideas we imagine take time to develop mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. We can’t force an art form to come forth any more than we can force a peach to ripen on the branch or a baby to form in the womb.

But we can pack less into our schedules to make room for creative expression. We can give ourselves time to think, to try, to work on, and to finish.

We can regularly resist a culture that glorifies star-struck popularity and moneymaking ventures. We can resist the obsession to build a platform and embrace an ever-expanding sphere of influence that results when we bring our gifts to the world.

We can dare to Dream.

 

For more creative inspiration, select the image link below:

 

Share this:

Life Choices That Will Rock Your World

Recently, several people have rocked my inner world with their life-changing choices.

This was definitely needed because lately I’ve been muddling my way through moments, responding from the gut, doing just enough to get by, and then resuming my coach-potato position by day’s end.

My friends got me thinking about what kind of person I want to be and what I want to do with the rest of my life. So rather than try to tell you about their amazing posts, here’s some excerpts and links to their posts:

Kay and Barry Johnson’s mission trip to Nicaragua, What Would I Sing of Nicaragua?:

“Our trip to Nicaragua is finished, and now I’m left to wonder how to describe it all.  We were based at a home for girls that have been rescued from an area where thousands of families lived off the city dump. Called “La Chureca,” that dump has now been cleared, but the problems weren’t eliminated–they were just moved. We visited an area called Cristo Rey, where as many as 4,000 families live off the dumpsite there. Of course, all the children are at risk for disease, lack of health care, and malnutrition, but the girls are especially at risk for trafficking.  That’s why Villa Esperanza was created. It is a group home designed to rescue girls from these extremely high-risk areas, and it served as our home base.” Read the entire post: What Would I Sing of Nicaragua?

Audience of One by Jenny Kilgore Lynch.

“Why do artists write… paint… sing… photograph… act… draw… create?  Who is their audience?  What is their purpose?

I am finally coming the realization that I truly am an artist.  I really do have a creative side.  I’ve spent most of my life denying and honestly, not believing it.  The past few years I’ve been encouraged by some pretty amazing “artists,” and through their “art” and words of encouragement, I’ve finally embraced the artist in me.” Read the entire post: Audience of One

When Beauty for Ashes Looks A Lot Like Serving Domino’s Pepperoni Pizza in Jail by Cheryl Smith

“Roger told me the news last week, just before I went to the jail for the session on Employment Matters. I didn’t tell the ladies at first. Instead, throughout class I told them, “We can trust God!”

I reminded them that He cares for us and loves to give good gifts to His children.

Throughout the night I paraphrased Isaiah 22:22, saying “God opens doors no man can shut, and closes doors no man can open.”

I continued.

“Roger called me tonight and told me some great news.”

I paused for effect, then continued, “Major Espinoza has approved for us to have a pizza party to celebrate your graduation.”

A pizza party.

In jail.

Two of the women?

Burst.

Into.

Tears…Read the entire post: When Beauty for Ashes Looks A Lot Like Serving Domino’s Pepperoni Pizza in Jail

Truly amazing!!!

Now these people have got me thinking about ways I can be a vessel of God’s grace. Thank you, Barry, Kay, Jenny, and Cheryl for inspiring me!

 

 

 

Share this:

The Deep Waters of Surrender

Giving up control is like letting out fishing line into deep waters where opportunities, you never dreamed of, swim below the surface.

The longer I live, the surer I am of this truth:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways?And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55: 8-9 

Yet, although I think I understand this truth, I typically fish around for God’s will close to the shore:

Where I feel safe
Where the risks of loss seem fewer because the water is shallow
Where I can wade out and dislodge my disappointment when the hook gets stuck between a rock and a hard place

Even though I often live otherwise, I truly believe that the good Lord calls us to cast our lines out into deep waters:

Where uncertainty churns up frothy whitecaps of fear
Where we can’t see what waits for us below the surface
Where our plans just might drown in the waters of His wisdom
Where we might hook an opportunity so big that we won’t know what to do with it

Yes, God’s unexpected purposes for our lives often chomp on the hook in those scary, deep waters. When we stop trying to figure it all out, but just trust Him to design a future for us that is far better, although different, than we imagined it would be.

Casting into deep waters of surrender takes courage and a belief in your gut that even in your brightest moments, His ways are not your ways, or His thoughts your thoughts. It takes releasing all you hold dear and all you think you can control, so His plans for you can come about.

Share this:

Summer Rain Mixed Media

Summer Rain is a mixed media piece I created to visually express a song I wrote after visiting Barry and Kay Johnson in Sarasota, Florida.

Kay brought out their photo albums, and we reminisced those early years when we danced together in SITCO, Samaritan Inn Theatre Company, an international performing arts group located in Amsterdam, Holland. The theatre company we traveled with toured Europe and the United States. We performed on the streets, in amphitheaters, and were even filmed in a professional studio.

Sarasota’s summer rain reminded me of those rainy summers in Amsterdam so many years ago, and a season of my life that filled with innocence and delight. Here’s a photo of me dancing in Kay and Barry’s wedding.

As I contemplated the years in between my early twenties and now, the song, Danced in Summer Rain, seeped out of my soul:

 

Danced in Summer Rain

 

I’m going back down that lonely road again

Back to those good times before they all turned sad

I’m going back to that place before the shame

When a young girl danced in summer rain

 

Chorus

Sweet summer rain

Sweet summer rain

Sweet summer rain

I love you but I hate you just the same

Cause I need you to wash away this pain

 

I’m going back to those times so long ago

Back to the friends who never let me down, down, down

When life was full of hope and everyone could change

And a young girl danced in summer rain

 

Chorus

Sweet summer rain

Sweet summer rain

Sweet summer rain

I love you but I hate you just the same

Cause I need you to wash away the blame

 

Bridge

Washing away all that I am today

Until the memories shine through

And teardrops form in prisms of my pain

Cause summer rain you brought me here again

 

Chorus

Sweet summer rain

Sweet summer rain

Sweet summer rain

I love you but I hate you just the same

Cause I need you to wash away this pain

I’m excited that Barry Johnson is working on the musical arrangement. He composed the music for another song we co-wrote, “I’ve Been Lost.”

 

Share this:

I’ve Been Lost

One of the highlights of my recent visit with Barry and Kay Johnson in Sarasota, Florida was that Barry finished a song I’d written years ago titled, I’ve Been Lost.

Here’s the the video from YouTube.

I wrote the first part of this song during a pretty dark time of my life but never finished it. When I sang it for Barry and Kay, Barry went into his talented-musical mode, and by the next morning had emerged with the rest of the words and the music.

What a shot in the musical arm this was for me. You see, I’ve struggled for years to regain my footing as a songwriter and musician. In fact, I have computer files full of unfinished songs and have sorely neglected to play my classical guitar. So when Barry and Kay encouraged me to pursue this part of my artistic self, I found the strength to finally set aside my excuses and return to my former love.

I first met Barry and Kay when we were in our early twenties. We were part of an international performing arts team in Amsterdam, Holland. While we visited together in early July, we took a stroll down memory lane.

I even danced in their wedding. Now here we are twenty-three years later…still friends, still creating, still inspiring one another.

I’m extremely grateful for these precious friends who cared enough to see music come alive, again, in my life. Thank you Barry and Kay! Check out Barry’s other music http://barryjohnsonmusic.com/

Share this:

Write, Create, Live Mixed Media

This mixed media collage was created with repurposed clothing tags, quilted hearts, pressed flowers, acrylic paints, ink, scrapbook paper, and vintage tissue paper.

[image error]I have a hard time throwing clothing tags away because it seems like such a waste of materials. So, I decided to save them and think of ways to use them in mixed media collages.

To make this mixed media, paint a wrapped canvas with your favorite shade of blue paint.

Next, cover the red tag with vintage tissue paper and use a white charcoal pencil for the word “Write.” For the “Create” tag, use a piece of your favorite scrapbook paper. I used Artists’ Paper “Neon Nonsense” designed by Hillary Duysen with art elements by Kimberly Ward. The words are painted with a black paint pen.

To make pressed flowers, flatten flowers in between paper towels. Place the paper towels between two books and then stack books on top. Let the flowers dry for a week. Cut up an old quilt for the hearts.

The cloth butterfly is from Michaels. Antique the edges with vintage-colored ink by Tim Holtz, and glue it onto the quilted heart with E6000 glue.

 

The paper across the bottom has scrapbook paper underneath vintage tissue paper.

So the next time you buy new cloths, save the tags and use them to create a mixed media collage.

 

Share this:

Find Your Bliss

Here’s my latest mixed media in process I titled, “Find Your Bliss,” because I envision her hair  formed with different forms of creativity that I love.[image error]

I began the process by painting the canvas with acrylic paint. After the paint dried, I applied Golden’s gel medium.

Next, I covered the canvas with various kinds of printed tissue paper.

Here’s the canvas after I finished adding the tissue paper.

I then began working on her eyes and sketching in various items.

This is as far as I got and am planning the next part of the project. I’m not sure whether to collage the elements in her hair or add actual 3-d items as well. Any suggestions? I’d love to hear what my readers think.

Stay tuned for an update on this post as I work on this mixed media.

Feel free to link any of your mixed media projects.

My Little Mermaid

I have a daughter who I’m convinced is part mermaid.

She loves to paint mermaids and to dive into the sea of adventure…

Her recent deep-sea dip took her to Phuket Thailand, where she teaches English.

Yet no matter where her inquisitive nature takes her, she always manages to buy art supplies…

and to paint, paint, paint!

I want to live on dry ground like my little mermaid lives in the sea of her imagination…

every day full of bold and beautiful colors.

Yes, I have a daughter who I’m quite certain is part mermaid. And although I miss her terribly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Share this:

The Art of Breathing

Sometimes life is about breathing deeply, enjoying the people who make life worth living, like family at my Aunt Nancy’s 80th birthday celebration.

And at other times, life is about gasping for air and holding your breath for as long as possible, and lately my lungs have strained from the lack of oxygen. You see, my career has sucked out almost all of my creative breath.

Do I have one ounce of regret? No! I know there are children and youth who still need to learn to read. I’ve joined others to get the high-tech programs students need into schools across the district where I work as an instructional coach. So is it any wonder that the whirlwind of these last couple of months has left me winded?

I’ve brushed past horizontal pen and blank page more times than I care to admit. I’ve rushed through my art room and glanced at the half-finished, propped up mixed-media canvas waiting for what I envision.

I’ve grimaced at weed-infested flowerbeds and brown-crisped roses needing to be snipped.

All kinds of creativity have called to me but my priority has been preparing materials for The National Conference on College and Career Readiness and Common Core Standards I’m going to speak at in Orlando, Florida.

So when I opened my eyes on this first official day of my summer break, I decided to breathe in deeply and relish every moment:

This is a glorious day when I can stay at home while my husband leaves for work (sorry sweetie).
This is a day when I can begin writing at 5:00 am because I need to write like I need to breathe, and lately life has consisted of gasping for air and holding my creative breath for days on end.
This is a day when I can reminisce a family reunion through photos and smile.
This is a day when I can remember that family should be at the top of my priority list.

Today, as I sip serenity from the cup of contentment, I indulge my dream of being a writer and an artist and an entrepreneur who creates and sells art to sooth the heart.

Today, I also relinquish my artistic ambitions and listen to eternity’s whisper, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven…” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Share this:

Indulge in the Selfish Side of Writing

I write, primarily, for myself: to vent feelings, to process changes, and to make meaning out of everything from monotony to madness. And somewhere along my writer’s journey (which began with a journal at the age of twenty), I envisioned a pot of gold at the end of the self-disclosure rainbow, which I now highly suspect was delusional thinking.

Perhaps, just perhaps, others might value my words enough to buy them, kinds of thoughts interrupted my self-absorbed use of the craft. While obviously still focused on me, this idea did redirect my course towards writing to encourage others through sharing my “experience, strength, and hope,” as the Twelve-Step Program describes passing on to others victories gleaned.

Somewhere along my writer’s journey, I also noticed droplets of inspiration and sought to capture with ink what splashed down to Earth from Heaven’s living streams.

Yet I always came back to writing in its purest form, which is, ironically, very selfish:

The writer moves pen with what moves soul and then feels the emotions again.
The writer crafts worlds with imagination and then enjoys the play.
The writer records personal and public history in hopes of improving the self and creating a safer tomorrow.

Yes, there is a very selfish side of writing we writers indulge in, whether or not we ever make a red cent for our efforts. And we shouldn’t feel ashamed—not one tiny bit—about this, because writing is what keeps us, and the world, sane!

 

Share this: