Timothy J. Pruitt's Blog, page 98
June 14, 2022
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God’s Tears
Jeremiah 4:19 (ESV)
19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
The verse above in Jeremiah records how Jeremiah feels about the destruction of his people. It strikes me that as much as it pained Jeremiah, it hurt God more. What sent pain through the walls of the Prophet’s heart, broke the heart of God. I remembered The Lord Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, morning for the loss of His children.
His entire plan for Israel was salvation, and they rejected Him repeatedly. I don’t say that to shame them, how many times have we made mistakes? How many times as He reached out to us to draw us back to Him? When He corrects us, it’s to bring us back to a place of safety.
Our son Nicholas doesn’t always understand that what seems exciting and fun can be dangerous, and many times neither do we. Nick will say, at three year’s old, “Don’t worry Dad, I know what I’m doing.” I know that he knows a lot, but he doesn’t know all the things that could happen.
God reminds me that’s even more true in my life. It also reminds me how much He loves us. The Bible says He is ever mindful of His covenant, and always watching over us. It’s why He endured everything that He suffered on this Earth, beyond the cross.
As a baby, Jesus and His family had to flee for His life from Herod, who was supposed to be the head of the very nation that He came to save. Christ lived and worked in obscurity during the time the Jewish people were oppressed by Rome. The Lord chose to suffer with His people before He ever suffered for His people.
Only a loving God, Whose heart ached to save them would do this. Only a God Who was loving, kind, and patient would endure the attacks of the Pharisees and Sadducees to save the Pharisees, Sadducees, and all of us who were so far from His righteousness. Too many times we associate God on His throne as being a place without pain, yet it’s from His throne He sees all our failures, and loves us still.
As the song goes, “Oh how He loves us”, not because it’s easy, but because He is love. I would clarify love is God’s nature, so He chooses to love us, but the pain we cause Him should not be ignored, but humbling. To know that loving us is His life, and yet we bring Him pain makes me want to live and love more like Him.
I think that’s why we recognize Jeremiah’s compassion, not only because he had such a heart for his people, but that he learned it from being close to God. The Lord would weep tears for His people long before, and long after Jeremiah’s day. Yet one day, just as He wiped Jeremiah’s, He will wipe all tears from our eyes. I believe He will do this, because He first cried for us with a broken and loving heart, of mercy and grace.
Art Unboxed Edges
While it’s probably been said by countless people, I recall the artist and former art forger John Myatt say, the difference between a professional and an amateur artist, is how they treat their edges. As a result I’ve paid a lot of attention to them. Artists will also tell you it’s an area that takes a lot of practice to become skilled in.
You would not have all of your edges either soft, or heard, but a mixture. Soft edges would be in the area of the painting you want to blur into the background. Crisp edges in those areas you want to draw the eye too.
To illustrate, in a recent digital painting of my son and Patches our dog, I made the edges for Nicholas’ chin stand out. I mention this because I left most of the features off his face, it’s not a traditional portrait in this case. Yet I kept the chin because he has a signature cleft and has since the day he was born.
For many paintings and drawings I include the facial features, yet some pieces seem to be more unique without them. Honestly, though I’ve seen it many times before, when I started I did this because I had trouble with faces. Just as with edges I kept trying, learning with both what to include, and what and when to leave out.
I can’t help but think of the parallel in life, there are times we must make a permanent change, other times a small adjustment. That’s really what edges are in painting, small adjustments. If you’ve given a figure too hard an edge, take some of the paint around the connecting object and brush intermittently, skipping some edge, covering other parts of it.
You can soften your edge without overthinking it. Overthinking a painting is like overworking a watercolor, it can make a mess. It’s something that we all will do at some point, but that’s why we keep trying. It can’t be said enough, the greatest way to become a better artist is to practice, and to make sure you’re practicing the right things.
A bad habit repeated may be harder to break, but a good habit repeated, will make us and all those we teach better. It’s also important to note that two artists may approach edges the same way, but neither one will have identical paintings. I heard one of my Pastors say recently regarding self improvement, the difference between modeling and copying is knowing what to apply to you, and what doesn’t apply to you in life.
The same is true in art, whether edges or artistic style. Isn’t funny how the more experienced you are as an artist, the better you are with soft edges? If we can soften our edges in art as well as in life, we may find that we’re not only better artists, but better people.
Sketch Calf
Malachi 4:2 (KJV)
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Saw a photo of a small calf and sketched this. The Scripture comes to mind of how He cares for us just as a farmer does a new calf.
