It’s October! I hope you are keeping well as we enter this final quarter of the year. Around this time of year two years ago, I was working on the two paintings featured in the calendar this month. Here’s the story behind them. I hope you enjoy it!
Back in May 2021 when we were all gingerly coming out of pandemic isolation, my dear friend Heather asked me if I could create two pieces for her daughters as Christmas gifts. Every summer, her girls would attend camp on Thetis Island and they had many fond memories of that place. Heather thought they would like to each have a painting to remind them of those memories year-round.
After some discussion, we settled on two 8″x10″ deep canvases and Heather sent me about 10 photos to choose from. We chose two images that looked good on their own and together as a pair.
A unique part of this commission was that the titles for the pieces were provided by my client. “Cool Waters Beckon Me” was a phrase from a song written about the camp and also the title of a book written on the camp’s 50th anniversary. And “Abide With Me” was the title of a hymn that they sang every evening at camp. The titles both ended up suiting the paintings very well.
It was really fun to scheme with Heather about these gifts and to wait with her for Christmas. Since I know their whole family, I was also looking forward to hearing what her daughters’ reactions to their gifts would be. When I first showed these paintings to Heather, she said, “Wow! I love it! You captured the beauty of the island… I might have trouble giving these away!” Luckily for her girls, they did get them for Christmas and they loved them too.
Creating art gifts for people gives me a lot of joy and I’m so grateful that Heather entrusted me with this project. I hope it always reminds her daughters of both their good memories and experiences of God on Thetis Island and of their mom’s thoughtfulness and love for them.
I chose this pair of paintings for the month of October because the orange hues reminded me of fall. Also because I painted them around this time of the year, I’ve probably subconsciously linked these paintings to October. I hope it brings a sense of calm and restfulness to you, whatever you may be facing this month.
For those with the Scripture calendar
This month, I paired these paintings with the verse from Psalm 37:4 which says, “Delight yourself in the Lord.” Both the paintings and the titles for these paintings are invitations for us to pause and delight in God’s creation and presence. I hope you sense these invitations and that you find moments of delight even in the midst of the heaviness in our world.
Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: Which of these two pieces are you drawn to more? What about the piece speaks to you? In what ways can you lean into delight today?
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As always, I love to hear from you! If something in this story resonated with you, if you’re interested in commissioning a painting, or if you have other thoughts, feel free to email, or connect with me on Facebook or Instagram. Thanks for being part of my journey and for letting me be a part of yours!