Mary Freeman is a well-read, mom-of-three from Georgia, USA… I love people from the South: there is an frank realism and open-hearted truth about them. Mary did not disappoint… She shared with me about her art… About how God used it to heal her heart-wounds… About how she shares that with other women… About moving her youngest child off to college this year… About her own lingering insecurities over calling herself an “artist”…

I came away with over an hour of recorded interview and a sense that art really CAN change people… That artists really DO build the Kingdom of God… And most importantly, that God places great importance on what we do to touch the hearts of people in the way we practice our gifts.

Mary has always kept a journal… But a few year ago, with a desire to dig deeper into her own heart-wounds and invite God into those areas of hurt, she began experimenting with layering images, patterns and text into journal pages that captured words and feelings in a more coherent and impacting way.

As she shared this experience with her friends, the opportunities to share the technique with other women began to open… First, in a retreat setting…

“We were combining visual journaling with the practice of solitude… there were 80 women in the room and no one spoke for over an hour… It was amazing…”

Opportunities to combine journal demonstrations with small-group counseling followed and she is setting up now to begin teaching workshops in the church she attends…

Along the way, Mary started taking the mixed-media techniques that she used in her journals into larger formats…

“The painting has several layers because I would paint something and be totally unhappy with it, (then) cover it and begin again. The finished painting was really a happy accident…”

Undeterred, Mary created the image you see on the right… And more after it…

If you were to visit Mary’s photostream on Flickr, you’d see that her large-format work has evolved to include the top of her worktable.

“That project made me realize just how much fun the bigger (paintings) can be… Standing on a bench and splashing paint everywhere…”

Since being a Christian is at the core of Mary’s identity, she has no problem acknowledging that her gifts come straight from God and that her life (including her creativity and artistic work) has the ultimate goal of deepening her relationship with Jesus… She passes this transforming experience along every chance she gets.

“Being a Christian is someone I am, not something I do.”

Mary speaks a “heart-language” that is very familiar to me… So, I asked her about her favorite author… I smiled as she began to rattle-off a list of who’s who in Christian counseling: Brennan Manning, John Eldredge, Larry Crabb… writers with differing methodologies but the similar theme:

Your heart matters to God and wholeness is possible…

Mary’s creativity and work echo that truth… and the key: God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes…

If you haven’t checked it out yet, go take a look… Mary also has an inspiring blog that combines her work with story-telling and personal meditations…

My Kingdom Is Not Of This World. John 18:36, VerseVisions X Collection. Mixed media on canvas. Copyright © 2010 by Mark Lawrence. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

I want to thank Mark and the other artists who share their work in our Flickr group. If you photoshare on Flickr, why not join us?

Mary Freeman is a mixed-media artist who shares her work in our Flickr group. Check out Mary’s photostream, which includes a number of interesting projects.  If you photoshare on Flickr, join our group and contribute regularly.

Moyra's latest work shows some experimentation and the influence of her favorite artist, Van Gogh.

It’s been almost a year since we featured Moyra, a painter living in Belfast, Northern Ireland, who had received a link to WOP from a friend. After an exchange of emails, she attached a few photos of her work and I was hooked.

Moyra’s medium of choice is acrylic paint and her work, inspired by her love of the Irish countryside, is full of color and movement.  I never get tired of looking at her work. There is a noteworthy sense of peace in her paintings and Moyra’s warm and humble attitude has been a blessing as well.  My interview with her was encouraging and exciting, since she had just rebooted her work as an artist as an adult…

Moyra started out like many artists, doodling cartoons with felt-tip pen in sketchbooks and journals. Encouraged by her family, she pursued art as a way of dealing with the stress of growing up in Belfast in the 70′s. She loved the paint-by-number kits that her parents inevitably presented her with each Christmas and buying new colored pencils for school each year was a treat that she remembers.

Through secondary school (that’s like high school in the US, but I only know that from reading CS Lewis books) and into adulthood, Moyra enjoyed reading art history and technique. Her artistic pursuits were derailed as she grew up and got a “real life,” but her passion for art hung on and she continued to read and study; trading tenacity for formal art education to become a self-taught artist.

Like many of us, Moyra filled her life with a “day job” but a desire to return to the art that she loved gnawed at her. In her own words:

I didn’t ‘do art’ for about 15 years… I always meant to… thought about it… read art books … dreamt of completing a canvas – but never, ever did anything about it. I guess I was busy with life…working hard and busy around home!

But a friend named Mark, thought that all she needed was a little push. Taking the initiative, Mark booked space for Moyra at Common Grounds, a christian coffee-house in Belfast, and informed her that there was space for 15 pieces… On opening night, about 50 of her family and friends turned up to support and encourage her… She sold 10 of the original 15 paintings… Part of the proceeds from the show went to support a local mission.

Moyra now has paintings for sale in a local art shop and has had two more successful coffeehouse shows at Common Grounds.  She’s immersed herself in some additional training and her passion serves to encourage her 15-year-old niece to pursue showing and selling her photographic work.

One of the things that we love about Moyra’s story is that she made a “come-back” after years of wishing for an opportunity, she was finally able to make the time to paint and to see the ways that God can work through her gifts. She describes it as a “second chance to be creative” and many of us know what that’s like. For Moyra, each new day is an adventure as she explores the possibilities for using her art to serve and bless others…

I wrote another post with a few tips that I gleaned from Moyra on being a successful, part-time artist and making a come-back after years out of the game…

Click here to take the Arts in Worship Survey… You could be a FeaturedArtist.

Untitled by Moyra Blayney

I’ve been chatting with Moyra Blayney, our Featured Artist, about her work and her recent reboot.  She had been inactive with her art for 15 years before opening a small show earlier this year at a coffeehouse in Belfast. Since I have also had a reboot in my writing and theatre in the last year, I thought that it might be encouraging to share a few thoughts…

It’s easy to get stuck in the routine of your “real life” but I think that artists (and this is probably especially true of Christian artists) abandon real living when they trade a day job for their artistic passion. For me, it was selling sprockets (not joking) that totally consumed my productive hours and kept me wishing I could do something artistic rather than doing it.

Dreaming takes a lot less effort than actually putting paint on a canvas or words on a page. Guitar Hero is easier to master than guitar. Watching TV is easier than appearing in a play… you get the idea.

I hadn’t given a lot of thought to my own reboot until I started talking to Moyra… but her story and mine share some of the same elements… Elements that might actually form some foundational principles for rebooting… I wanted to share them.

1. FEED YOUR INNER-ARTIST… It struck me that Moyra stayed interested in reading about art and art technique even when she was inactive. For me, attending plays and reading classic literature kept my imagination active even when I was too busy to write.

Passion is something that needs fuel. This is true in art, in relationships, in faith. If you’ve stopped fueling your imagination, pick up a book…

2. FIND A MUSE… For Moyra, it’s the Irish countryside… For me, it’s the Colorado foothills… But everyone has a place, an activity or a person who ignites our imagination…

For the Christian artist, there is a wealth of inspiration to be had in our relationship with God. I’ve found that the more I seek Him, the more inspired my writing becomes. Every good gift comes from God, after all, and our artistic talents are no exception… Ask Him to bring inspiration and He will.

3. TALK ABOUT YOUR DESIRE… Nothing fuels desire like speaking it out loud… And I can’t think of many things that are harder to talk about. It’s kinda scary to talk about a reboot. Our fear of failure kicks in and we freeze up.

Find a trustworthy friend and start talking about your reboot… For me, I started saying things like, “I’m writing that novella I’ve been thinking about.” My friends were very supportive… Moyra’s friend actually set up her first show… If your friends aren’t supportive, get some new ones.

4. SET UP A PLACE AND TIME TO WORK… Moyra had a deadline for her first show and not a single, completed canvas… She set up a studio in her home and set aside time to work… There’s nothing like a deadline to motivate you to work.

I did something similar with my novella, publishing the drafts of each chapter every Monday in my blog… Pointing my desk out the window and at the mountains gave me even more of a reason to sit down and write…

If you have a “day job” it is especially necessary to set aside a certain time (maybe the hour right after dinner) to work, otherwise, you will get derailed by business.

5. JUST DO IT… Talking and planning are great motivators, but eventually you have to pick up the brush, dust off the piano or fill the balloons with paint… You don’t have to write the Great American Novel or create a masterpiece with your first effort, but if you’re ever going to do something noteworthy, you must start somewhere…

Remember that the journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step…

Want to add something or tell us about your own reboot? Comments are always welcome!

Read more about Moyra’s art here.

Read Tim’s novella, The Warrior, or check out his new live nativity script, bethlehemEXPERIENCE.

Untitled by Moyra Blayney

We got an email a few weeks ago from Moyra, a painter living in Belfast, Northern Ireland, who had received a link to our site from a friend. After an exchange of emails, she attached a few photos of her work and we were hooked.

Moyra’s medium of choice is acrylic paint and her work, inspired by her love of the Irish countryside, is full of color and movement.  We’ve been enjoying the sliding-show of her work at WOP for about a week now and never get tired of it. There is a noteworthy sense of peace in her work and Moyra’s warm and humble attitude has been a blessing as well. We had a last-minute opening for a feature and Moyra was the first-call.

Moyra started out like many artists, doodling cartoons with felt-tip pen in sketchbooks and journals. Encouraged by her family, she pursued art as a way of dealing with the stress of growing up in Belfast in the 70′s. She loved the paint-by-number kits that her parents inevitably presented her with each Christmas and buying new colored pencils for school each year was a treat that she remembers.

Through secondary school (that’s like high school in the US, but I only know that from reading CS Lewis books) and into adulthood, Moyra enjoyed reading art history and technique. Her artistic pursuits were derailed as she grew up and got a “real life,” but her passion for art hung on and she continued to read and study; trading tenacity for formal art education to become a self-taught artist.

Like many of us, Moyra filled her life with a “day job” but a desire to return to the art that she loved gnawed at her. In her own words:

I didn’t ‘do art’ for about 15 years… I always meant to… thought about it… read art books … dreamt of completing a canvas – but never, ever did anything about it. I guess I was busy with life…working hard and busy around home!

But a friend named Mark, thought that all she needed was a little push. Taking the initiative, Mark booked space for Moyra at Common Grounds, a christian coffee-house in Belfast, and informed her that there was space for 15 pieces… On opening night, about 50 of her family and friends turned up to support and encourage her… She sold 10 of the original 15 paintings… Part of the proceeds from the show went to support a local mission.

Moyra now has paintings for sale in a local art shop and is looking forward to a second show in September…

One of the things that we love about Moyra’s story is that she made a “come-back” after years of wishing for an opportunity, she was finally able to make the time to paint and to see the ways that God can work through her gifts. She describes it as a “second chance to be creative” and many of us know what that’s like. For Moyra, each new day is an adventure as she explores the possibilities for using her art to serve and bless others…

Tomorrow, a few tips that I gleaned from Moyra on being a successful, part-time artist and making a come-back after years out of the game…

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