BeautyArtSoul

First Blogs and Infinite Resources

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:15:08 -0400

I just went through all my blog posts to date and discovered that my first posts were a year ago. Below is what I wrote then, and above is the new graphic which exprsses my current expression of what I believe now. I am even more convinced today that God is Beauty, and that when we connect with God through Beauty, God’s Love and Truth Reveal themselves. Kathy (KP/KCB)

I attended a spiritual retreat as part of a Shalem Institute program in DC in 2000. My final project for the program was “Beauty As A Spiritual Path”. I had just begun using the drawing program on my computer and I added simple drawings to a number of readings and reflections I had collected. New insights and new drawings accumulated over the years, and when I retired as a pastor in 2004, I was even more convinced of the importance of the phrase “God is Beauty.” In the super-rational and super-technical culture of ours, paying attention to beauty or its absence, is a life changing and life healing dynamic in our human design and therefore to our relationships and our planet. These words tie my life together, they keep me in studio mode, and give what I think and write a direction.

Healing and Exile

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 22:06:04 -0400

Sometimes we think of healing as an absolute. It is dramatic and permanant. I believe in this kind of healing. Miracles of this kind exist. However at this stage in my physical body’s life, and with two or three chronic conditions, I am exploring another kind of healing, another kind of miracle, smaller perhaps but just as much a gift from God. Exile, the work above, is about feeling surrounded by things I used to do and wanting to continue to do them, but being limited. There is still life in me. How do I get beyond the stiff presence my body presents? I am learning how. Every learning is a gift. Every learning is a miracle that allows me out of exile.

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The work above is a graphic composition completed summer of 2011, and part of a series.

Dancing Star-time

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:48:00 -0400

Frederich Neitzsche was right when he connected inner chaos with giving birth to a dancing star. Truth is of God whoever bears it to us. From my inner chaos this gift to you today.

Kathy (KCB)

The Purple House on Palm/Passion Sunday

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:34:19 -0400

The purple house of Lent illuminates the idea that our sense of who we are as Christians is both like and unlike our neighbors. During Lent we pay special attention to living the life Christ laid out for us by focusing on our life within this dedicated time.

The last Sunday of Lent remembers the parade of the people across the palm branches they have laid down for Jesus, which becomes the parade of people to witness his death on the cross. The cross on the hill comes closer to us who live in the odd Purple House of Lent as the end of Jesus earthly life moves into the events of Holy Week.

This graphic and the other five in this series belong to the artist. Contact her for useage.

Lent Is A Purple House (and Lazarus leaving his grave clothes behind)

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:00:06 -0400

In this story from John (the 11th Chapter) Lazarus leaves his grave clothes behind. Meanwhile others believe he best stay in the tomb. Jesus knows it is a real challenge to let someone come back to life.

These images were projected during the Advent Season 2011 in Asbury United Methodist Church in Harrisonburg Virginia. They are the property of the artist. Seek permission if you want to use them.

Lent Is A Purple House (the healing of a blind man and people who decide to stay blind)

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:00:06 -0400

John is a wonderful story teller. In the 5th chapter he tells of a man born blind who causes quite a problem in his neighborhood. Sometimes we don’t want to see what is happening right in front of us. Living in the house of Lent calls us to see God’s new activity in our lives, or maybe to see what we have been ignoring.

These images are based on the scriptures for the Sundays of Lent and were projected as part of worship during the 2011 Lenten Season at Asbury United Methodist Church in Harrisonburg Virginia. They are the work of the artist. Seek her permission if you desire to use them.

Lent Is A Purple House (and the Samaritan Woman)

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 17:17:43 -0400

The reading for the third Sunday of Lent is about the meeting of Jesus with the Samaritan Woman at the well where she has gone to get water. In John 4:7 Jesus asks her for a drink of water. This is a beautiful and rich story about asking and offering, giving and receiving, questioning and courage.

As always this series of graphics is the property of the artist. They were projected as part of worship at Asbury United Methodist Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia during Lent 2011. Contact the artist for permission to use.

Lent Is A Purple House (and Nicodemus)

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:11:00 -0400

Jesus challenged Nicodemus (John 3:4) to be born again. He later included the part about being born of water and Spirit. Here the water becomes a stream that flows from the cross and the Spirit is symbolized by a dove descending from God. Lent gives us a chance to be born anew in the pattern of Jesus and the plan of God that is alive in us as we acknowledge and connect with it.

Lent Is A Purple House

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:58:34 -0400

To be a Christian during Lent is to live in a purple house, purple being the color for the Lenten season. It is a house not like the neighbors who do no think of their lives in terms of what Jesus taught and lived out on his way to the cross. And maybe we don’t either most of the time. But as we Christians approach Easter, there is that cross on the hill above the purple house.

Heart: Timeless Valentine

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 11:27:09 -0500

The heart is the center of our lives, pumping blood to all parts of our body: enabling our muscles, enlivening our minds, and giving material weight and power to our souls. The heart is a symbol of courage, energy, and compassion.
Not a trifle, not a trivial extension of ourselves. It is a deep beauty we have within and share in many forms.

Mary Mother of Jesus: Waiting

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:21:00 -0500

Waiting is not something we do well in our culture. Pregnancy is waiting. The heaviness of hope is borne within Mary and in each of us. In truth we are always waiting for God’s graciousness and generosity. Mary reminds us of this in her waiting time.

These images are part of my 2010 series on the young Mary. Please ask if you would like to use them in some way.

Mary Jesus' Mother: Into the Unknown

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:00:18 -0500

Mary was carried by Grace, but the way was still unknown. It was her first child. Her body and the world around her were changing. And then there was this God Connection Thing…this new thing God was doing in and through her. Yet she moved on by faith into what Grace was providing.

This series of images was created on my iphone app in the year 2010. Permisssion to use the images will be given without hesitation if I am asked.

Mary Mother of Jesus: Waves of Grace

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 12:31:00 -0500

In the prior blog post I stated that in this series of works I focused on the moment of the Annuciation and the months following. Mary is a young girl when she and God connect. She has not experienced the pain and struggle that will come. Awe and wonder and gratitude carry her into the unknown of body, mind and spirit on waves of Grace.

As with all the images in these blog posts they were created by me. Ask me if you would like to use them. I’m generous. KCB

Mary of Bethlehem this Advent

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:42:10 -0500

The Annunciation… a graphic print… first in a series created 2010… KCB

My personal journey with Mary of Bethlehem began in a moment when I realized that my call to ordained ministry made us companions. It was the 70’s when I received the call. I did not know any female pastors. It was a new thing. There was prejudice and skepticism, but the God who had called me, also led me, taught me, and made a way for me. Just as God had done for Mary when she was called to the new thing God was doing. Between 2003 and 2007 I completed a watercolor and two mixed media pieces that were expressions of my journey with Mary. These were previously exhibited. The graphic prints on this blog are new, part of the new media work I have focused on recently. As I have worked with creating these Mary images I have experienced them as returning to the time before Mary was the great lady and the precious icon she became. In these works she is the young girl, the one called and gifted with Grace. There is also a reference to what she will become in the early church: the burning bush a title she carries lightly. She is active, moving, dancing, dreaming, the picture of a youthful “yes” to God, to life and to the future. I will post these images over the weeks of Advent.

Changing is a Wonderful and Scarey Opportunity

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 17:44:43 -0400

My art teachers often directed me to turn abstract compositions upside down and sideways and decide which was the best orientation. Which satisfied my feelings and ideas. The new update on the app with which I create much of my work gave me the same opportunity when I save the work to my photo gallery or send it by text or email. Below are the other orientations of this piece. Each has a different flavor although they are similar. Feel free to choose and to remember that we often have more choices with our feelings and actions than we first believe.

As with all my work these are images that belong to me, but I share if asked.

Kathy

Changing Means Roadblocks Met

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 17:35:28 -0400

Changing requires commitment

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 17:34:06 -0400

Changing is often an option

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 17:32:26 -0400

Remembering God

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 15:15:44 -0400

There is something important about walking on dirt and seeing sky and clouds and a pine branch hanging down in front of my eyes, that reminds me I am not alone in the universe (which is stretching out larger every day); important because I remember to remember God. There is a presence that reaches to me. I am grateful that I remember.

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As with all my graphics it is personally created and permission is needed for use by persons other than me. Just ask using my email address or by responding to this blog. Thanks!

I suffered a knee injury when walking my dog recently. I...

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:14:00 -0400

Healing 1

Healing: The Fear File

Healing 3 : knee pain is in my head

Healing Resources: Gratitude

I suffered a knee injury when walking my dog recently. I decided to express it graphically. The amazing insight was all the fears the accident brought up instantly, the moment the pain hit. My chiropractor called it my “fear file”. So I know that some of the pain is located in my head, my perception and expectation of reality. This experience has given me opportunity to explore both and to heal in more ways than just my knee, which is now back to baseline. I am grateful to have added this experience to my “gratitude file”.