We’re off, but not to see the wizard

Just a note to let you know we are off to Espírito Santo, where João will be preaching over the weekend. I will also speak to the women of the church. I remember vividly searching to buy the land for this church back in the 1980’s, as the city of Vitória was growing out in this direction and there was no Baptist church in the neighbourhood. It was really hard to find a piece of property. But buy it we did (the State convention in partnership with the mission board) and now the church is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary. I am looking forward to seeing old friends as well as João's family and generally enjoying staying on the beach! (Oh the sacrifices of ministry!)

Just so there would be something to look at, in case you don’t like reading without illustrations, I am including two of my recent art efforts. To the right is a Macaw, done with colored pencil, a medium I am really struggling to dominate. It is a very precise medium, but in this study (it is very small, about 4x6), I feel like I made some breakthroughs in blending without making a hole in the paper.

To the left are two watercolors I did in class last week, with the specific assignment of doing something stylistic (not realistic) in only 15 minutes. The two paintings are of the same scene, one a general picture and the other an enlargement. I both like and dislike the watercolors. They were actually fun to do, but I felt they look very childlike or primitive. Believe it or not watercolor is a similar method to colored pencil, in that you do layers. What I just can’t seem to get the hang of, is leaving “white” around the edges and emphasizing the highlights. I am missing this week’s class, but I think that next week we will be working more on that. Oh, there is so much to learn and I am so slow to catch on!