Thursday 26 December 2013

seeking beauty

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.
Albert Einstein

Beauty is something I regularly seek.  It moves my soul, stirs up longings and calls deeply to me, drawing me into a place of creativity ~ a place where I can somehow add a part of me into the beauty that presents itself all around me.

Winter in Ontario has a beauty of its own ~ sometimes it fully presents itself in all its shimmering glory, and sometimes we must hunt for it, training our eyes to truly see what is around us.  Recently, on a rather cold day, I spent some time outside with my iphone, searching for some if its everyday loveliness.

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and had a chance to stop and see the beauty that continually surrounds us!

Silvia
follow me on instagram at silviaklassen 


Thursday 19 December 2013

Christmas and Bliss

Christmas is one of my favourite times of year. Despite the busyness, I savour the celebration, the excitement and the beauty of this season.  

It's miraculous, it's glorious, it's love unleashed on earth.  

My heart has been so smitten these days by the unhindered love of God and I am regularly undone in His presence ... it is blissful place to be, full of nothing but goodness.

So, needless to say, I love celebrating Christmas because I love celebrating Jesus. 

 One of my ways of celebrating includes creating Christmas decorations, and this year I have spent a lot of time on lettering.  This kind of caught me off guard since I stumbled upon some great lettering on Pinterest by artist Joanne Fink {see her blog here} which totally inspired me. But that is the way art often happens isn't it, through an unexpected moment of inspiration.

The letters were both a lot fun and much more time consuming than I expected. I wasn't really sure what to do with them once I was finished and unless I can think of a better place for them, for now they hang above the windows in our family room. 

Alas, the lighting is quite weak in our family room, and even with extra lights brought in, the quality of these pics is poor.  Nevertheless, here they are:

Have a very, very Merry Christmas and may you encounter Love like you never have before!
Silvia


Wednesday 4 December 2013

November Around Here



I can hardly believe it has been a month since I last posted! 
November was a very full month for us ... 
we went to a conference in California, 
ran a conference here at home 
{both were absolutely fabulous!} 
and celebrated my second daughter's 13th birthday ... 
twice!

 Around here we make thirteen a big deal and work hard to bless our kiddos as they transition into their teenage years. 
One of the ways we do that is through a party with some of our adult friends who speak into our new teenager's life, 
calling out the gold they see in her 
{and him one day},
and praying a blessing over our precious child. 
It has become a cherished birthday event!!

Although very busy, I haven't been inactive art-wise this month. 
One way I keep creative in busy conference season is 
during the conference ... 
yup, I draw, doodle & art journal my way through the sessions, 
taking notes around my colorful pages. 
Sometimes I prepared a few pages ahead of time 
with some acrylic paint slapped on, 
and lots of times I added colour on the spot. 
Water colour crayons & washi tape were my go-to supplies this time 
as they were easy to use on-the-spot. 

My kids were at the whole conference we hosted 
{and, by the way, they LOVED it too} 
and they doodled and drew throughout it as well, 
all the while gaining life tools, 
tools that will empower and help them all their lives!

The conference we hosted was called "Dreaming with the King".
I couldn't recommend the speakers more!  

Steve & Wendy Backlund {ignitinghope.com}
& Janine Mason {idreamculture.com
were life-changing!!

Check out their websites, 
invite them to speak, 
follow them on facebook...
 do something to connect with these people!  
They are pure gold!

So now, here are some of my conference journaling pages and doodles...   {I apologize for the quality - I was trying to post from my phone app)


            
                        
              

              
              
              

Silvia