Silvia Klassen

Friday, 19 April 2013

Treasures from the Ocean

We are on Little Gasparilla Island in Florida which is on the Gulf of Mexico, and we are continually amazed by the variety of life here! With each ebb and flow of the ocean, thousands of shells are deposited on the shore. Shellfish are the "insects of the ocean" in terms of how plentiful they are (and the fact that they are both invertebrates). It doesn't seem to matter how many times we can get to the ocean, we are always amazed by the variety and plenty we see here. It speaks to us of the endless creativity and goodness of God! There is an on-going explosion of life that flows from Him and is unleashed on the earth each day and we have the pleasure of discovering and enjoying it.

As well as being bird lovers (see my post here) we are also novice shellers. Collecting shells is addicting as there are so many wonderful shells, with new ones relentlessly washing ashore.

Here are some photos of our collections:

These are jingle shells - they are delicate, and come in many colours.

So far, sand dollars have been rare, but one good storm could change all of that for us.

There are many partially broken lightening whelks, so finding whole ones is a real treasure!

We have been keeping the shells in our porch, and everyone is busy sorting, grouping and organizing their personal collections:

Tim found this live conch while we were shelling. I took some photos of it and then he put it back in the ocean, hoping it will survive. Look at how cute its little face is!

Tim found this heart-shaped shell piece ... I put it in my collection. :)

We have so many shells already ... and we still have a trip planned to go to Sanibel Island - one of Florida's top shelling locations due to its location and orientation ... can't wait to see what we find there!

Silvia
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Saturday, 13 April 2013

Lovin' Florida's Birds...

I absolutely love the ocean - I love the majesty of the water, the sights, sounds & smells. We are presently on vacation in Florida right now, and although we have just arrived, it has already been so much fun.

We are amateur ornithologists in our home - we have watched, searched out and tried to identify new-to-us birds for many years. Here in Florida, we have already spotted so many warm climate & coastal birds.

Here are a few that Tim & I were able to photograph today:

I saw this Anhinga perching over a pond as we sped down a road and asked Tim to turn around and go back so we could get a closer look. It was on my list of birds I hoped to see in Florida!

These Brown Pelicans were sitting on a pier, hoping to get some bits of food from all the people who were fishing. They were so tame and would look right at you as they were "keeping an eye on you".

These little guys are Sanderlings, and apparently, they felt they needed to watch me too!

Ruddy Turnstones - male & female (sitting)

Female Boat-tailed Grackle - not as showy as some of the birds we saw, but it was our first sighting of this species.

We saw Sandhill Cranes for the first time last year on Manitoulin Island during the summer. I guess these ones haven't migrated north for the season yet.

Cattle Egret - you can see why they get their name.

My amateur ornithologists greeting the ocean that we all love so much.

Silvia

Thursday, 4 April 2013

He makes all things new...

For the past few nights, I have been staying up late working on this painting which I created for a friend who has been bed-ridden for several months with sickness. We are going on vacation soon and I wanted her to have it before we left.

The text comes from Revelation 21:5 and I when read it I knew it was for her, and that it would be the basis for my painting. Before I began I put a song called "All Things New" on repeat and let the words invade my spirit. And then I began to paint ...

I used acrylic & mixed media.

Believing for her complete her recovery. Be healed, my friend!

Silvia

Friday, 22 March 2013

A Little bit of Whimsy

I am taking a whimsical art on-line course. The course is by an artist I follow named Alisa Burke (see her blog here). It has been a lot of fun and I am so enjoying looking at life with different lenses! The course has different classes in it and I thought I'd share one of my assignments from the "Whimsical Places" class. Here is a page out of my art journal I've called Red Door Town. It's done in watercolour & black ink.

Have a happy and creative weekend!

Silvia

Friday, 8 March 2013

Being Thankful

The last few years have been a journey into God's goodness for us as family. We have worked hard to choose joy over sadness, hopefulness over despair and to laugh at the fears that rear their ugly heads at us.

We have seen God's goodness in our lives all over the place and the last verse of the well-known Psalm 23 has become regular table talk for us: "sure goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life." We firmly believe that, and we see the reality of it regularly.

Part of my journey into God's goodness is thankfulness. Thankfulness brightens every day and allows me to look at what I have instead of what I lack. I have a journal that I attempt to write in daily, for the sole purpose of listing what I am thankful for. And although I don't always feel inspired, once I begin, gratitude flows and it is easy to see how goodness has woven its way into my day.

I have learned this: thankfulness changes things! We become a target of God's goodness when are thankful. We notice blessings which we might have overlooked in the past, and we give attention to them, which in turn draws more blessings. And quite honestly, we are just a whole lot happier!

I started a new art journal this week. The first page of a new art journal has often intimated me, and many times I've just left it blank. But not this time. Here is how I decided to start my new journal:

Have a great, and thankful, weekend!

Silvia

Monday, 4 March 2013

These are a few of my favorite things...

In my last post, I mentioned my "Art Bag" which I carry pretty much everywhere I go. For fun, I thought I'd post some pictures of my favourite must-have supplies that I always keep in it:

Sketch books (the two smaller ones are examples of what I keep in my purse, for those few times I don't have my Art Bag with me) ...