​​If there has been a “slower” week since this ride began in early September of 2019, this past week was it. The opening reception at Artlink in Fort Wayne went well, pieces arrived, and another piece began to formulate in my mind.
 
After working an eight hour day, I enthusiastically left work eager to see how the evening would play out. My daughters were meeting me to make the drive to the gallery and my husband was coming over right from work. Was this really happening? When we arrived, the gallery doors were not open and the parking lot was full. 

​After about a half-hour, our teenagers were ready to go. I wasn’t. I wanted to stay and talk with people. I wanted to see who might stop in for support. The texts had already been coming in of friends who couldn’t make it. I had the pleasure of meeting with one juror of the exhibition, Sayaka Ganz. “I really enjoyed your pieces. How long have you been creating art? I hope to see more of your work in the future.” Thank you, Sayaka, thank you so much. After expressing my gratitude for her encouragement and giving her a goodbye upper arm rub (awkward I know) I continued to enjoy the other pieces.
 
Most were abstract, many were landscape, and some were peculiar. Scarlet She Rose were the only two pieces, besides one other, which incorporated portraits. As I stood in the vicinity of the pieces, looking for those who might have made it out to see the installation, I gal walked up to me. “Do you have work here?” I had seen her in the restroom earlier. She was very artistic looking, we smiled and I was on my way. Bathroom chit chat has always been a bit difficult for me. ​I shared the pieces on display, she shared she too had pieces in the exhibit. ​She stood amazed at the piece, as I had her works of art, and then she asked, “Who are these women?” As I began to share their stories I shared on the special episode of the Shanon ​Roberts podcast, Behind the Piece: Scarlet She Rose, s​he took a deep ​breath  and even appeared misty-eyed.

​​I have the pleasure of delivering prints this weekend and I am excited to place another work in the hands of a client I connected with before Christmas, early next week. Remember “Islands in the Stream”? His birthday is February 1st and I pray the piece blesses him richly. Finally, another piece involving grapes, olives and wheat has been dancing around in my mind as of late – my spirit senses it is a piece with a rich message – one where many will be blessed.

​Thank you for having a read! I pray health and wholeness over your life, and a stirring of your own unique creative passions to be shared with your world.

​Blessings!

Join artist, Shanon Roberts, on her journey to creating Scarlet She Rose. This work of art is currently being exhibited with Artlink, a contemporary art gallery in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Shanon, a residnet of Columbia City Indiana, shares the inspiration behind the piece showcasing women who have chosen, choose daily and will continue to choose to RISE - all over the world.

This work is composed of royalty free imagery and a photograph Shanon took herself while on a medical mission trip to Guatemala. Each photograph has been creatively altered to reflect the message of redemption and the promise of being made white as snow through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. To learn more about the passion behind the piece, please select any link below to listen to the podcast episode. Feel free to skip to 12:55 to get straight to the inspiration. Blessings!

​​It is Thursday, kind of feels like Friday and it has been somewhat of an amazing whirlwind since Monday. Getting back into a groove is going well. This past week I had the joy of interviewing with my art mentor, marveled at God in the ministry, completed a commission and accepted another, and look forward to my first opening reception in an actual art gallery THIS evening.

​Last Friday I had the joy of doing a LIVE interview with my mentor, Matt Tommey (you can listen to our time together HERE). ​ It was our first time interacting “face to face”, although the information​ he

​Why wouldn’t my heart be happy?! Connecting others to the heart, Word and Spirit of God is what excites me every morning! Connection and unity was the theme Monday at noon as I met with our Mayor, CEO of one of our regional hospitals, and advocate for leading by faith, to connect with leaders in our community to unite around prayer and community development. From there I prepared to meet with our Monday night Bible study group and minister with gals from past Rise Up Commitments, and saw God move uniquely in each of their lives. Rolling into Tuesday, I was grateful to minister with my daughters, separately, and then meet with a gal who recently embarked on her commitment journey. Wednesday, the Rise Up 2020 class met and trusted God to bring healing. Go Jesus GO!

​​While in the flow of the ministry of Holy Spirit, a uniquely fashioned work of art made its final formulation in my mind and I was able to capture. An Instagram friend reached out to me regarding a dream she had. A dream she wanted to capture & frame.  ​Like each piece uniquely created ​for each 

art gallery exhibition. As I thought more about it, the thought began to creep in, “It’s really not THAT big of a deal. You always make a big deal about small things.” Do you ever have thoughts like that? As the morning moved on, I turned that thought on its head, with the Word of God… Rejoice in the Lord always! Be thankful in all circumstances! If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. I am rejoicing over the opportunity to connect with others interested in art. I am thankful the Lord has orchestrated a way to creatively communicate His redemptive message to folks who may otherwise be closed off. I look to Him to help me be faithful with this opportunity He is setting before me.

Thank you for catching up, today. I pray blessing over your life and look forward to connecting with you again!

​​I need to learn new verbiage to communicate how I continue to be “blown away” by God on this creative journey. Speechless? No accurate way to express my surprise? At the risk of sounding redundant, all is true. I know I didn’t post last week, which was intentional, but there continues to be movement. The past couple of weeks I dropped off works of art for the upcoming exhibition, was led to create a piece for the beginning of the year, and accepted the invite to be interviewed live with my mentor. Insert mind blown emoji.

​through creative works. My Hubby and daughter accompanied me during the delivery. My heart was happy. The opening reception for the exhibit is ONE WEEK FROM TODAY. If you are in the Fort Wayne area and your schedule is open the evening of Thursday, January 16th, I would love to catch up with you at Artlink! The reception is FREE and open from 5-8pm; the exhibition will be on view through February 16, 2020.

​Flowing from delivery of those works of art into 2019, I woke several times in the early morning hours from dreams to thoughts of being made new, God doing a new thing, and wrestling with this discontentment of the earthly body and desiring the “new” body. Thoughts turned to imagery. Imagery turned to a promise I sensed being communicated: Physical bodies being transformed in 2020. Individual bodies and collective bodies (ministries, churches, etc.) will become stronger, healthier, leaner and more whole. ​This piece is also a reminder, mess and colorful chaos may ensue 

​The exhibition I am honored to be a part of and the limited edition prints created, along with the fourteen works of art that have been created and shared with others in the past three and a half months, are all results of taking the step to respond to Matt Tommey’s Artists Rise Up series and then committing to join his Created to Thrive Artist Mentoring program. 

As always, THANK YOU for connecting with me on this journey. As an encourager in the Body of Christ, I cannot help but do so here as well. If you have ever had a passion or gift you knew was a talent from God, consider stowing away with the Lord over the course of the next several days and ask if there is something more He would like to do with those passions and gifts. You might be surprised at His response and where He leads you from that space. If anything else, simply allowing time to rest and connect with Him will no doubt leave you energetic, revitalized and ready to press in to where the Lord has you, today.
 
Blessings!