Happy Accidents

December 20, 2016
by Karla Edwards
Uncategorized

My printer has been running out of ink for a while now.  I can tell by the random, unpredictable streaks of color that show up in color prints.  But on one night, the results were unforseeably magical…  As the printer spitted out some pictures of Baroque interiors, I was overcome with the joy of getting to see such beautiful happy accidents!  Not only are the pictures stunning, they give me so many ideas for new pieces.  I had been fumbling for years now trying to figure out how to put down in paint a concept in my mind:  how to weave together different complex images.  I did sketches and paintings and more sketches and more paintings, but I couldn’t effectively translate the inspired concept from my mind.  But these prints, which would normally be thrown away as worthless mistakes, accomplish the very effect I had been struggling to bring to fruition.  The printed streaks are an autonomous field but complement the pattern of the architecture, and the misprinted areas look like they’re a peek into another existence, like a tear in the space-time continuum!  Now I’m excited to breakthrough into a new phase of my work based on these happy accidents.

Since I don’t believe in true accidents, but that our creator God has complete control of every little detail of this created universe, I could not stop thanking Him for such beautiful and unexpected gifts!  Thank you, Lord, for this gift of breakthrough images, for leading my every step in the creative process, for reminding me that Your efforts are never in vain but are always successful.

 

 

 

 

 

Receive God’s Grace

June 13, 2016
by Karla Edwards
Joyce Meyer

“Grace is the power of God to live the way He’s called you to live.  God, however, won’t give us the grace to the disobedient.  If He’s telling us not to do something that we decide to do anyway, we’ll experience the painful loss of His anointing.

Grace equals ability.  God gives us grace to match our call.  When we do our own thing, we do it on our own.  When we follow His leading, He always supplies the grace and the energy to do what He’s calling us to do.”  – Joyce Meyer

-Romans 5:15

Coloring by Scripture

March 20, 2016
by Karla Edwards
coloring

I started using coloring books last year as a kind of sketchbook to experiment with new visual and conceptual ideas. Many of my colorings have Biblical themes behind them, some of which are based on specific verses. Here’s a few examples including the scriptures they’re based on and how I decided to visually render them through coloring.

 

Romans8_dtlThe first one is from one of my favorite passages, Romans 8.  In Romans 8:18-23, Paul is talking about the future glory that we’ll experience in the next life being face to face with God and how creatures in this world yearn to be with the God of peace and life.  What I love about this passage is that it describes how all of creation suffers pain and decay but also longs for life with God that leads to true health and happiness.  In this drawing, I wanted to express how even the natural world suffers but yearns for a better life.  I experimented with levels of transparency, leaving some of the coloring unfilled, and fully shading other areas.  The birds seem empty in part but have bits that hint at the potential vibrancy of their fully-redeemed bodies.

 

John3_dtlThe next one is based on two passages:  Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-15.  Just as the bronze snake in the wilderness took away the poisonous snake venom for those who looked on it in faith, Jesus’ punishment on the cross takes away the due punishment for all who look on him and believe he is their savior.  The snake is traced lightly to look bronzy, and I added black vertical lines to reference the pole.  The red, representing the blood of Christ which purifies us, is solid and bright so that it stands out within the snake.

1Corinth13_dtlThe last one is based on 1 Corinthians 13:12.  In this passage, Paul describes the surpassing value of love which lasts forever versus the partial and incomplete gift of knowledge.  He uses a dim mirror as a metaphor for our limited knowledge in this life.  In the coloring, the two flamingos are mirror images of each other.  One is the flamingo in its future fullness, vibrant and completely colored in, and the other is its reflection in this life, like a ghostly skeleton of itself.

Surely the people are grass

April 28, 2015
by Karla Edwards
Quotes

All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

 

– Isaiah 40:6-8

Feb 14

February 14, 2015
by Karla Edwards
My Utmost for His Highest

“At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed Him.  Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God’s hand until we learn to hear Him.”

– Oswald Chambers

– Matthew 10:27

Feb 11

February 11, 2015
by Karla Edwards
My Utmost for His Highest

“Imagination is the greatest gift God has given us and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him.  If you have been bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, it will be one of the greatest assets to faith when the time of trial comes, because your faith and the Spirit of God will work together.  Learn to associate ideas worthy of God with all that happens in Nature–the sunrises and the sunsets, the sun and the stars, the changing seasons, and your imagination will never be at the mercy of your impulses, but will always be at the service of God.”

– Oswald Chambers

– Isaiah 26:3

 

Feb 10

February 10, 2015
by Karla Edwards
My Utmost for His Highest

“If your imagination is starved, do not look back to your own experience; it is God Whom you need.  Go right out of yourself, away from the face of your idols, away from everything that has been starving your imagination.  Rouse yourself, take the gibe that Isaiah gave the people, and deliberately turn your imagination to God.”

– Oswald Chambers

– Isaiah 40:26