Once again I challenged myself with 33 dots on a page. I prayerfully put 33 random dots on a page with my eyes closed. Then I join the dots without crossing any lines. See how I found a rabbit. Hint it has something to do with Easter.
From Pixabay
What will I be able to see this time?
It’s not easy but I ask God — what it is this week that you want to explain to me? I turned the page around and round. I finally settled with this view.
What do you see?
33 Dots connected. What do you see?
This week I had the pleasure of a visit from my sister-in-law. We did some walking around the Riparian Water Reserve in Gilbert, Arizona. We had our little dog, Snowball, with us.
Janis at the Riparian Water Park in Gilbert, AZ
My sister-in-law loves taking pictures. So I wandered and she shot 100 pictures. She and Snowball have one thing in common and that’s rabbits. They both love rabbits. But Snowball likes to chase them and my sister-in-law wants them to stay still. I would hold our little dog back while she took some great pictures.
Isn’t he cute? Photo by my Sister-in-law.
I guess rabbits were on my mind when I looked at my 33 dots because this is what I saw.
A rabbit emerged from the 33 random dots.
33 Dot Image — Rabbit
Now I have a rabbit picture and of course, Easter is coming in a few weeks so my mind went to the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs.
I am doing a challenge experiment in drawing — to make my mind expand but also to hear God at the same time. This time I heard the word pride. I put 33 dots on a piece of art paper, outline them and then colour. Then I pray. What Lord does this mean?
just the dots outlined. Step 1.Step 2 — The contour embellished and made into an image.The final painting for 33 dots.
Now comes the harder part. Lord, what is this? What are you showing me?
At first, when I looked at the outline alone and turned it round and round I kept seeing crowns.
That carries back to Lord of the Rings and my reading of the third book in the series. There are a series of kings in the story. Good and bad. And then I am also reading David Kitz’s book “The Soldier Who Killed a King” and we have read together in a study both Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, followed by Herod’s entry. A study of two kings. Quite the differences.
But then I got to thinking that I saw an egg — and an egg person.
So what I see is Humpty Dumpty.
As I read through article after article it seems to me that this sentence made the most sense:
Perhaps, in this instance, we could take advice from Humpty Dumpty himself, as seen in Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll:
“When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less “ (Lewis Carroll).
People will always attribute more meaning to nursery rhymes than was initially intended (from The Origin of Humpty Dumpty).
I like to take the rhyme of Humpty Dumpty as a riddle. So I asked God what He thought. I prayed. I listened.
I love the creative challenge of 33 dots. I randomly place the dots on a page without looking. Then I draw lines to connect them without crossing any lines. This time I saw me carrying a banner that said: GO FORTH.
olympic rings Pixabay
No I am not going to the Olympics.
At first I was reminded of the up-coming Olympics and the torch that they carry. Then I saw myself – carrying the word of this year. Valiantly carrying on even though I have no idea where God is headed.
I love the challenge of the 33 dots and of my life with God.
When finding my “word” and scripture for 2018 I heard these words:
thrive, flourish, prosper, blossom, profitable and succeed.
My scripture for this year is from Hebrews 13:21
May God give you every good thing you need so you can do what He wants. May He do in us what pleases Him through Jesus Christ. May Christ have all the shining-greatness forever! Let it be so (NLT).
As you can see I only go forth with Him.
Not ahead. Not holding back. It is my goal to do what He desires and not my will.
Here is my image from today’s challenge.
Watercolour Painting 33 dots by Janis Cox
Call to Action:
Are you searching for more in your studying of the Bible?
Do you hesitate to take your Bible from the shelf?
I love doing the 33 dot challenge. Does anyone else want to do it with me? If so I would set up a special way to link for it. This time my dots turned into a fish. And it reminded me of “Fishers of Men”.
Photo by Fredrik Ohlander on Unsplash
“Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed” (Matthew 4:18-20, MSG).
Jesus said He would show us how to catch men and women. How?
I think He meant that through the Holy Spirit we would learn things we didn’t know before. Through His Word the Spirit would open up new ideas and awake us to the truth. And when we learned these things He wanted us to go out and tell others.
Are you telling others? If the conversation turns to God do speak up for Him? Or do you turn away? Change the subject?
I hope this fish reminds you that Jesus wants us to be Fishers of Men and Women.
“Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God’s servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil’s trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands” (2 Timothy 2:26, MSG).
How can we learn mature righteousness? “Joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God.”
The Artwork for Fishers:
Here is the progression of my picture.
Final Painting
Our new group in Facebook is aimed to do just that – help us grow into Fishers of Men and Women. We grow closer to God by studying His Word and prayer. Join us.
And if you want a Lenten study this year like no other join us in another Facebook group, Book Study with David Kitz and Janis Cox. Learn more about that week before Jesus died. Be part of the crowd; feel what the centurion feels. Join us.
Last day to get a free book is January 31. Don’t delay join us today.
“And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care in the hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.”
Christmas has come and gone but not the spirit of Christmas – that’s what should last all year.
Today I drew my 33 dots again. This time I saw the stockings immediately.
Thoughts:
Although some people think that Santa shouldn’t be part of Christmas, I disagree. I think that the giving part of Santa should stay alive. As long as we don’t put “getting” before “giving” we will be okay.
On the top of the mantel is the true meaning of Christmas, the Babe, Jesus, arrived in the flesh. The Incarnation. God with us.
I love the story called “Santa’s Favorite Story”. Santa is worn out, but discovers that he can find happiness again in giving as he remembers the true meaning of Christmas. Simple but powerful.
A gift opens the way
and ushers the giver into the presence of the great (Proverbs 18:16, NIV).
You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God (2 Corinthians 9:11, NIV).
Let’s keep the giving alive at Christmas. But let’s put to rest the getting.
Do you want to keep growing in your faith? Do you need a boost to study God’s Word?
CALL TO ACTION:
Growing Through God’s Word is an interactive Facebook Group that is a safe place to explore your faith without judgment. Learn to read your Bible and discover God’s Word. Learn to listen and hear God speak. JOIN US.
We share. We learn. We create. We connect. We grow.
Janis is a creativity catalyst with a heart to connect people to God. She specializes in creating art based on Scripture so that the Truth penetrates hearts and not just minds.The world needs more pictures, art and colour.
She also has a gift for you called One Word at a Time,if you like to work through scripture.
Try 33 Dots to Discover your creativity and God’s Word – porcupine
The other day I read Meg Konovska’s post about her method of painting with 33 dots. This fascinated me as I need more help visualizing pictures. At first I forgot the number and painted only with 14 dots. Both my 5 year grandson and I tried it with 14. We used shiny paper and markers. It was so much fun.
Here at the 14 dot pictures.
Janis – markers. 14 dot challenge
Grandson Bryce – 14 dot challenge – bear going to school
Now he is excited to try with 33 dots.
Today I tried the 33 dots and immediately saw a porcupine (stylized).
Watercolour Pencil – Janis Cox
Watercolour Pencil – with water – Janis Cox
My thoughts:
When I think of a porcupine I think of prickly and defensive.
We can be like porcupines. We snap. We get defensive.
But porcupines are reacting to danger.
What is pushing our buttons?
God gave us the ability to change. When we see the problem, we can ask for help. When we pray and ask God for help in those situations where our emotions would rather scream, but our spirit wants to halt.
We remember the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
As we head into the busyness of Christmas, reflect on this. Breathe. Seek God. Find His love, joy, peace and hope. Try not to be a porcupine.
This was going to be a different Friday as I had decided not to write. Ha ha. Me? not write?
Photo by Cody Davis on Unsplash
So I am taking the required 5 minutes to write on the word “different” for Five Minute Friday. If you are a writer and just want to write for fun and link with others to encourage them, join us.
If you need help or encouragement just ask me. I’m right here to help you. Email Janis.
5 Minutes: GO
I thought of many ways I could approach the word different – how changed I am from the way I was last year, to how I was 16 years ago- to today. I thought of how life is better and different when I am with God than when I am not.
But I decided to take a look at my journey in art. When I first took a watercolour painting course in 1996, I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know.
Not about art – but about seeing.
Yes my eyes were closed to the world around me. Through my subsequent art lessons I learned to see.
I remember when we were taught to look at a distance and see the atmospheric conditions – how there were grays, and not blues, how the trees where not green but they could actually look blue.
Photo by Sergei Akulich on Unsplash
And then to look at trees on the side of the road – to really look at the different greens. There are deep greens, lime greens, all interspersed. Can you see the difference?
Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash
I started to look. And as I started to look closer I really saw the difference.
I had to be careful when driving on the country roads that in my desire to see, I didn’t take my eyes off the road.
Now to look how this affected my life.
I really hadn’t seen how different God made his creatures, his plants, his flowers. When I saw a flower up close it looked incredible.
I started to take pictures. I bought a good camera and for a long time I took many pictures.
Photograph by Janis Cox – Butterfly Conservatory
Photograph by Janis Cox – Butterfly Conservatory
My thought: When you take time and look, things can be different. (click to tweet)
The same is true with my faith. I didn’t really think about my faith before. It was there. It didn’t mean anything to me.
But then I started to look – to ask, to question, and eventually to pray.
I now know I am different than I was in 1996. I have seen into the spiritual and as I study, pray, and listen to God I see it more and more.
Now I also do Bible Art so I can see what God is speaking to me. Here are 2 versions of 2 Corinthians 3:17.
Painting by Janis Cox from 2 Corinthians 3:17
Bible Journaling by Janis Cox 2 Corinthians 3:17
Call to Action
If you are looking for a way to connect with God deeply and creatively. If you are tired of scrolling through Facebook pages and getting nothing of value….
We share. We learn. We create. We connect. We grow.
Janis has a free book, called One Word at a Time. If you like short devotionals you will enjoy these 4 devotionals with questions and a place to journal.
When Michael of #ScribblePicnic gave the prompt for blanket this week my thoughts went to cuddling a warm afghan on a cold winter’s night. Then I saw Pooh Bear snuggling up with his blankie. But finally I decided to paint a quick watercolour of a snow blanket.
Soon we will be heading to warmer climes – getting away from the coming winter. Snow is beautiful. I love seeing snow covering the lawn. If only it would stay on the lawn and not go on the roads. Driving in snow is not one of my favourite activities. And after 7 years of escaping it I am afraid I am no longer a seasoned winter driver.
Here is my watercolour rendition of “Blanket of Snow”.
That’s from memory. No picture to look at. But I know as the drifts pile up, the white snow becomes less pure, dirtier.
I love reading Psalm 147:16
He (God) spreads snow like a blanket
and scatters frost like dust. (Good News Bible)
And you can pile that blanket of snow higher and higher!
We have some gorgeous pictures from our winters past but most of them would need to be scanned. I found the two pictures on this post on my computer.
One more from my Growing Through God’s Word Facebook group.
Please click to get 2 Free Ebooks, Living Life — One Word at a Time and Five Ways God Changed Me
Today on #ScribblePicnic Michael gave us this prompt: Tie it up. Since this is the first week back to school my thoughts went to all the tying up of shoes I did as a grade one teacher. And how thrilled I was when those kids could tie them up on their own.
My grandson is going into senior kindergarten and his goal this year is to in his own words, “tie up my shoes really fast”.
Therefore my picture today – done very quickly in pencil, then watercolour crayon, is a child learning to tie his shoe.
As I drew this I realized how complicated the motion of tying up shoes can be. I couldn’t tell where those laces were. And look at how the hands have to twist and turn to make the loops.
When I taught school, velcro had just come into existence. Great I thought – this will make things much easier. Wrong. The kids were so thrilled with the velcro I had trouble keeping them from doing up and undoing their shoes in circle time. Zip. Zip. went the velcro. Enough to drive me crazy.
Tying laces in an art. All ice skaters want to be able to do this task. Although I saw skates the other day that had no laces.
I have seen children make two loops to do their shoes but I tie the old-fashioned way. What about you? BUT….
I learned something today. I have been tying my shoes the wrong way. Here is a TedTalk that shows me how I should be tying them. This makes them stronger and they won’t come apart. I always had ended up double knotting mine. I will try this today.
Here is a cute video about kindergarteners tying their shoes.
I hope you enjoyed today’s post. I am always thrilled how there is something I can draw with the prompt.
