Year of the Wood Dragon

A powerful visionary, the Wood Dragon, finds potential in  regeneration like the energy coming forth in nature, when a flower blooms or the expanding out of the new season.

Dragons represent soft, cooperative, power. Their energy isn’t always properly respected, causing imbalances like storms howling in spring.

  1. moderate your energy and efforts
  2. summon your inner dragon, be creative, resourceful, and adaptive
  3. imagine the deep roots of trees that allow them to live long, and remain steady through the many seasons of life.

Peace Prophet Of Chicago

Known as the “Peace Prophet”, this Chicago artist creates striking portraits and botanical drawings. Little is known about the Peace Prophet, a literal “outsider artist” living homeless on the streets of Chicago. This enigmatic woman has created a remarkable body of work and is among the most widely collected artists in Chicago as her works are estimated to be in the collections of hundreds of people who have encountered her where she lives, on the streets surrounding the Chicago Cultural Center at Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street. The Peace Prophet is beginning to be recognized by the larger art world. Harvey Pranian, dealer in outsider art, describes her work as, “Reminiscent of Lee Godie but more elusive”. In addition to being owned by hundreds of private collectors and admirers, her work is included in the permanent collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago.

Chicago Lakefront Painting Time Lapse

ARTWORK: “Steel and Beach” 24×30 Acrylic + Pen on Canvas, by Anastasia Mak
Purchase prints and / or see more at http://anastasiamak.com/
This time lapse was created over the course of several weeks. The painting is an aerial view of Chicago’s lakefront, with John Hancock Center and surrounding buildings, looking north. My visual reference was a photo that I took from a helicopter. MUSIC TRACK: Amadou & Mariam, “M’ Bifé (Balafon)”

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What Is A Halo?

What is a Halo if it is not the divine light breaking into our world today.

Mary and her child are naturally engrossed in their game, and their gazes make them appear lifelike to a degree that can be found in no contemporary Italian painting of the Madonna. Leonardo da Vinci achieved this quality by means of nature studies. In 1478, he noted that he was working on two Madonnas. The Benois Madonna can be dated to that period. The painting has in its present condition been overpainted in some places and has lost some of the paint layer. The painting was also called the Madonna Benois because of the family who owned it. This canvas demonstrates the newly developed method of chiaroscuro – a lighting/shading technique that made the figures appear three dimensional.  Reference: Halo on Wiki

Akiana – Visions of Heaven and Inspirations From God

Glenn Beck narrates this CNN segment on Akiane Kramarik, the self-taught child prodigy whose portrait of Jesus, titled Prince of Peace: The Resurrection, caught Colton Burpo’s eye when his father showed it to him. After three years of being shown Jesus pictures, Colton said, “That one’s right,” upon seeing Akiane’s portrait. Akiane says her inspiration comes from God and her visits to Heaven.


http://akiane.com/

Lent – A Time For Prayer

IMG_20130215_124354Lent – an act of prayer spread out over 40 days. When we pray, we go on a journey, one that hopefully brings us closer to Christ and leaves us changed by the encounter with him.

In prayer when we are directed by the Spirit we win the world for Christ. Through this kind of spirit-led prayer we imitate Jesus’ 40 days in the desert. Filled and led by the Spirit, Jesus came out of the Lenton desert “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14).