Christianity

5-15-10

I read somewhere years ago that an artist said to draw something, then draw it again, and then repeated to draw it again.  I think that is true of painting also.  Repeat painting, but I am not talking about repeat the same painting over and over again.  I am saying paint and observe, paint again another layer and observe over and over again.  When we are in a big hurry to finish a painting we miss a lot of things.  I believe a more faithful picture appears with beautiful layers of color when we do it right.  Of course, I do not feel I am perfectly there yet but I persevere.

As a Christian the same is true in following the Lord by repeatedly reading The Word, prayer, listening and persevering.  We see more clearly and we grow not by our goodness but by the power of God at work in us.  There is a big, big difference between doing good (doing right) and allowing God to live in us in His goodness.  One way gives praise to us.  The other gives praise to God.

I remember once asking God why I had to keep reading the same thing in the Bible over and over again.  I said I read it.  Right after that prayer God showed me something else in reading His Word.  I said Ok, God I will keep reading.   
 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, 
       so are my ways higher than your ways 
       and my thoughts than your thoughts. 
 10 As the rain and the snow 
       come down from heaven, 
       and do not return to it 
       without watering the earth 
       and making it bud and flourish, 
       so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 
 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: 
       It will not return to me empty, 
       but will accomplish what I desire 
       and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 
 12 You will go out in joy 
       and be led forth in peace; 
       the mountains and hills 
       will burst into song before you, 
       and all the trees of the field 
       will clap their hands. 
 13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, 
       and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. 
       This will be for the LORD's renown, 
       for an everlasting sign, 
       which will not be destroyed" (Isaiah 55:9-13;NIV).

4-15-10

I was watching an artist's CD demonstation recently and it reminded me that we create when we put variations of color, value, stroke direction, etc. within a shape.  Having a forestry degree I have thought more than once about God's creation of trees.  There is such a complex structure within each tree.  There are various types of cells within each tree that are for growth, strength, storage of food and  transporting food.  No species of trees is like any other.  When in college we did tree identification by looking at pieces of wood and identified the tree (Sugar Maple, Red Oak, Sassafras, Sweet Gum, etc.) by using a magnifying glass to look at cells in the cross section of the wood.  When you think about the creative nature of God and all that he creates it is an awesome thought.  I believe with God's help we can be more creative artists when we learn from Him.  Remember that God can make a universe from nothing and someday we will see a whole new heaven and earth.  I look forward to meeting the Lord and viewing His new creation.

3-16-10

In painting it is important to have variation, where possible, in shape, size, line, texture, color, value and the direction something goes or faces.  Otherwise the painting could be boring.  Like in creating a painting in the same way God made each of us different for a purpose.  He made us all uniquely different.  The problem in my life and I would imagine in other people’s lives is when we want to try to make another person just like us.  It is much better for us when we appreciate each one’s uniqueness.  That is not to say that we should not lovingly correct someone (after examining ourselves) when they may be going astray.  Scripture says:

“13 For you created my inmost being; 
       you knit me together in my mother's womb. 
 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 
       your works are wonderful, 
       I know that full well. 
 15 My frame was not hidden from you 
       when I was made in the secret place. 
       When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 
 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. 
       All the days ordained for me 
       were written in your book 
       before one of them came to be. 
 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! 
       How vast is the sum of them” (Psalm 139:13-17, NIV)!

2-10-10

For an object in a painting to appear three dimensional it should have the right amount of negative edge, lost edge and positive edge in the various shapes.  By negative edge, I mean that the background value is darker than part of the object.  By positive edge, I mean that part of the object is of a darker value than the background.  By lost edge, I mean that part of the object is the same value as the background.  Example, if you paint a flower and you look along its edge and you find that it is all negative edge (the background is darker than the flower) then the flower looks pasted on the background.  Study paintings that you think look three dimensional and see if the technique is not correct.  Of course, I am still learning but believe in this painting technique because I have found it to be true.  It is like studying the Bible and finding it to be true.

Also, I have heard that there should be places of rest in a painting among all the chaos.  It gives the mind a time to rest in the painting.  We all want rest. When we, as Christians, turn our lives over to Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior we enter that rest in fact, but do we enter it in belief?  By that I mean when we turn our lives totally over to the Lord, do we have the faith that God’s work has truly been finished since the foundation of the world and that we are walking in faith toward that finish?  As Christians, when we begin to understand this we then realize that we enter His rest by faith.  The fullness of God is not at rest because He is actively at work in and through us.  We are not at rest either because we are actively obeying.  When God’s children begin to see the Lord working not only in their own lives but also in the lives of those who are in the body of Christ then they see the present rest.  Our present rest is not, by any stretch of the imagination, having the total vision of God’s eternal plan.  It is rest by faith in His wonderful plan.

Hebrews 4 (NIV)

“A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God 
 1Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, 
   "So I declared on oath in my anger, 
   'They shall never enter my rest.'" And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work."  5And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." 
 6It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: 
   "Today, if you hear his voice, 
      do not harden your hearts."  8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. 
 12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. 
Jesus the Great High Priest 
 14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,  Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

1-25-10

It is a wonderful New Year.  Below are the ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN that I was taught and have studied over the years.  If you take each ELEMENT that you use and apply each PRINCIPLE to it you can achieve better design in your artistic work.

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

1. LINE
         a. Straight and Curved
2. SHAPE	
	       a. Curved, Angular, and Rectangular
3. COLOR
         a. Hue, and Intensity
4. VALUE
         a. Property of color but kept separate as an element because more important than Hue or Intensity.  Value is light or dark and the mid-values in-between
5. TEXTURE
         a. Soft, Smooth, or Rough
6. SIZE
7. DIRECTION
         a. Horizontal, Vertical, and Oblique

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

1. BALANCE
          a. Formal, and Informal
2. HARMONY
          a. Not used much
          b. Definition: Elements that are similar
          c. Examples
               1.) Colors: closest to ones on Color Wheel
               2.) Line: Straight Line and one Slightly Curved
               3.) Shape: Circle and an Oval
3. GRADATION
         a. Used with Color and Value a lot.  
         b. Makes things alive and interesting.
         c. Helpful in both big and small areas.
4. and 5. ALTERNATION AND VARIATION: Can be grouped as Repetition
         a. Alternation mostly used in Architecture and Decorations such as wallpaper.
         b. Repetition by Variation used more in painting
6. CONFLICT OR CONTRAST
        a. Definition: The opposite of
        b. Caused interest and excitement
        c. A little Conflict is interesting and an overdose creates chaos.
        d. Go through Conflict with each Element of Design
7. DOMINANCE
        a. May be the most important 
        b. The 7 elements are displayed with Variation and Conflict for entertainment but chaos.  Dominance over comes chaos.  
        c. The more Dominance of the 7 elements the better.
        d. Example of Dominance: Family of shapes 
               1.) One shape larger than other
               2.) More value contrast in or around it.
               3.) Strongest Chroma
               4.) Combination of the above
8. UNITY
         a. Tear up several paintings and put in pile.  You should be able to pick out your painting instantly.
         b. Repetition is a good way to make unity. 
         c. Better to place obliquely. Cut painting in ¼.  All sections should have repeats.

I hope you are enjoying your gift of art.  I pray the Lord will use it to serve and Glorify Him.  One of the Principles of Design is Balance.  I pray we rest in God and let Him be in charge of our lives in all things that He may call us to do.   I have heard it said that Faith and Hope are like the two wings of an airplane and that it won’t fly without both.  I also know that accepting the Lord not only as our Savior but also as our Lord is important.  It is also like the two wings of an airplane and we cannot get to Heaven without the knowledge and acceptance of both.

In the New Year I would like to ask anyone reading this that if you have not turned your life over to God for you to pray the following short prayer then walk with Jesus as your Lord and Savior with Faith and Hope:

God I know that I am a sinner and I am sorry for my sins. I turn my life over to you.  I need you Jesus to come into my life not only as my Savior  but also as the Lord of my life.  (Please pray it with all your heart and God will know.)

12-17-09

Christmas is almost upon us.  God is such an awesome Creator.  Of course God is awesome in all things.

I saw a video recently showing wonderful images of only a part of an unimaginable universe.  It told and showed how God so loved the world that the one who made this complex enormous universe came to this tiny speck of earth in His universe to save those He created.  Jesus came to earth to save us.  Now that is a gift that we should share with others and pray is accepted.  There is no gift like it.

11-17-09

Hi,

Well, I am working on several paintings.  I hope to get the larger one finished soon, but in the meantime I finished a smaller one from a place near Divide, Colorado.  When the Aspens show the Glory of God it is like gold blowing in the wind.  I wish I could come close to capturing it.  I can only enjoy the creation of God and tying to represent it in some way through painting.  It is one thing to know about God.  It is another thing to know Him.  That is a gift of God only through His Son Jesus.  No one is ever good enough to get to Heaven without Him.

I hope your day is going well.

9-21-09
Good Afternoon,

I just finished a painting of some old doors I saw in France.  I titled it, Tell Me Your Story.  It made me think about some seniors, like myself, that I am blessed to be able to visit and hear their stories.

Recently I was visiting in a dementia wing.  As I was walking past a woman she said, “I need someone to walk with me.”  I kept walking and said, “I am going to see Joe right now.”  Even though I thought she wanted out of the locked facility, I still did not handle it well.  Later I saw her again.  She was trying to get back in the door from a beautiful enclosed courtyard but she was having trouble since she was on a walker.  I opened the door for her and said, “If you want me to go for a walk with you, please ask again.”   God gives us time to serve if we will just use it.  We are so driven by time.  We schedule and we sometimes do not let anyone break our schedule for fear we may not accomplish what God has for us to do.  You probably have experienced times when you were headed to serve someone and you got distracted by someone else who needed God’s care, but we may say to ourselves at those times that we can’t take the time because we are on our way to care for someone else.  I will not say that diversion is always from God, but when it is from God we need to be aware of it.  We cannot let Time get in the way.  It is at those moments that we need to pray and God will give us Time when it is His perfect will.  I have had on more than one occasion thought God makes time and I have at those times stayed in the moment where God put me.  I hope and pray we encourage each other to stay in God’s moment, in God’s time.  When we are faithful, we may get an opportunity to know what awesome things God has called us to do.  Sometimes looking back at the path He is leading us on, we see a beautiful loving plan.  I think of what John Wesley said,

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

I pray we let God have His time.  That is where our peace and joy is found.  It is in those moments we want to shout to the world, “Do you see Him?  Do you see Him?”

8-21-09
I was thinking the other day about my painting, Big Trees on a Small Island.  It really was more than just painting trees because it was special to me.  I think paintings are the best when they are filled with memories.  I took the picture of the trees late one evening on a trail around Mountain Lake on Orca Island which is one of the San Juan Islands.  It fascinated me how big those trees were on such a small island.  At the time we were vacationing with friends and staying on the Island.  Earlier we had all gone kayaking in a Bay of Orca and after that my wife, Betty, and I wanted to try to hike around Mountain Lake before the Moran State Park closed at dusk.  It was such an awesome hike although I must admit we were concerned we would not get out of the State Park before it closed.

Being outdoors has been such a big part of my life.  Having a degree in Forestry I have spent 3 decades in the woods.  I have had so many, many wonderful memories there.  One day years ago I was looking at the light hitting a tall stand of pine trees.  I thought there is no way anyone could paint the complicated shapes of darks and lights.  The painting of Big Trees on a Small Island is only a simple example of God’s awesome creation.  Our God is an awesome creator.  A friend once wrote me and said, “KEEP PAINTING!!! Willis, I firmly believe God is pleased when we create something beautiful for the enjoyment of others as well as ourselves.”  That is what I pray that I do.

6-30-09
Creative Gift

I appreciate all the abilities that God gives but being an artist I appreciate the wonder of God’s gift to sing, act, dance and paint.  There are such awesome creative people.  What bothers me immensely is a lot of them do not seem to know where their gift comes from.  I see the temporary happiness and also sadness in them.  I see the world trying to take them down and remove their search for the meaning to life.  I watch as they give talks about their good life and their thankfulness to everyone but God.  Creative gifts can be used for self-edification or to the Glory of God through Spiritual gifts in service.  One has to do with pride whether they realize it or not and the other has to do with the “me” out of me.  When creative abilities are used to the Glory of God then the Fruits of the Spirit can grow.  I want to tell those who are searching for a reason to life that there is hope, that you are not alone and that there are God’s children on earth who care about you.  To see someone come to the end of life and have nothing for which to be thankful other than their craft and those with whom they worked is such a sad thing to me.  It hurts me when I think of the eternal consequences for those who do not know and acknowledge God. They’re missing the knowledge of the love of God and the need for his cleansing Spirit.  I cannot imagine the hurt that God has for them.  If this witness could reach one creative person, I would be thankful.

4-7-09
Easter – Season of Hope

Hope is such an important word. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as: “1 : TRUST, RELIANCE 2 : desire accompanied by expectation of fulfillment; also : something hoped for 3 : one that gives promise for the future”.  In the Bible Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance the real hope in the Hebrew is defined as “to wait for, put hope in, expect”.  In the Greek it is defined as “to hope, hope for, put hope in, expect, an attitude of confidently looking forward to what is good and beneficial”.

I have been really bothered lately when I have heard different people say such things as, “I just Hope when I get to heaven that He says, ‘Come on In.”, or ‘I just Hope my good outweighs my bad.’  Or ‘I just wish I knew I was going to Heaven.’”  That is no Hope at all.  I have said to a few people lately, “I know where I am going and it is not by my goodness but by the grace of God.”  That statement does not take away my knowledge that I am a new person following Christ and that I am being sanctified by His power.  You are probably all aware of the following Scripture but I would like to refresh our Hope.  We are aware that there are many, many more Scriptures that could be listed.  I Hope
they are uplifting to us all in serving the Lord.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9; NIV).

“Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.  However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 
 ‘Blessed are they 
      whose transgressions are forgiven, 
      whose sins are covered” (Romans 4:4-7; NIV).

“Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.  For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.   Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:12-17; NIV).

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:14-21; NIV).

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:1-4; NIV).

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this’” (John 11:25-27; NIV)?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16; NIV).

Praise be to God!

4-5-08

As an artist when I attempt to capture just a tiny image of His creation with paint and 
brushes I am awed.  Admittedly sometimes I know I get too busy to comprehend how 
creative our God really is.  My wife always notices the many greens in the spring and 
for a long time I never noticed.  I believe that God through her brought me to appreciate 
that part of his creation.  There are so many, many kinds of green there is no way an 
artist can come close to capturing all of them.  Also my wife has glaucoma so she is always 
with doctors, medicine and prayer fighting the disease.  However, she is always seeing the 
beauty around her.  She is always saying, “Did you see (something).”  I remember taking her 
to the eye doctor one day.  Her eye pressure had been up and they had about run out of 
medicine that would work.  It was the fall of the year.  That day I was so worried as I parked in 
front of her eye doctor’s office.  However, my wife as we parked said, “Isn’t that tree beautiful?”  
There is front of us was a tree I did not even notice because of my worry.  That is a lesson for us all.

2-06-08

Appreciating God's Creativity

I want artists to have the ability to express their wonder of God.  Don't misunderstand me.  
I am still learning.  There have been a number of what I call “voila” moments which I have 
learned along the way that I would like to share.  What I call “voila” are those
times when I had been taught things over and over and did not understand.  
Finally one day a light bulb would go off.  I will give an example.  I remember 
a teacher once said when I first started painting, “Do not paint things paint shapes.”  
I just could not understand it.  I wanted to paint things and told the teacher so.  
Then one day I finally understood.

To me art can be like a stage.  The artist is directing a performance on his or her 
canvas.  The artist must have feelings about that performance.  Otherwise that 
performance has no meaning no matter how beautiful the stage looks.  On that 
stage the director can have only one star or many stars and/or stars and co-stars, etc. 
It is the artist’s responsibility to determine those stars and costars and then subtly 
direct his or her audience around that stage using the elements and principles of 
design.  The artist needs to know the elements and principles of design and how 
and when to use them to accomplish this.  Also the artist must have the skill and 
the knowledge of the tools used.

1/23/08
Why do we need God?
 
When I was around 18 years old, I began to wonder why I was 
a Christian.  What if I had not been born into a Christian family? 
Would I be a Christian?  What if I had been raised a Muslim, 
Jew, Buddhist, etc.?  At that time I wrote my pastor back home 
about what was worrying me.  He said a wonderful thing.  He said,
“It is OK to question.”  With that answer, which I have been thankful
for to this day, I bought a book on the great religions of the world 
that I still have.  After reading it I still knew I was Christian.  Although
it was many years before God brought me by His grace to a point 
where I realized that I was not as good as I thought I was, I could 
not save myself and I needed a Lord and Savior.
     
I cannot help but believe that some who are reading this may be truly 
pursuing peace in their own faith or no faith at all.   I simply want you
to know a wonderful kind of eternal peace.  It really is a different peace
than the world gives.  I have never never regretted accepting the 
free gift of God’s Son, Jesus.

Christian Links

BibleGateway.com

Central to Life
(You can listen to sermons from different pastors. Simply do to following:
1. Click on Central to Life above
2. Click on On Line Sermons at the bottom of their webpage
3. Pick the Pastor you would like to listen to.
4. Pick the sermon you your like to hear.

^“1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him”(Revelations 22:1-3;NIV). ⁵"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:1-8;NIV).

Would enjoy hearing from you.

Contact:

Willis Miller

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