August 15, 2014 Covenant #2

God doesn't want us to have rigid rituals with Him. In the new covenant, He is more interested in having a relationship with us.

Joseph Prince

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/covenant.html#ar2bUwEou11SfY1y.99

Does that speak to you? What kind of relationship is it if God's promises mean nothing. I used to hear the statement, "promises are made to be broken" quite  a bit. Can you imagine if God thought that way? What would be our reaction if this was the way we were treated? Is an "on again off again" relationship with Jesus what you want? We do that with our relationships in this life. There could be no surety of an eternal life if God was that way. Personally, I know this is not the way it is. The whole of His promises are laid our in the living word, the Bible. Those that have chosen to follow Him are placing themselves in His hands. He in turn keeps their soul safe and provides for them. It is up to you to live the life that will speak of this to others louder than the evangelist on the podium. If you think it will not be noticed how you live, think again. The light house in this painting serves as a good example.

‘You are light for the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in people’s sight, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to your Father in heaven. 

The New Jerusalem Bible. (1985). (Mt 5:14–16). New York: Doubleday.  

I apologize for not visiting many of you as much as I would like. I would like to thank all of those who have stopped and supported me with your wonderful comments. There are no words to tell you how important they are. Bless all of you and thank you.  

Now for the good works. I dare say there are about 14 hours in this at present. about 5 of that has been preparation. I was not sure of the acrylic paints or how good they were so I contacted the company and they will replace up to 6 of the paints free if I have any problems with them. They are water soluble which makes a large difference. There are 18 base colors and 22 color combinations making a total of 40 colors before all is said and done. 

The tools needed are as follows:

A tray to put and mix the acrylics in. A syringe to put drops of water into the paint for thinning purposes. A Stratford & York # 700 brush (black), a Filbert Silver Ultra Mini 10/0 brush (white), a Paint Works #1 brush (red), #2 Flat Winson Newton Special Value brush (blue). The first two brushes I purchased separately and the second two came with the kit. Here is a close up of the brush I use the most, the first one.

It gets in those small spaces. There are lots of small spaces. LOL. 

The first color was a mix of #1 a beige and #11 a lavender.

The second color used was #18 a beige. They were mostly sky and water. I had more of the # 18 left over than I wanted to throw away so I went to the second mix and added #3 a purple. This proved to be an eye strain headache. Tried to use my circle magnifying lamp but it was only good for finding the areas needing to be colored. So much for the magnifier. YAY, only 37 more colors to go. Sigh. 50% of those are TINY, TINY, TINY. I need to get a bottle of Excedrin when I go to the store tomorrow. I have a feeling I will need them. LOL.

That is the progress so far. If I don't post like this you will not hear from me until mid winter. This is not your paint by numbers from the 50's to be sure. LOL....I think. At any rate, always remember to LOVE THE DETAILS. (We may revise that before this is all said and done.)