Covenant

Throughout scripture we read about promises and oath swearing. Humankind has made contracts making all sorts of deals swearing to keep all sorts of oaths none of which mean anything except those they can fulfill in their lifetimes. Beyond that these contracts and oaths mean little and in time are of little importance to anyone. They are forgotten and no-one remembers them. They become as dead as the one who created them. That is where God's covenant is different. An eternal God and His covenant is forever. (Psalm 105:8) A promise from "I Am" is never out lived. The greatest gift of His only son draws all of His creation into this covenant with his people. It is forever irrevocable. How do I know this? (Matthew 11:28-30) tells me that He will take all of my cares and troubles and give me rest. The world will tell you otherwise but the world is not eternal. All things of the world pass away and are forgotten. That includes our physical worldly bodies. Our spirit and spiritual bodies are not mortal when the spirit of God is accepted and lives within us. (Hebrews 9:15-18) At our death the covenant is not revoked but fulfilled. Our bodies may return to the earth but our souls live on. What happens to us in life is preparation for the fulfillment of the covenant made with our Lord and God through Jesus Christ. The choice is ours to accept or reject, to believe or not. 

 
This next image is a Moontear that was Done twice. The first one printed out with heavy shadowing. When colored the look it produced is much darker over all. Not even close to real looking.

The copics used are:

I also used an Artisoft Umber pencil to draw the very thin twigs and limbs in both images.

This is a redo for the wife's step sister. It is markedly different from the other image. It printed with less pronounced shading which in turn made the overall image much lighter when finished. Fewer colors were required to do the image.

The Copics used are:

As you can see, image shading can make a large difference in the result. That is also true of the use of shading when coloring. Where the shadows are placed can alter the image completely. 

That is it for this week. Thank you for stopping by. May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Power

 Society today seems to be enamoured with  with celebrity, name recognition, politics and the power that they bring. At what cost? Desires? Lusts? Hatred? Left wing? Right wing? None of this matters in life (Acts 20:24). All of these things can lead us astray. Entered in the right way some of these things can be a gift. Used in the wrong way imparts the means to become full of one's self and that can lead many astray. A good example of the gift of celebrity, name recognition and, to some extent, political power is Billy Graham. A more humble man you would have trouble finding. Yet his example and reach was world wide. another good example was Pat Robertson. The 700 club is far reaching. The good that both men brought to the world is wonderous. There are many women that have done the same. Celebrity had little effect on them because they counted themselves as servants rather than leaders. They were not above us but with us in our walk on this earth. Take a good look at The entertainment industry, the politicians, the wealthy, those with an exceptional education. Many of them are above those around them. At least they think they are. The truth of the matter is everyone is the same in the end. We all came into the world with nothing and we will leave with nothing. Some were more at advantage than others with wealth, intelligence, good looks, tallent, charisma and etc. It only matters what is done with the advantage each of us has. It is not a case of I have and want more but what can I do for others with what I have. The blessings we have are for us to share with others. (James 3:13-18)

 This week another Moontear image. This is the second of 50 digital images in a coloring book purchased. I will be gradually working my through them. (Please note: all of my coloring is copyrighted and the Moontear images are copyrighted by Moontear. Do not copy them)

The copic colors used are:

Almost all of the images shared are at least a days worth of work. The amount of detail is great. I have to take a break every so often to give these old eyes a break. No magnifier is used so they get blurry after awhile. 

 Sorry it was a bit late posting. I may start posting on Wednesday to give me a few extra weekdays to prepare. Until next week, God Bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Did You Know?

 Did you Know that.......

Did you know that God loves everyone, not just His followers? Did you know...If God did not love sinners He would not love anyone? Everyone is a sinner. Did you know He wants no-one to perish because of sin? Why else would He give His only son to atone for our sins? (1 John 4:10) Did you know you can do nothing to earn God's love? He loved us from the time of Adam and Eve. (Deuteronomy 7:9) Did you know that you are a child of God? (John 1:12) Did you know God's faithfulness has no bounds? (Psalm 105:8 - Hebrews 101:23 - 2 Timothy 2:13 - Psalm 9:10) 

This week another Moontear image. First the original image. This is copyrighted by moontear. (It is sold in an album of 50 images. Please do not copy) 

This image was done in watercolor pencil. I have a very small pencil selection but it turned out well.

The Artisoft colors used are: Sky Blue, Red Brown, Pink, Purple Red, Yellow Medium, Burnt Umber, Magenta, Light Peach, Gray, Yellow Ochre, Red Brown, Permanent Green, Brown, Dark Red, White. I must admit this was a challenge. The skin was especially so. The hair took the longest to do because of all of the detail. Still not pleased with the facial tattoos. Ignored them as if they were not there.

That is it for this week. May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details." 

Questions?

 

What does this quote say to you? Does it make you think positive thoughts? Does it make you want to be a better person? What kind of opinion do you have of yourself? Do you compare yourself to others or just yourself? Do you think yourself above others? How would God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit react to that? What do you believe heaven is like? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? Do you believe in Jesus or God for that matter? Do you believe God is with you throughout the day? What are your thoughts on being a Christian? What are your thoughts about being humble? What are your thoughts on humility? Do you pray daily, weekly, once in a while? Do you believe in prayer at all? Where is heaven? What is heaven? Is there a hell? What is hell? Where is Hell?  Do you think God is love? Does God still talk to his people? Are there still prophets? What are your thoughts about any of this? Where do you place yourself in the scheme of things? Do you praise the Lord every day? Do you thank the Lord every day? Are you grateful for all you have, no matter how much or how little that is? What do you think of all of these questions? Is there a question that should be asked that was not asked here? Ask it now.

I know there are millions of questions that could be asked. The only important questions are the ones that make us better persons, not so we are better than others but so that we are better members of our community of human beings. Only those answers that point us in the right direction for becoming holy are worthy of consideration. I get thousands of hits on this blog every week but only a few comments. It is unknown if the majority of them are bots, curious people, image thieves, people searching for hope or just curious. I suspect it is some of everything. I hope some of the questions make visitors think and be thoughtful of who they are. Who are you and what is your thoughts on your life? 

This image is not one of my favorites but it was interesting to do. The colors are a bit outlandish and over the top but it was fun to do. This was one of the first Moontear images purchased and colored. The image was printed on cardstock not suited for alcohol inks. It ran easily almost as soon as the brush tip touched the paper.

The Copic colors used are:

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave a comment. Your thoughts are appreciated. That is it for this week. May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to always "Love The Details."

Hope

 

I was going to base the weeks post on a different subject. I attended a funeral service for our neighbor this week and feel it is important to address what was felt during that experience. I had shared several weeks ago that I became very close to him in a very short period of time. There are some very important underlying things that I now see that were hinted at but not addresses in his life. He was intensely seeking to know and understand God, Christ and what that meant for him. The problem with that was that he never became still enough to allow the Holy Spirit and Christ to be realized as working in his life. There were many questions and many answers given that were not given the time needed to be seen or felt in his life. Hope is not often answered instantaneously in a way that will be recognized when we are struggling to see answers. (Psalm 46:10  Be still, & know) Being still is what is needed. If we are too wrapped up in the search we run the risk of missing what is right in front of us. My favorite place in all of the scriptures on how to listen to the Lord is in 1 Kings 19:9-13. Elijah had learned that rushing here and there was not the way to know if God was with him or speaking to him. He took for granted that God was there with the care God's angels were providing him when he was fleeing from Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1-8). It was in almost imperceptible quiet that God was present and speaking to him. Not being quiet in the midst of the turmoil of life will cause us to feel that all hope is lost when in fact it is not lost. Elijah felt lost and hopeless until he stopped and became still. Hope is often missed because we want answers now. I am not saying they will not happen immediately but we must be still more often than not to get the answers we seek. That in itself may be for some time or a very short time. My friend was also seeking solace with things to fill voids in his life. That was another distraction rather than being quiet. I went over to his cremation urn and stood quietly before it. I could feel his sorrow and grief. I also know that he now knows the Jesus he so desperately sought was there all the time. I have a cross that I never had the chance to give him. On it is Be still, & know --- Psalm 46:10. My heart is heavy but I also know he is now safe, trouble free and loved.

I have decided to wait and post images next week. Thank you for your visit. Please leave a comment if you can. May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Until next week remember to "Always Love The Details."

Prejudice

 

Prejudice: Biased or unfair opinion, opinion not based on factual information.

How many people do you know that are prejudice? How many people do you know that base their opinion on one sided information? Do you know anyone that has lots of information but all from one place? Did you know that hate is mostly based on prejudice? These questions would require me to point back at myself before naming anyone. How about you? In one of my recent posts I wrote about a minister that asked his congregation who would be left if he said "anyone who was hypocrite to leave the congregation." The answer was no one, not even himself. We are not perfect in any way. No, Not even the Saints. Most of us are nowhere near being Saints yet we feel as though we are better than the next guy. Each of us has things we do, know or are capable of that the next person can't do, does not know or is not capable of, but that does not make us superior to them. We all need one another to function in those areas to be able to live in harmony.

Today I would like to change up a bit. There are so many wonders of the universe to share. I would like to share some astrophotos. 

  

When was the last time if ever you had seen the sky like this? I was a child in my backyard when the sky appeared this full of stars. Today that is no more. 

Uranus is the only planet in our solar system that is on its side as it orbits around the sun. Its seasons are years long with each pole being toward the sun in turn. Each pole experiences 1 of the 4 seasons fully facing the sun. Ariel is one of the moon of Uranus.  

This is 1987. It was a supernova in the Large Magellanic cloud, a satellite of our galaxy, in 1987. The bright ring of what look like stars is the shock wave of debris striking gas that was shed by the star before it exploded as it travels outward at thousands of miles per hour.

 

This is what will happen to our star in a few billion years. It is a planetary nebula. It consists of the expelled gas of the central star in this image. It will become a white dwarf star. It is about the size of our star condensed to the size of our planet earth.

This is another example of a planetary nebula. There are many of them in the milky way galaxy. All are the result of dying stars.

That is it for this week. May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Judgement

I keep running into the same old problem of people judging others and ignoring the faults in their own lives. Are you guilty? I certainly am at times. (Matthew 7:4 - Luke 6:42) At times that judgment will cause animosity after which we file away the wrongs and it becomes hate, the hate then becomes an action that makes us no better than the one we have judged to be wrong. We ourselves are then the ones who are wrong. How much time have we wasted in this process? Isn't it better to do something constructive with our lives than to find ways of hating or correcting someone elses faults? (Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.") It is better that we leave the matter of judgment to the Lord. He is the one who will judge the living and the dead according to God's will. (1 Corinthians 4:5, Acts 17:31, Matthew 16:17) Let us move one to correct our own lives and live as an example of God's children on earth.

I have done a step by step coloring sample when I first started blogging back in 2014. It was not very good back then since I was just starting to gather together the Copics and other art supplies needed. There has been a quantum leap in technique since then as well. I am going to use one of the Moontear images for the demonstration. The final result is not what I was hoping for but it will do for this sample.

This is the image we will be working with.

When coloring an image you first need to decide where to start. For this image I decided to start with the eyes (E55) and lips (E95). After coloring the eyes I used the 0 pen to lighten the lower 1/3 of the eyes to give them life. I did the same with the top half of the lower lip.

Next we color the shadowed part of the skin (E00). I prefer to work from dark to light. I find that Copics blend better if you go from dark to light.

Next is the fill in of the face (E000). It is important to remember to always follow the contours of an image with your pen strokes. It provides a more realistic and life like image.

Next, to give the image a younger more vibrant skin color it is necessary to give it a pink tone (R0000). Be careful! Don't over do it. You don't want her to look like a cartoon character. Plus if you use the pen too much it will begin to gloss over and the image will be ruined.

(I almost forgot. Notice in the very corners of her eyes I used a very light pink which I didn't mark down. It helps bring the eyes to life.) Next is the hard part. the darkest shadows of the hair were done first (E29).

Next is the dark areas (E27) and color over the deep shadow areas again.This will help bring out more detail in the hair.

Next I colored the hair (E25) making sure to color over all of the previous colors as well. Remember to follow the hair contours. It is important. The straggly hair or fly away hair strands are tough. Use the super brush tips and very lightly color the strands of fly away hair. This requires a delicate touch. Tip: use paper that is made for alcohol ink pens if this kind of coloring is needed. It bleeds less than the regular card stock.

Since the small berry like ovals are so small and tend to get lost in the image I colored (YR61) them next using the tip of the pen. I also colored the lace-like crown connections and earring (C0) to look like silver.

Next I colored the flower (V20) and the flower center (Y21). Just off to the right of the flower there is an area that I had no idea what it was so I colored it just because (YG21) it looks better.

I colored the dress (BV0000) and trim (Y28). I didn't color any other part of the dress or decorations on the dress so they would not clash with her face etc.

To finish the image I colored the leafy border around her head with a light color (G000) to highlight and bring the focus to her.

This rendering was not my favorite because of the hair. It should have been a much lighter color to show off the child's softness. It kind of took over the image. There is another rendering that is much better. Not all images will be to your liking but that is the fun and challenge of art.

I hope I didn't lose anyone with this long post. I don't want to do many more of this kind of post. They are very time consuming.

That is it for this week. May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Neutrality

There are many people that are simply good but if looked at closely are not good for something. What does that even mean? The key here is "good for". What does "good for" mean? It means of benefit. In Christian terms it means not neutral or cold. I know, "what is he talking about?" Mark 12:30 and Luke 11:23 both state, "whoever is not with me is against me, whoever does not gather with me scatters." Being neutral does not support but denies. Christianity is not neutral but active. Being Christian is loving Christ. Love is not neutral but active, caring, supportive. The purpose for this blog is to let it be known that Christianity is not dead but alive. There is no middle ground. Christ did not stand in the middle but gave his life for us actively according to the word of God His father. That active gift was what caused Him to die on the cross. We may or may not be called to that kind of following but neither can we just stand by and not be active in living a Christian life. If you are living a Christian life I guarantee it will be noticed. You don't have to stand on the corner preaching the gospel to be a follower. The life you live, how you treat others, how you deal with life and all of its problems will speak for you. You may not see it but others will. You may even find yourself being asked about it. Humility in living speaks louder than publicly preaching or flaunting your opinions. Strength of faith is not standing still but living that faith in humility. Neutrality is death. 

 Today I am sharing an image done some months ago. It was downloaded from pinterest well before that. It is a drawing of a pigtailed young girl. I try to find where these images originated. That is not always possible when on pinterest.  I always assume they are copyrighted as should you. My coloring of them is.

The Copic colors are:  E31, E34, E43, Ro1, C2, B21, B41, R02, E000, E0000, R0000, V81, Y0000.

I may share a progressive image coloring done some weeks ago to show my method of coloring with Copics. It will take some preparation to get ready. We shall see.

Thank you for stopping by. If you commented thank you. May the good Lord bless you and keep you safe. Remember to always "Love The Details."

Spring Time

 

Funny how Spring brings on the feeling of excitement and wonder. In the creation story in Genesis the wonder of creation is described thus: 

(Genesis 1:11) Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so.

We embrace the fact that spring is the time of year when life renews, generates the beauty, the wonderful sweet aromas that herald spring and summer. I personally give thanks that I was blessed to be able to see many years of this wonderous miracle.

(Genesis 8:22) "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

How blessed we are. Give thanks that we can still experience all of the wonders of  the creation of God. 

Lexham Theological Wordbook:

Time may be viewed in relation to three principle features: points, duration, and units. These overlap and intersect considerably. In the Bible, time is normally seen as part of creation; thus, it is rarely viewed abstractly, as if it was outside of creation. Even the notion of eternal life  has continuity with creation and time in the present age.

If we keep the thought of all these things, creation, life and eternal life, being present and real then God's purpose for us is also real and present. They are precious.  

Today I am sharing is somewhat graphic. It is another Moontear AI image. Sorry but I never recorded the Copics used. This image shows the bruises and a few cuts Christ endured post crucifixion. I have done much more graphic depictions but this was sufficient for this Easter. 

That is it for this week. I hope you had a great veterans day if you celebrated it. May God Bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Time

 

Today's quote is special. There are many individuals who live in the past. It seems there is nothing else that matters to them. It is good to remember the past at times. The people, places and things that made us who we are. It is also important to remember those things that happened that were things we should not repeat. Then there are some people who only look to the future. We often call them dreamers. They are important as long as that is not all they do. The dream world is not a real world but often a fantasy world of non-realities. Everyone lives in the present world where reality is the gift of the present. It is in the present that the past is remembered and the future is created. The present is the gift of being alive and enjoying what God has made. It is not to be wasted by living in the past. The past is gone, never to return. The future is  a dream world with nothing in the present. The present is a gift to all of the senses and feelings of life. The simplicities and complexities of life are in the present whether good or bad. Creation is in the present not the future. We were created for the here and now. Jesus is the only one that is in the past, present and future. It is the present that He wants us to live in so the future will be with Him. The only part of the past that we need to remember and carry forward is His sacrifice for our sins. The time we are living is the here and now with Christ.

Here is another image by Moontear. There are 50 of these images that I purchased in a digital book. Not all of them are images I will color. Some of them have tattoos. Children and tattoos are not something I believe in. Sorry! 

The Copic colors are: 

At first glance it doesn't look like that many colors does it? Details, details details. "Always Love The Details." It makes the image come alive. In order to do justice to any image, yep, even cartoon images, pay attention to the details as much as possible. My wife says I am a perfectionist. The details are important in artwork.

Thanks for visiting and remember to "Always Love The Details." God bless and keep you safe and healthy.