Abstract Watercolor landscapes exploring boundaries of life--Vail Church, CO March 2025
Supplies: 2 kinds of watercolor paper [Canon and Arches], liquid watercolors, dark watercolors from a tube, small empty yogurt containers, small water spray bottle, small brush, gold acrylic paint, painters tape, cardboard backing to tape paper to in order to keep paper from buckling.
Welcome to The Maker’s Space. You have chosen to spend time listening to God and you will meet with resistance in the way of distractions, critical voices and interruptions from the enemy of God. Sharpening your listening skills gets you access to God’s wisdom for you life. It is not about us but about our Maker, and a place where we can meet with Him. We are going to use art to create with him and just be with him. Anytime we think about him or spend time with him, we are in a conversation of prayer. So, look at the piece that you are going to create with him as your prayer time together. Slow down and listen to your intuition and what to do next. Follow his lead. In order to hear, we have to slow down and quiet the outside voices and chaos around us. This is a listening exercise. Not many places spend time on listening prayer, but if you want a conversation with God, you need to let him speak and learn how to hear Him. We are going to be meditating on Boundaries and how they make up who we are, our identity.
So first, start to slow down by slowing your heart down, and pay attention to your breath. Start taking some slow deep breaths. Inhale to the top of your lungs and slowly exhale to the very bottom of your lungs expelling every bit of carbon dioxide.
On the inhale think…..Oh, how I love your law!
On the your exhale, think, ….I meditate on it all day long. Ps.119:97
{All quotes are from the book, "Who God Says You Are." by Klyne Snodgrass}
You will be playing with watercolor and how it moves on wet or dry paper. We will be working in steps with drying times in between. and noticing boundaries. Show pictures.
We may not like it but we need boundaries. "In Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall," Frost is repairing a wall with his neighbor and seems not so sure about walls and wonders what he is walling in and walling out. We need boundaries, but wrongly understood, they diminish life. Life is about boundaries, but it is also about seeking intimacy and relations despite our boundaries. Identity is established by difference, by recognizing what we are and what we are not, and that is based on boundaries, whether geographical, social, religious, occupational, or other. I am me, not you. I am human, not God. Identifying others or oneself is a means of differentiation…" Name some boundaries that shape our identity…..
1.First boundary is to tape your paper pretty equally around the edge to form a frame where water or paint will not cross. We will be using this first less absorbent paper to show you the difference.
God is all about boundaries in creation, and how to live and be holy like him, yet he is without boundaries.
"The first thing God did was create boundaries separating the land from the sea and the light from the dark, between species after their kind, and between male and female. God's choosing Israel was about boundaries. The Law and worship and time and property and relations and temple were symbolic boundaries. God may be one with us, but God is not contained by us. God is a distinct being who existed before creation and can exist without creation."
"Being is a process of recognizing and establishing some boundaries and of removing others, and life is about negotiating boundaries.”
2. We are going to see the difference between watercolor papers and absorption. The water is representing the spirit. The paper is us and how ready and willing we are to absorb the work of the Spirit. Wet a portion of your paper, smooth out the water with a brush. Wait for a sheen. Pour a bit of the liquid water color on to the paper and watch it run. Tilt the paper to get coverage but leave some white.. Use your spray bottle to move the color.k Notice the boundaries between wet and dry.
"No boundaries” is a nice slogan but a huge illusion, and the people using the slogan would not want literally to live without boundaries. The slogan, of course, seeks to avoid limitations and life-denying restrictions, but where would we be without proper restrictions? Not just anyone is allowed to practice medicine, administer an MRI, or perform a host of other actions, and we don't want them to.”
3.Now take the better watercolor paper to see the difference. Tape off a boundary all around the edges. Choose a horizon line either on the top third or bottom third of the paper. Another boundary.
Draw a light horizon line with a pencil.
"Even though we imagine we do not like boundaries, we cannot live without them. We need boundaries, and we are better off when they are made explicit. Some boundaries are negative; some are positive; some are set for us; and some we set for ourselves. Relations and commitments create boundaries. In addition, all of us have an innate need to distinguish ourselves from others to show we are not our parents, our siblings, or our friends. Distinguishing ourselves creates boundaries, and it establishes identity.”
4. In watercolor, you must work backwards from light to dark, so we will be putting the sky light colors in first. Wet the entire paper, wait for the sheen to develop, You will see a difference in the absorption of this paper. It can hold a lot of water and color. How can this symbolize our capacity for absorption of the Spirit?
"Life is about finding where our boundaries are---boundaries between parent and child, boundaries marking danger, boundaries where businesses help or violate each other, and boundaries respecting other people and their property and freedom. People of integrity are people who respect the boundaries of other people. We learn we cannot just do what we want with other people's lives and possessions. If you do not learn to set and negotiate boundaries,, you cannot succeed in life, for life is largely about boundary negotiation. Our safety and enjoyment depend on our boundaries being observed. We put boundaries around people we do not trust-either literally in prisons or figuratively in not welcoming them. In the process we also put boundaries around ourselves.”
5. Pour liquid watercolor diagonally from top to mid bottom. Leave some white, and then pour the second color near it, but give it some of its own space. Move your paper to move the paint in order to blend boundaries, or don’t and leave them somewhat separate. Use you water spray bottle sparingly to move the color around as well. Notice the boundaries. Notice any colored clouds that might be forming. This watercolor technique is called “wet on wet”. See picture. Let dry completely. Rinse out your containers of liquid watercolor.
So, what about your faith and boundaries? If you have chosen to follow Jesus, that choice transforms your identity and boundaries. Which boundaries are really essential to who we are as Christians, and which are incidental and could be changed without real loss, or which are a violation of the character of Christ and must be rejected?"
"Your body is still the first boundary defining you, but as a Christian your body is not merely yours, but as a temple of God has a double ownership. It belongs to God and is only secondarily yours, and it requires even stronger boundary care than before. Who is allowed to influence your boundaries, and what is allowed within your boundaries? The materialistic assumptions and sexual practices of our society are an assault on our boundaries, and they lead to disaster and violation of God's intent.”
6. Even if your painting is not completely dry, we will add another color, in the blue range to the whole paper. You can use a little or a lot and place it where you want, keeping some of the while or placing it in the white areas. add water to allow it to flow to the areas you want it to go. Notice the boundaries and hard edges or soft blends. Allow to dry. You can use a hair dryer. See picture.
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"So what are those things that have No boundaries? Boundaries against sin are mandatory, but no boundaries can be allowed to set the limits of virtue. Yes, virtue must be wise, but it does not have boundaries. What are some boundaries that are not permitted for Christians?.. [boundaries between races and classes or boundaries that set limits to forgiveness and love.] There can be no boundaries of responsibility. One has only to think of Jesus's rejection of Peter's question about how many times he had to forgive. Peter sought a boundary for forgiveness, but Jesus says there is not. There can be no boundaries of responsibility, because there are no boundaries for the love God calls us to show. The boundary of your locale can no longer be the extent of your care, for the Great Commission and the nature of love compel a universal vision for God's kingdom and mission in the world. We are defined by our own place but not limited to it. At the same time, no individual can deal with all the needs and problems people have. How will we negotiate boundaries of care wisely so that we are neither immune to the need nor overwhelmed by the responsibility?”
7.Take out a hard plastic card, like a gift card or library card and scoop up some watercolor that comes out of a watercolor tube on the edge of the card.. Scrape it along the boundary of the horizon that you made. Use your water bottle to squirt water where you want it to move, perhaps a tree line or below for some rocks or water. It doesn’t have to look like anything. This is an abstract, it is only the suggestion of something. Don’t over work it or you will have mud. Notice your edges and boundaries. Some will be hard and some will be soft.
"So, what are your boundaries? Which ones do you just assume, whether you should or not? Which need to be reinforced, and which need to be minimized? How do you negotiate boundaries? How fixed or permeable are your boundaries, especially your ethical boundaries? Who gets included in your definitional boundaries and how easily? How do you do boundary maintenance? Boundaries are about inclusion and exclusion, so some boundaries are not allowed--those between races or to set the limits of forgiveness--and some boundaries must not be crossed--those that lead you into sin.
You Are Your Boundaries!”
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