Happily plugging away on this project. 

Check it out at kristaewert.com

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” 

Philippians 2:14-16a

It may seem a little silly, but I often think of housework when I read this verse. 

Can I really shine like a star while folding underwear? 

It says all things. 

I have come to realize that this is just one of those things that I have to constantly sanctify in my mind. In Christ housework is holy.  Laundry. Folding socks. All of it. When done with a heart that is abiding in The Word, Jesus, it has eternal value.  Because day by day Christ is at work in me, changing me, so that more and more I come to resemble the Child of God that I am in Him. 🙂 

Shining like a star. 

Last month my family and I had the pleasure of visiting beautiful British Columbia and ferrying across the way to Galiano Island.  We visited twice, and the second time I was sure to bring my watercolors and moleskin, because  the crummy paper and crayola pencils I brought along the first time just weren’t cutting it.

In the end I only had a few minutes to paint.

I can’t complain though, we had a truly wonderful time celebrating the marriage of our very dear friends.

We will be sure to return, Lord willing. My boys loved the Island as much as I did.

Until next time.

My younger brother got married on Saturday. It was a fantastically fun wedding. Beautiful, joyful and heartfelt. 

I painted some signs and an 8’x8′ mural, which was used as a photo backdrop.

Everything was done in acrylic on canvas, except the mural, which was done on OSB. 

There was ice cream at the wedding. 😊

The mural was of Beethoven ‘s Fur Elise, or as close to it as this non-musical artist could manage. 

I used masking tape guidelines at first and then did the rest free-hand.

Me and my new sister in law. ❤️

And me and my boys. We did look a lot sharper earlier in the day but then we all danced like crazy at the reception. This is the appearance of a a family that has been celebrating. 

Last week in art class we looked at portraits and talked about style, tone and visual interpretation.  We did some serious work, and then we practiced doing quick caricature sketches of each other. The models did not have to sit perfectly still, we talked and laughed and I encouraged my students to do multiple sketches during the 5 minute “poses”. It was rediculous and fun. 🙂 I love teaching art.  

I am growing a garden this year. The first bitty radishes came up this week. Very exciting.  
I stole this illustration idea from my clever, sweet, artistic cousin Hannah. 

This summer I will be teaching two life drawing day camps at Cedar Springs Camp in Lake Stevens.

I am really excited about this.  I will be teaching traditional observational drawing skills, exploring different techniques and just enjoying drawing outside in nature.  It’s going to be a lot of fun!

More than that, though, I am excited about the opportunity to share with these kids in all the wonder of creation.  Being inspired by nature and by each other.  Taking the time to appreciate all we see and that inspires us to create.  Knowing it all points us back to our Creator God who made us in His own image.

The first camp runs June 20-24 and the second, August 22 – 26. This camp is for kids in grades 5-9 and it is an all day (9-5) camp.  If you are closer to Bothell or Lynwood there is bus transportation available for a small fee.  All the money and registration details are available here.

 
I think it was in 2013 that I did a sketch of this musician and gave it to him after the show. He then sent me a Facebook message to thank me with an image of the sketch. I had forgotten about the message and the drawing until I found it again, thanks to a little article on Facebook that helped me find a tiny trove of automatically filtered messages tucked away, mostly unread. This was the only gem. But it was fun to rediscover. Thanks Facebook. 

We worked on hands and faces in art class a few weeks back. This is a sketch I did of one of my students.