What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: Travel "Pasalubongs"

 

We, Filipinos, have the tradition of bringing back gifts to give away when they travel.  These gifts are called "pasalubong" ("salubong" means meeting someone coming from a trip).  So on my "desk" today (which is actually a hotel side table) are some little zippered coin purses which I bought today as "pasalubongs."   Can you guess where I am?  Here's another clue...

I'll be linking up with all the other people showing off their desks in What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday (their desks usually have some great arts and crafts works in progress, unlike mine this week)!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: Assorted Art

Whooosh!  The week just flew by and it's party time again!  To me, the best kind of party where you don't have to figure out what to wear.  All you have to do is take a picture (or two, or more) of your desk and join in the fun of peeking at desks from around the world joining What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday!

I have a new scanner (actually bought for my daughter's Fine Art's thesis project but being sequestered for my use until she starts using it)!  I had to do some rearranging to find a place for it in my shelves.

I joined a Merry Christmas ATC Swap over at ArtJoyStuff and I made a Madonna and Child ATC with the verse from Isaiah 9:6 "For unto us a child is born."

Here are some handpainted pieces of coconut shells for a nativity I'm planning to make.  No, I didn't paint them myself.  I just designed them.

Here is a ballpen sketch I made.  I decided that I would bring a little pad and a pen with me (if my bag is big enough) and do some sketching whenever there is some waiting time.

And here are my two paintings that I will be offering in a giveaway as soon as I write the giveaway post.  I will be offering a choice of either one.   Note to self: Write giveaway post!

Thank you so much to all my visitors and all the wonderful comments!  I really, really appreciate all of you.  

I am Wonderfully Made

Here is my latest painting.  She is meditating on the bible verse from Psalm 139:13-14, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful."   A wonderful thought, isn't it?  With all our faults and weaknesses, we are still "Wonderfully Made" and this is the title of this painting.   As soon as my two latest paintings are finished, I will be offering them in my coming giveaway, a thank you for all my "wonderfully made" visitors.

I'm joining Paint Party Friday, Studio Sneak Peek and Show and Tell Saturday today!  Thank you so much for all your lovely comments.  I hope to find time to visit your studios soon.

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: WIP and a Digital Scrapbooking Project

Hello, dear blog friends!  I am busy trying to finish my paintings for the giveaway I am planning to have soon.  I want to give you a choice of what you would want to win.  Here is the second painting I am working on.  I decided to add a bit of collage on her dress (the circles aren't pasted on yet).

And, I'm also trying out digital scrapbooking and quite enjoying it.  I'll tell you more about that next time (watch out for another giveaway relating to this!).

So that's what's on my desk this morning!  To join in the fun of showing off your mess desk, or just to take a peek at more desks, drop by Julia's Stamping Ground!

WIP: I am Wonderfully Made

In my previous post, I shared about the giveaway I am planning to have.  Here is a painting I started.  Does anyone want to win her in a giveaway?

The verse that inspired me is from Psalm 139:13-14, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful."  Each one of us is wonderfully made and I am thankful for all of you!

A few weeks ago, I showed you "Bibi", ( an East African female name meaning "daughter of a king" ).  Here she is after I added some details.

I'm linking up with Paint Party Friday, Studio Sneak Peek and Show and Tell Saturday where I get a lot of inspiration from talented artists around the world!  Don't forget to drop by again and watch out for my giveaway post if you would like to join my giveaway.

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: WIP

On my desk today are two works in progress and the magazine pages that I used for inspiration.  I just won a giveaway (which I will show you when I receive it) and so I decided to make something for a giveaway of my own.

I am so thankful for the encouragement I've received from my blog visitors and followers.  Without all of you, I wouldn't get to do as much art as I do nowadays.  Each one of you is special and these paintings I have started are all about that.  I thought of making them when I read the verses in Psalm 139 which say,

"You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb.  I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works!"  

I imagine these two women, eyes closed, joyfully thinking about these verses!

So far, I have done the basic lines in a fine pen and some watercolor shading in skin tones.

On the left side of my desk are some gifts from a Japanese visitor - a little mirror and a box that used to contain some cookies shaped like cute chicks like these...

That's it for today when all over the world, people are showing off their desks for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday!  Come join us!

Filipina

I don't think I have shown you this painting yet.  It  is a 5.8" x 8.3" mixed media painting I made last year for a charity art auction organized by the Kidney Friends Foundation to benefit families of kidney patients.  This is one of the few original paintings I have sold. 

This "Filipina" is wearing the traditional Filipiniana "Terno" dress with embroidered butterfly sleeves.  I made this using my favorite technique of watercolor and colored pencils on a gessoed background (tutorial here).

If you are interested, check out my previous posts for a peek at my new ATCs and my painted "night and day" fan.

I'm linking up with Paint Party Friday, Studio Sneak Peek and Show and Tell Saturday!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: Saints

Yesterday was All Saint's Day, a national holiday in the Philippines (see my previous post about it).  We had a four day weekend (yay!) and  to celebrate, I made some Artist Trading Cards of Saints, a Madonna and Child, St. Monica and St. Therese of Lisieux.

St. Monica is the mother of St. Augustine, and I painted her praying since she is well known for praying for Augustine when he was still wayward and as he says himself, lazy.

St. Therese is called  "the little flower of Jesus" and she believed that it was not necessary to accomplish heroic acts, or "great deeds", in order to be holy and to express her love for God. She wrote,
"Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love."

One of my favorite quotations was found in a card in her prayer book, "Let nothing disturb you; Let nothing frighten you. All things are passing. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Nothing is wanting to him who possesses God. God alone suffices."

To take a peek at more desks, drop by Julia's Stamping Ground!

All Saints Day and World Youth Day 2011: Part 4

Today is All Saint's Day and in the Philippines, a predominantly Roman Catholic country, it is a national holiday.  Filipinos traditionally go home to their provinces and visit the graves of their deceased relatives, bringing flowers and lighting candles, cleaning and giving the graves a fresh coat of paint.  Many people spend the whole day in the cemetery, and even the whole night, having a family reunion with a lot of food and fun.

Wikipedia describes the tradition in this way, "Catholics celebrate All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (November 2) in the fundamental belief that there is a prayerful spiritual communion between those in the state of grace who have died and are either being purified in purgatory or are in heaven (the "church penitent" and the "church triumphant" respectively) and the "church militant" who are the living.

Today, the reading from Revelations 7:9 says,
"After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying,“Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

Reading this, I remembered the "great multitude, from every nation and peoples and tongues" that attended World Youth Day in Madrid last August.

And in the middle of it all, Pope Benedict XVI.  On the outside, a somewhat stern looking, white haired old man in white robes.  Why would more than a million young and not so young people wait in the sun for hours or walk long distances just to get a glimpse of him?  Isn't he just an ordinary man?  What makes him so extraordinary, such that these young people treated him like a celebrity, a rock star!  Is is by God's grace that the ordinary becomes extraordinary!  By God's grace, he is the "Vicar of Christ," an earthly representative of Christ.  How amazing!  How wonderful!

And yes, it was by God's grace that we were able to walk such long distances.  It was by God's grace that the girl we saw carried her injured friend, or the crippled pilgrim persevered to reach the farthest entrance when the other entrances were closed.  Indeed, there is grace available and the Holy Spirit living in us enables us such that what we thought was impossible, becomes possible.  What we thought we couldn't do, we can and what is ordinary becomes extraordinary.

And so we, who are ordinary men and women, become extraordinary as well, because by God's grace, we are sons and daughters of God.  How amazing!  How wonderful!  And even as we live our everyday lives which may seem ordinary, we have the memories of the days we spent in Madrid to remind us that grace is always available and our lives are not ordinary after all, but extraordinary, for we are sons and daughters of a living God, "qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints"!

"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."  Colossians 1:10-12

A blessed All Saint's Day! Linking up with Brag on God Friday, Soli Deo Gloria and Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday.