Tear It and Mark It

I already know what I want to do for my Art Challenge journal page this week. Now, I said that last week and forgot my idea before it was carried out, so this time I actually wrote it down. It's safely in my idea notebook. But I'm not going to tell you what it is, you'll have to wait until it's done. Then I can show you. For now, here are the two prompts for Week 23:

torn magazine picture

markers

The first is kind of obvious - use a picture torn from a magazine. I have dozens to choose from as magazine pictures and words are something I've been collecting since I was in junior high. I don't know exactly which pictures I will be using for this page, just that I will need more than one, and a few other vague concepts that I won't share just yet.

The other prompt is a bit more subjective. It's nice to have those once in a while. I imagine most of you, when talking about art and hearing the word "markers", would think of those colorful tools we use for drawing, coloring, etc. However, I've decided to use this in a more philosophical sense; I'm going to include markers of life. I can't explain much without disclosing too much of my idea, just that there are many things that come and go in our lives - people, places, events, ideas, etc. - that serve as markers of important moments. Sometimes we don't recognize them as such until much later, but they have always been there.

This reminds me of the Book of Joshua (the sixth Book of the Old Testament, of course), when God helped the Nation of Israel cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land. He commanded the representative of each tribe to take a rock from the middle of the River and use it to build an altar once they reached the other side safely. In my years of trial and error I have come to realize that I have altar stones as well, and I try to pick them up whenever I can to serve as a reminder of the countless and unceasing ways God provides for me. I know I've talked about them before. Perhaps some of my altar stones will be part of this page.

Well, there is much to consider this week, even with my idea already recorded. And then there's actually making the page, and catching up on my promised posts that I have once again fallen behind in writing (though I've thought a great deal about them). I am happy to say that today was the first full day of my summer break from teaching, and the wicked migraine that attacked me yesterday is mostly gone. As I slowly recover my strength and focus over the next couple of days, I will be sharing some photos and random ramblings of projects I completed recently and ideas that I've been adding to my many collections (of thoughts, lists, wonderings, and so on). See you soon!