Ardis Journal

I love to sketch.  When my fingers are able to connect to paper, to connect to the force that brings the human body to life, to the expressions, the ideas in a persons eyes, this is a very real joy for me.

I had so much fun drawing a portrait of Dr. John Stone that shows who he is inside as well as outside.  I tried to show how he protects and rescues everyone around him.  It was interesting to me that in showing his goodness his exterior features were heightened.  The old saying is true, "Don't judge a book by its cover."  It's true for many people.

I drew a picture of Fowler.  Physically he was not an ugly man, but I'm not a fair judge because I know the evil that lives inside him.  When I portrayed his inward thoughts and actions, he truly did become evil, and frightening to look at.

I have wanted all of my life to draw beautiful pictures of God's earth as I experience it.  I have tried, tried, tried, and tried again to make mountains look as I perceive them.  I've tried to capture a picture of the magnificent space where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean.  Truly to me that place is every bit as sacred as a church building.  To me it testifies that there IS a God.  There had to be a master creator for that space to exist.

Blake convinced me that I should embrace the gift that I have, sketching people, and not focus so heavily on the gift that I haven't, bringing God's earth alive through my sketches.  I know that he's right but I will still keep trying to expand that ability.  After all, if we never try to improve, we'll never know what is possible, right?

I painted portraits of my parents to give them on our last Christmas together.  We didn't know that it would be our last Christmas.  Those sketches are carefully stored at the Drifting Anchor Ranch in the bedroom space.  They are not very large, so they don't take up a great deal of space.  I am proud of the images that I captured of my beloved parents.  Mama was a true beauty inside and out.  I'm grateful that I inherited her deep brown hair, and her dear smile.  I am not quite as thrilled to have Papa's fair skin.  It burns so very easily.  I'm grateful for these images that I will carry of them through the rest of my life.

I am beyond tired.  I fell asleep for a moment so it's obviously time to close this missive.  Good night journal.