Bleeding Hearts

Just discovered these beautiful flowers online!
Aptly called "bleeding hearts" because they're shaped like hearts!!! ;)

PC: Andreimetsakool
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lill_Murtud_süda,_flower_Bleeding_Heart.jpg

Despite the sad-sounding name, I simply stare at these photographs in awe of how cute and beautiful and delicate the flowers look ~ and it makes me so happy! :D
I hope I see some in real life. If I do, I might cry…:')

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/荷包牡丹

Just a mind-blowing reminder of God's amazing creativity and perfect sacrificial (bleeding) love. God is amazing!!!

A Splash of Colour

So inspired to try painting in the style of Leonid Afremov, just for fun (if I get the time) :). I just love the way Afremov uses a palette knife to create an kinda impressionist style but with all these splashes of vibrant colour! It's so effortless and it really works! I especially love how he brilliantly paints the reflections in the water in cityscapes and rainy streets. And by 'brilliantly', I mean in all senses of the word - brilliant as in 'shining and full of light' (he really makes the water glitter!) as well as 'magnificent, superb'.

PC: Boris Afremov
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leonid_Afremov_with_his_painting_Venice_Grand_Canal_2009.jpg

Other artists' works I'm enjoying at the moment include (but not limited to)…Claude Lorrain's landscapes, Donald Zolan's paintings of children, Vie Dunn-Harr's flower paintings, Thomas Kinkade's Disney and landscape works, all Daniel Gerhartz' paintings!!, Todd Williams' fine art, Vladimir Volegov's portraits…

Most of these are Western-style paintings, but that doesn't mean I don't also LOVE Chinese and Japanese ink wash and watercolour! もちろん、中国や日本の美術も大好きですね。（でも、現代美術がすきじゃないですよ。）I think I like watercolour in general. I might do a bit of watercolour painting too sometime soon...

A glance out the train window

Reminded of God's faithfulness while on the train yesterday :)

And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 

I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 

It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 

and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 

The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 

And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” Genesis 9:12-17

"Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,


Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning;
 

Great is Your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, 


“Therefore I hope in Him!”" Lamentations 3:22-24

"Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens;


Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds." Psalm 36:5

Psalm 118:14

In the stress of studying…or should I say squeezing words out of my brain to formulate something remotely like an essay (not unlike squeezing the sour juice out of an unripe lemon!), it’s easy to get this sinking feeling of hopelessness.

Well…here’s a beautiful Bible verse that encouraged me just now, and helped me put things into perspective.

Here’s the full verse: “The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” Psalm 118:14

I love everything about this verse.

The Lord is my strength, my power, my energy, motivation… “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Phil 4:13 (that includes my essays!)

The Lord is my song, my joy, my music, my melody to life - He is deserving of all my praise.

The Lord has become my salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is my Saviour. He took the punishment I deserved and bore my sins on the cross, so that I might have eternal life with Him.

What a powerful verse! Isn’t it awesome to come to a deeper understanding of God’s amazing love and amazing grace in the midst of stressing over an essay?

'Teatime in August'

What is the story behind the name?

Well, my friend, take a seat by the fireplace and listen to a grand tale from days of old. A tale that takes us back to the time of knights and white stallions and silver blades brandished high. Where a fair dame once graced the fields of lavender with long hair streaming like a river of honey…

Haha, of course I’m just joking. And I question the effectiveness of this imagery “hair streaming like a river of honey”… A river of honey would be rather slow. Tremendously slow. Perhaps the hair is waving about in the wind in a dramatic super slow motion panning camera movement…??

But anyway...Teatime in August is simply the name of a little piano ballad I composed a couple of years ago. Now that is a grand tale set aside for another night by the fireplace, surrounded by dusty books and spilt crayons and much hearty laughter.

A Summer Day in Winter

I love the way the new day adorns my room with this glorious white-gold sunshine. It streams through the window like a smile, gently waking me up. It’s a pretty first sight on a chilly winter morn!

Praise the Lord for a fresh new day!

“This is the day the Lord has made;
 We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24