Rock Chapel - Hidden Treasure

It is Sunday afternoon and the house is quiet except for a playlist playing in the other room from our Bluetooth speaker.  Both Toddler D and BabyD2 are here for a few hours.  Both are asleep right now, as is their Papaw.   It is a bit chilly outside and the rain is falling from time to time.    The only light in the house is coming from the lamp hanging on the wall behind me.  Even the dogs are napping on the deck outside my back door.

While they nap, I am looking back through photos I've taken since the first of the year and trying to purge and organize them into folders for easy retrieval. As I scroll, I am reminded that I haven't yet shared our first adventure of 2017. Ron was off on that Monday, January 2 so we decided to go for a drive. Months earlier, my friend Debbie had posted some photos of a small chapel hidden away in the woods near Shreveport and I wanted to visit it as well. We GPS in hand, we drove to Mansfield in search of the Rock Chapel.

At first glance, we thought the gate across the road was locked, but upon further investigation, we found it open, so we walked down the winding road into the woods.

As we neared the chapel, we noticed wooden crosses hung on the trees lining the road. (We later learned that there is one cross for each monk that lived at the monastery).

Then we saw it.  A small, humble stone chapel built on a hill above a stream.  A bridge crosses the trickling stream and is flanked by beautiful camellia bushes that were filled with blooms.  It was beautiful!

Rock Chapel was built in 1891 by Carmelite monks as a place to meditate, reflect, pray, and to study in seclusion. The chapel itself is the last remnant of an old Carmelite monastery which flourished in the late 1800s. 

The monks living in the monastery built the chapel itself, carrying rocks from the surrounding hills and using mud as plaster to hold it together.  The monastery itself burned down shortly after the turn of the century and was never rebuilt, but the chapel remains.

In front of the chapel are six graves with crosses, 3 of which have names and dates on them. The monks were so very young when they died, most likely victims of some illness that is now treatable. 

I'd heard that the doors of the chapel are often locked, but this day, the lock was left unhooked.  We carefully opened the doors and stepped inside to find frescoes that were created over 100 years ago! Back in the 1960's the painting had been meticulously restored, but the recent effects of termites was evident.  

While the painted churches I have visited in Texas were in much more ornate and spectacular, there was something so incredibly sacred about this place.  


The painting above the door translates (roughly) "I have much love for the Lord God."

The afternoon we were there, the sun shone down through the trees creating a glow that was so beautiful. It was the perfect opportunity to work on my "shooting the light" through my camera lens.

We wandered around a bit and then just sat, breathing in the air and listening to the birds. 

Neither of us wanted to leave, and I really wanted to paint he scene, so we went back to get the truck (where my art kit was), drove it down the road and parked it so that we could sit in the back until the sun went down.

Curled up on the back tailgate, I sketched until we heard voices approaching on the road behind us.  We turned to find a young couple laughingly walking dow the path.  We greeted each other and then watched as they made their way across the bridge and up the hill.  The looked around a little bit and then the young man got down on one knee.  I snuck a few pictures of his proposal and then we cheered as she obviously accepted.  Later, we exchanged email addresses so that I could send them the photos and he explained that this was a special place to him since he had grown up nearby (they now live in Colorado, I believe).

Everything about this adventure was special and one I am likely to never forget!  What a hidden treasure this sweet chapel is and a gift that continues to bless so many people.

A New Palette

Back in the fall, I took my first ever watercolor class through the Jeanne Oliver Creative Network.  It was an online class and the teacher was Michelle Wooderson.  I had followed Michelle for quite sometime back when she was a leading scrapbooker--her blog MishMash was on my regular blog roll. I was completely intimidated by the thought of sharing my work with others in the class, but she soon put us all at ease by reminding us that "practice is art".  It was one of the best classes I have ever participated in!

Throughout the last few months, I have continued to practice and am enjoying watercolors so very much.  I have been reminded of basic color theory principles that I haven't used since high school and am learning so much through my experimentation.  Although one of her warnings was not to get too caught up in the "supplies" that you forget the art, it is really hard to do.  I love color and I love texture and I love all the techniques that use them.  Prior to this class, my watercolors have consisted of the inexpensive set of paints I have been using for Bible journaling.

These are great, but I dipped my foot into the water of professional paints, and love the intensity of colors and their "mixability" (I'm sure that is NOT a real word, but sometimes you just need to make one up that fits).

Since the course, I have also kept my eyes open for new ways to build a palette of paints.  One of the ladies in the course sent me a small hinged tin from Great Britain to make my first one and I have taken it with me everywhere.  It is only about 3.5" x 3", but it holds 20 different colors.

On my fall trip with Valine, I picked up a vintage cigarette tin at a small antique store.  I think it must be made of brass and has several sections inside it that are perfect for an expanded palette, even though it measures less than 5" x 6" on the outside.

I thought about cleaning and shining it, but for now, I am kind of liking the patina.

In this one, I am able to hold 24 different colors plus a few extra supplies as well.  Before putting in the paints, I wanted to see the best way to arrange them.  I use small squares of paper with color swatches to keep up with the colors I own and can move them around to decide on the arrangement I want in my palette.  (Learned that idea in class)

I used a little bit of sticky-tac (a teacher staple, for sure) to keep the pans in place. When they are empty, I can refill them from the tubes or rearrange them if I decide I want to try something different.

When the paints are dry in the pans, it is sometimes very hard to determine which color is which, so I also made up a small grid with color swatches.  This particular tin is so perfect because it has the little cover that lifts away to reveal the paints inside. I used that little part for the handy chart, as well as a copy of my color wheel on the other side. (I made a new copy for my smaller tin as well)

For the final touch, I decided to do a little paint mixing practice. Even though I understand color theory, etc., it is still difficult for me to know what colors to mix together to get a desired shade with these paints, so I made a little chart to put in the lid of my tin.  I knew there was not room to mix every since paint, but greens are particularly difficult for me and I also have a couple of new tints that I wanted to include.  While I was mixing, I noticed how pretty the colors looked.  I use some vintage bird saucers and coasters that I have picked up over the years and the little dots of mixed colors looked so pretty.

I am going to be taking a new class beginning in October--another one that will take me FAR from my comfort zone--and can't wait to use this new palette!!

Getting A Little Messy Lately

Lately, I've been getting a little messy.  I've been bitten by the Art Journaling bug and find myself spending early mornings surrounded by pencils, pens, brushes and paints.  After a year of thinking about it, I finally delved in during Advent and loved every minute of it.  After teaching a one-time class at church with Callie, we both began in earnest on our own, often sharing pictures back and forth via texts.  We used the wonderful Advent Art Journal by The Handcrafted Story.

For the most part, it was a daily practice for me, but even when I missed, I was able to catch up without getting too far behind.  Although there were days when my creations were not quite what I had pictured in my mind, in the end, they looked pretty great as a group and really helped to focus my mind on the story of Christmas.

At the beginning of January, I switched to using a hymnal to do my personal faith journaling.

I have continued to use 15-20 minutes each morning to flip through the pages until a hymn sparks an image or thought for me.

It has become a time I look forward to for the creativity and reflection I discover in the process.

Some days, I just practice hand lettering---with some days being more successful than others.  :-)

Again, some pages are more creative than others, but, in every case, I find myself more in touch with the words of the song and the feelings expressed through them.

Recently, I began adding washi tape tabs to the pages.

Callie and I even have a new class beginning in a couple of weeks to help us (and others) journey through the Lenten season together.

I'm learning as I go and one way I've chosen to do that is to join the Get Messy group over here.  (By the way, it is not too late to become a messian yourself)  I'm hoping to learn lots of new techniques, learn to be okay with imperfections and maybe even get a little messier in the process (Sorry, Ron,  we might never eat at the dining table again).   The first "season" of Get Messy began yesterday and the theme is:  Happy.  For my first pages, I made a title page and then reflected on a quote that was provided, using colors that just make me happy. 

Everyone is an artist.   If we allow ourselves to explore that part of ourselves and to cultivate and savor what we find, it can be such a rich world and a wonderful way to learn more about ourselves and the world around us.  For me, having some sort of creative outlet is as essential to me as BREATHing -- not only does it help me de-stress, but it lets me express myself when words escape me.