I tend to go in spurts with my religion and faith, that is in expressing it. I have tremendous faith, but have a very hard time showing it in my jewelry and artwork, which is something I would like to become more comfortable with. It's a real guilt thing that goes way back to catholic grade school, and some wicked nuns. In any case, I have wrestled with that for years. It has started to become more comfortable, but it is slow going. The theme for this swap is a bookmark Thing with Wings, but it had to have an angel...so this really just fell into place. I wish I could keep it, but I know I will receive one just as nice if not nicer, and I hope it brings peace to the recipient in some small way! I'm starting to like my RELIGION a bit better...the key is just to keep believing , in yourself too.
I tend to go in spurts with my religion and faith, that is in expressing it. I have tremendous faith, but have a very hard time showing it in my jewelry and artwork, which is something I would like to become more comfortable with. It's a real guilt thing that goes way back to catholic grade school, and some wicked nuns. In any case, I have wrestled with that for years. It has started to become more comfortable, but it is slow going. The theme for this swap is a bookmark Thing with Wings, but it had to have an angel...so this really just fell into place. I wish I could keep it, but I know I will receive one just as nice if not nicer, and I hope it brings peace to the recipient in some small way! I'm starting to like my RELIGION a bit better...the key is just to keep believing , in yourself too.
16 comments:
Wow - awesome beautiful, Sharito! Love how you did this!
Amen to that!! Did you see the movie Doubt? Meryl Streep (the nun that she played ) was my 8th grade teacher--yes I went to a Catholic school too.
I love to paint religious images eventough I am not a fervent catholic... I just feel an urge to do it. I like sad, melancholic, innocent faces.
Beautiful piece! Keep creating...
Interesting to hear you discuss religion, Sharon. I find that even though I was raised Catholic (and, yes, I had the nuns too!), I find the older I get the more spiritual I become. You DO reconcile over time. Hugs, Terri xoxo
PS Your recipient will love her angel, and I think it will definitely carry serenity and peace!
very beautiful...!!!
I'm in the middle of painting my first angel, and I know what you mean about struggling to show your faith in your art. Your angel is beautiful and I hope you do more of them. hugs, debbie
I just adore this, I don't know how you can part with it! You did good :-)
Oooooh, you have all warmed my heart!
I always feel I am the only one feeling these things...until I talk to my friends, thank you all!
Yes it can be hard to sometimes express your faith, I was encouraged by my courage to do so in a series of posts last Dec 09 in this blog of mine.
As you said it has a lot to do with believing in yourself too.
Oh Sharon,
I think you have done an incredible job of incorporating religious material into a secular work!! I hear ya little sister on the nuns playing with our heads, and now living with the baggage. :) To this day I have trouble using rosaries as jewelry. But I keep telling myself that having honor and respect for a religion or a belief is what I wish to convey. Not the worship of a perticular item. For me this holds true for all religions and beliefs. I could no more paint a moustache and dunce cap on Buhddha as the Virgin Mother!
Pattie ;)
Mazatlan Mx.
Sharon, your bookmark is really beautiful... I hope you continue on this theme and maybe make altered bookmarks for your shop...? I'd love one! I myself went to an all-women's Catholic college. The art instructors were known as "Sisters G&V" (their initials)...they were the most fun, out of the box pair of nuns and wore funky, bright colored clothes with Converse high tops... really! :-) I hope to see more work like this once your swap is over...your work is just amazing!
I so agree with you about religion Sharon. I too have great faith but expressing it visually is always a problem for me.
I just love what you have made here though. I don't think we can have enough angels in our lives.
Lesley x
Beautiful Sharon, not so easy to work with religion and out one's comfort zone, but you have done it and in a lovely way.
it's lovely, sharon!
i struggle with that, too: i feel my art doesn't measure up to my faith!
Thank you for opening up and sharing this most personal story. I, too, am a child of Catholic school and had more than one negative encounter with the nuns who taught at my school. I think in many ways I lucked out in that since I was raised Mexican Catholic and religious imagery was such a huge part of my family's interior and outside decore, I was able to seperate that from the awful experiences I encountered. In a nutshell, I kept the imagery, but the rest I do lump with the nuns. I call myself a recovering Catholic because I find I have to reclaim the elements of faith and religion I want as my own and heal from the psychic wounds I suffered from Catholic School and twisted interpretations of faith. Sorry for the novel. I love your angel and I do hope to see more of in the future. : D
This is sooo beautiful! I don't think I could part with it either! I would have to make another one. It's very moving!! And I totally understand where you're coming from. I wasn't raised Catholic, but Independant Baptist Fudamentalist. Guilt AND Shame!!!It's kind of ironic that sometimes our spirituality's greatest obstacle can be religion isn't it?!?!?
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