Saturday, December 7, 2019

Starry, Starry Signs

Last night, we listened to some Christmas music.  We have dozens of Christmas CDs, but my spouse channeled a radio station through our "smart" TV.  I decided to sketch again.

I've had the words for "Rise Up Shepherd and Follow" in my head for days, so my thoughts returned to that star.  I've been thinking about cosmic signs, the ones that make us drop everything we're doing, and the ones we choose to ignore.  How many signs from God come to us, but we're too distracted looking at something else?

I started with a star in the corner of the page, and then I thought of Van Gogh's "Starry Night."  I drew swirls and added color and eventually this sketch emerged:





I wasn't sure if I could add a haiku to a page with such dense color, so as you can see, I tried two different ways.  I'm still not sure it's legible, so let me write out the 2 versions.

In black at the bottom, I first wrote:

Distant starlight bright.
A weary wold rejoices.
Lead us to our home.


Closer to the center of the page I wrote this variation:

Distant starlight bright.
A weary wold rejoices.
Lead us ever home.

At first I tried writing with white marker, but I wasn't sure that was visible, so I tried adding some black marker to each word.  I like the way it almost blends with the swirls, yet it's clear that something else is going on.

In some ways, it's a sketch that's more suitable for Christmas Eve or Epiphany, but that's where my head was.  The star that's in the upper corner has been surfacing in my sketches in the year since I took the online journaling class at the end of 2018, so I'm not surprised to see it reappear.

It was a peaceful way to end the day.  After I finished the sketch, I tumbled into bed and later dreamed I was walking through a landscape that shifted from autumnal hues to winter evergreens dusted with snow.

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