“AreThereToxinsInYourRelationships” BLOG BURST:
"One can’t imagine the numbers of artists who have been affected by the hazardous materials that they have used. It has been documented that many have gone crazy, suffered from mental and physical infirmities or even died because of the chemicals and mixtures of toxic materials that were utilized in the making and use of paint and painting mediums. This has been going on for hundreds of years, but it has only been recently that this has come to the forefront where artists and manufacturers are doing something about it. Today it’s no secret that lead and turpentine is extremely hazardous to your health. Breathing the vapor and using one’s hands to clean, smear or even paint transferable potentially dangerous materials seems crazy, but every day artists use materials that are reported to be between 80% to 90% hazardous to their health.
Extreme care, choices, and the proper material and products must be utilized to ensure a safe environment as well as safe products for one’s work and one’s health.
With the divorce rate in the Christian community running at over 50% obviously something is wrong with what we think and how we respond to our connection to God as well as each other. Relationships have many of the characteristics of hazardous toxins. The Bibles says: “Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? Prov 5:20 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. Prov 6:28, 29 Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife. Prov 21:19 Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. Prov 25:24 A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping of a leaky roof in a rainstorm. Prov 27:15 For an adulterous woman is a deep pit, and a wayward wife is a narrow well. Prov 23:27”
Extreme care and the proper choices must be made to ensure a healthy, growing, loving relationship for one’s spiritual and physical health. If you are looking for a marital relationship, you’ll need to find someone who loves the Lord with all their heart and all their soul. They need to put Him first and you first and no others after that, or else it will never work. They need to be a man or woman of God. They need to know and live His Word. God must be living actively on the throne of their heart. Otherwise you are taking painful chances and making sinful choices. Too many of us have failed at our choices as well as our responses and responsibilities to and in our relationships. We have not been what we should have been. We need a full intimate self examination along with periodic check-ups.. We need to make right our own relationship with God as well as each other. It’s not about guilt. It’s about what and who God wants us to be!" POETIC PONTIFICATION:
“Too often we think and focus on our own cares and worries
We don’t take time to ask Him as we’re always in a hurry
We don’t want to wait; nor are we interested in His way
We talk too much, often with nothing of real importance to say
It’s not about our wants and our needs and our desires
It’s all about Him and making our priority for Him even higher!”
“If you’re an artist be careful of your relationship to toxins and if you are in a relationship make choices that will reduce the toxins in your life. Have a great week!”
"Find my paintings, or may my paint-tings find you!"
Douglas Auld
Copyright MMXII Auld, Ltd
“Creation Of Man By Michelangelo” BLOG BURST:
"There’s an expression I have come to love and focus on in the most recent years, it states, “The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without the work!” It took a long time and a lot of hurdles to overcome before I even had a chance to truly focus on this concept.
What we think is important, who we believe we are to be with, our circumstances, our history and most importantly our choices often take us away from those talents and gift that were given to us by Almighty God. Too often people don’t even credit God or acknowledge Him in their lives, so why should He befriend us when we have betrayed Him. His scripture is true and His words are clear so why are we surprised to find ourselves in situations and relationships that aren’t what we necessarily had in mind.
He has a way of reconciling all the issues and problems in our lives, if we will allow Him His rightful place in our heart.
What is clear is that He alone gave you talent and what He gave demands that you focus on it, use it, and work at it with all your heart, mind, and soul for HIs honor and His glory. It’s not to be wasted on drugs, bad negative relationships, unhealthy relationship with God and His scriptures.
God gave you talent! Find it, focus on it and work at it relentlessly. Anything else is unacceptable and He may bring about circumstances which may be painful, but if of Him they may take you and what He has given you to heights you only dreamed possible. This may or may not mean money which is all some people think about as important, but it will bring you the peace that passes understanding as well as other rewards.
He gives us new life through the reconciling power of His Son Jesus and His actions at the cross and His resurrection. Now we are to grow and work at this life with all its encumbrances, troubles, and setbacks. We are to trust, believe and grow as Christ’s power works in us and our circumstances. He can and does use us for His honor and His glory." POETIC PONTIFICATION:
“God’s gifts are amazing, mother, father, spouse, children, life
Talents and wisdom and the opportunity of knowing Christ
What times we live in as God is questioned each and every day
What does it cost us when we choose our own selfish ways
Belief and faith, confession and commitment is our task
Living obedient for and to Christ is the only thing that lasts!”
“All true artists are given the gift, but it is what they do with it that separates the real from the abstract. Have a great week!”
"Find my paintings, or may my paint-tings find you!"
Douglas Auld
Copyright MMXII Auld, Ltd
“Roses In The Window” BLOG BURST:
"So steeped in tradition, melded into some kind of factious emotional state, and a true leap from fantasy to reality all of Valentine’s Day comes upon us. You don’t have to go far to hear what it’s all about commercially. It’s not a long walk to see the buzz of people and the demands that overtake them during this euphoric time. It won’t take you long to question which has more build up and disappointment, Valentine’s Day or the Super Bowl. Are you ready to run the roller coaster of what is planned and how it actually turns out?
But, love is in the air! Care for someone else, care for family, care for friends or care for a new “other”; and oh, by the way chocolates and a roses are not enough. “Is that all you think I’m worth?” History dictates, or maybe it’s the world’s advertising that says, “What have you done for me lately and just forget what kind of economy we live in, your enough just isn’t enough”.
Maybe it’s here that one should stop wrestling with all the worldly none sense. Yes, I know this isn’t about you or you have someone new and you’re truly different. I know from experience some people won’t want to hear that because their sisters got more, their parents have a special day or that they never got enough even when money supposedly didn’t matter. Heaven forbid Valentine’s isn’t just for women or is it. What does that commercial that’s running say, “Men just give and you will get!”
The fact is that real love was shown in its greatest form when God gave His only Son to humanity to pay personally for an act of selfish disobedience that separated Him from His most cherished creations, man (men and women). That love cries out to you each and every day! No chocolates, no dinner, no night can ever touch or come close to the care and love He shows you or me. Your situation, circumstances, or warped view point cannot and does not take away from the truth and what it means, “Love is the opportunity for life”, God’s love for you.
Ponder that over chocolates, satin sheets, or a soufflé!" POETIC PONTIFICATION:
“A day to remember, look forward and mark as an event
Messages clear yet, forgotten as soon as they were sent
A day to know someone who truly cares and loves you too
Feelings gone; didn’t meet expectation set before you
A day where meaning and focus just may be misplaced
Someday we’ll all give an account when we see His face!”
“Paintings that affect us come from a deep reality within the artist’s vision and emotion, but true love is hard to know when your relationship with its author is unknown. Play in the world, in your own made up reality and find out that your truth may not be His truth. Happy Valentine’s Day and week!”
"Find my paintings, or may my paint-tings find you!"
Douglas Auld
Copyright MMXII Auld, Ltd
“Mona Lisa Copy?” A painting thought to be the earliest replica of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa has been discovered at Madrid's Prado Museum. BLOG BURST:
"Here we go! January has come and gone and February is opening with a copy of the world’s most famous painting and the Super Bowl. “Go Pats!!”
All I’ve encountered with other people at the end of January seems to be the downs of “Stress” and the ups of life’s “Rushes”. So many people had pressure from every direction; workers and employers, women with husbands, husbands with wives, parents with children, children with parents, friends and family, someone’s sick, someone’s hurt, emotions are out of control and all we’ve heard non-stop in the background is the barking from the politicians and media.
Then there are the rushes. The people who have a positive outlook, those who believe, have hope and refuse to be dragged down by those who are negative. Some of the accomplishments, opportunities, and things that are happening to them are flat out wonderful. Some are even seeing God’s hand and His intervention first hand.
Paintings can take a person just about everywhere emotionally and with the first copy being suggested by the museum in Spain over the Mona Lisa the art world is a blaze with “Da Vinci”. Can you imagine that exhibit in Paris later this year? In the midst of it all, it’s so good to sit back, be still and look deep into the eyes of a painting that has moved you emotionally. Hopefully its moved you to be reassured that God is in control of all the mess and all the stuff. He in His infinite mercy and grace can and will bring His children though it all and ultimately bring them home to be with Him.
If you don’t have this assurance, you can! Just check out last week’s “Blog Burst” & “Poetic Pontification." POETIC PONTIFICATION:
“If your security comes from things you’ll be sadly mistaken
If stress is upon you look at the path you’re on or taken
Spend some time pondering where you are today
Look at what you’ve done and the choices made each day
Find a painting that hits you and puts a hold on your life
Do some thinking and ask God to really show you Christ!”
“Painting can influence and help lead us to where we need to go and what we need to think about. Find one that moves you heart and mind to be still and come before Almighty God. Hope you find Him this week!”
"Find my paintings, or may my paint-tings find you!"
Douglas Auld
Copyright MMXII Auld, Ltd
“Tools” BLOG BURST:
"Do you believe it? Christmas is long gone. Martin Luther King Day is gone. January Sales are over. Please don’t say anything but the snow hasn’t been that bad, especially for you people in the south. It’s almost February.
For most artists January is a time of inventory, reflection and planning. Like the rest of America January also means buying supplies necessary to reload at the best possible prices, all the while continuing to pound the canvas in search of that insatiable quest you are on, perfecting your craft. Of course, that means having and buying the right equipment and the right tools. Knowing what works and what doesn’t, what feels right, and makes you comfortable is very important. But as I’ve said before understanding the laws and rules set in place by the medium can mean the difference between success and failure.
It’s no different to a Christian. I was in a discussion the other day and a woman tried to say that everyone is a child of God; everyone has access to Him and if you are good and not bad you’re just fine. Our discussion seemed to raise the level of heat when I pointed out that Christ came and died on the cross for sinners, all of us. He came to right man’s relationship between God. Because Christ paid man’s penalty completely, man has an opportunity to return to a relationship with God becoming His Child in a personal one on one relationship. It’s available to all, but there are requirements, even though it’s a gift. One must believe in his heart and confess with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and Savior. (Romans 10:10) With this, whosoever believes that God gave His only Son would not pay his own penalty but have it paid for him and with that have life eternal with God. (John 3:16)
You can’t make up your own rules or fit them to “make you feel good” or “make you happy”! God has His ways, His rule, and His requirements. You choose at your peril to be disobedient and go your own way. Disobedience is sin and sin even for a Christian has consequences. It is just like the cracks and chipping, the wrong methodology will ruin a poor or great painting because you decided to paint it your way instead of pursuing what is required. The choices you make and your pathway will not lie but ultimately show you the cracks in your attitude and preferences.
For God so love the world, you, He gave His only Son to die to have a relationship with you for both your earthly and eternal life. Choose wisely!" POETIC PONTIFICATION:
“God’s plan may seem simple, but all His ways are right
Often we don’t see and it’s not the fault of our sight
Every day we are to wake to live, following His way
We’ll know by knowing what the Bible has to say
What heartache we suffer; what we put others through
Time to put “self” aside, striving for Holiness in all we do!”
“Painting paintings requires knowledge and understanding of the means and methods proven true over hundreds of thousands of applications. Think and seek Him before your choices affect your heart and your life and those around you. Have a great week!”
"Find my paintings, or may my paint-tings find you!"
Douglas Auld
Copyright MMXII Auld, Ltd
“Choices” BLOG BURST:
"Watching a video on painting a few weeks ago was quite revealing. As you know life is fast paced in a meism and self focused generation who can’t wait for the next tweet. The narrator was doing a self portrait and as he was demonstrating he was talking about young artists not in terms of age, but in terms of experience and expertise. He said it this way, “only after you have mastered the craft and have earned the right can you experiment”.
You’ll need to ponder that statement to really get all it has to say. With all the mistakes I made I’ve thought about it a lot.
We live in an upside down, inside out world that overwhelms us with untruths that we believe completely. Most of the children and adults of this generation are sold out to experimentation before any mastery of any kind, instant gratification. It doesn’t matter what choices we make and what actions we take as long as they make us feel good or we get what we want. We could have made all kinds of promises, statements and displayed exactly what our foundational beliefs were and then throw them away over someone who treats us nice. Our security, our life as well as our eternal beliefs are now wrapped up in money, position, looks and material goods. No thought of tomorrow and certainly no thought of anyone to whom we made commitments before God or man.
We’ve mastered nothing and as a society we have an insatiable appetite for experimenting with everything under the foolish thought that it will not only last, but meet our needs. Not only have we told ourselves that all rights are ours, but we deserve and own them.
If you’re on the wrong side of that, see, have or are experiencing all that that brings to your doorstep each day, to the best of who you are, forget about the past, trust Him for your next breath as well as your future. The Righteous Judge is still on the throne. Think about the truth, as someone reminded me lately, that we don’t know the consequences of all our actions or our choices. Be assured, He who judges each individual is not mocked and He will in His perfect infinite wisdom and timing demand and get whatever He has seen to be the appropriate judgment.”
POETIC PONTIFICATION:
“Oh God, please forgive me for all I have done
Place it all under the blood of Your dear Son
Give me wisdom and understanding of Your will
Let me walk forth in step with You and let me be still
Show me the path, for its is You who know my way
Then take me home to be with You eternity to stay!”
“Paintings live out the hearts of artists who want to keep them with them all the time, but know they were created for those whose hearts needed what they give. Have a great day!”
"Find my paintings, or may my paint-tings find you!"
Douglas Auld
Copyright MMXII Auld, Ltd
“Pure Gold” BLOG BURST:
"Considered one of the world’s greatest painters; Auguste Renoir was in pursuit of approval. For much of his life he sought the approval of the governing body whose self appointed authority was to judge what was good and what was unacceptable in the painting and art world. He would enter his works continually over his lifetime to win the approval of men, show them in the accepted galleries, and be favored under the glowing criticism of those who made and destroyed artists.
He is known as well in the impressionist camp along with his lifelong friend Claude Monet for their pursuit of light, color, and freedom. Renoir seemingly worked both sides of the known art world. Whether this was for monetary or self recognition we don’t know. His real fame came when he was commission to paint a very well known Parisian business individual’s family member. Many who visit this individual saw Renoir hard at work and as it always goes one rich man tells and other and another and another. From there Renoir never looked back as his fame and fortune grew.
I take nothing away from his God given genius and talent as his work is truly evident of both. What I want you to consider is who gives you life? Who gives you breath? Who do you serve and for what reason?" POETIC PONTIFICATION:
“We toil each day under Adams curse on life
Thistle, thrones, everything causes so much strife
We think we know, we totally understand the way
We think our choices have no consequences to pay
But He gives life more abundant, more full each day
Even if sin and struggle, He’s there to guide in every way!”
“Painting requires talent and talent is a gift that comes with a purpose and a price. God gives each of us talents and gifts. Have you found and are you exercising yours? Have a good week!”
"Find my paintings, or may my paint-tings find you!"
Douglas Auld
Copyright MMXII Auld, Ltd
