Colors, colors....

For the past two nights, I've been doing free hand sketching and coloring the posters which I have made onto the big pieces of polystyrene boards. These so-called poster-colored pictures were meant for an upcoming event in my church. Balancing between work, family matters and personal time, I must say that I really struggled a lot this time. The weather , which was really hot of late, doesn't help either and so was the family "weather"! Anyway, I started out on Tuesday evening at about 8.00pm and by the time I finished the first piece, it was well past 12.45am. I guess, I learnt a lot during the sketching and the painting. Yunno, I kept telling myself that I don't have to do this as I was not only tired physically and mentally drained, I was down too. Anyway, there seemed to be a real push in me to do this while I couldn't really explained it. It's like a commanding voice in my heart and head that kept saying, " You're not doing it for men! You're doing it for me, Ivan !" So, on and on , I kept myself awake and alive as each stroke of paint went down on the board. Calmly, stroke by stroke and with the best of my ability, I finally completed the piece. I must tell you that I struggled earlier because I couldn't picture the drawings in my head but with His guidance, I was able to slowly see the picture maze comes to a complete picture. Honestly, I am not really that talented when it comes to art and painting but I just love doing it, actually. Yunno, when I started out, I prayed to the Lord that He would guide my hands as I sketched and painted. I had the peace and calmness as I flow along. One thing I learned was patience and focus. There are times I mixed the wrong colours or smudged some colors here and there or even left some surface undone. But yunno what, it worked out alright. I was really tired but glad that I've done the very best I could. That night , I completed sketching the second piece of poster before I hit the sack - I was just too tired to continue.
Yesterday night, I started coloring the second piece of poster at about 10.00pm. As usual, it is usually difficult to get started after some rest but again, I was determined to finish the work. The sketch was okay but the real test is to color it. I started out with a prayer and the work begin. I started out by coloring the required lines and I couldn't actually see the whole picture yet. " Slowly, Ivan. Slowly. It will come out fine.", that was what that went through my head and heart. Boy! That's how I consoled myself ! Meticulously slow and steady, the poster started to drew out some fun. Mixed and matched the colors the very best I could and eventually, I wasted none of the colors. When I finally got it finished at about 1.45am this morning, I was again exhausted but happy. Yunno, I learnt that we can give our very best to the Lord is whatever capacity we are in or whatever works that had been entrusted to us. I guess, the important part is to trust in Him and do things not for the glory of men but for the glory of God. Many a times, we do things to appease the outward appearance when what is needed is really the soothing hands of God working in our interiors. I've learnt too that a great deal of patience and focus are required when you put the finishing touches onto your works. Patience and focus can only come when you have deep passion in what you are doing. The best part about this experience was that I did the coloring while I was leaning against the wall! So, relaxing and enjoying the finer points in life are of great value too!

I am glad that I've finished the "masterpieces"! Though they are obviously not Picasso nor Michelangelo pieces but they'll do for the time being. Inspire, Inspire, my friend not perspire!~