"...and all the flowers looked up at Him, and all the stars looked down." (G.K. Chesterton)

It's cold outside and quiet this morning. It's not bitterly cold, but crisply cold with a sweet, clean smell. The sky is overcast and the wind is gentle with occasional gusts, stirring the dry brown leaves in a faint clatter on the ground. I know because I just put my head out the window. But now I am sitting on the floor with my back to the radiator, colored pencils around me, looking with mixed feelings at my Madonna and Child.

I have a wise friend, an artist and a teacher, who says that when a piece of art is finished but you wish you could change it, that just means you are still an artist. You have more ideas and you are not done making things. As I look at my little picture, improving it (or maybe just changing it) in my mind, I take those words to heart.

Illustration Friday: Zodiac

"And God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.'" Genesis 1:14

I made this with colored pencil and watercolor. I drew the stars with white pencil before I put down any color. I'm pleased with how well they resisted the paint (I did wipe a little paint off of them), but it's tricky drawing with a white pencil onto white paper. I had to hold it at an angle that made the white pencil reflect light before I could see what I was doing at all. And then I did something wrong when I stretched the paper and it came out all warped anyway. We'll try again another time.

This week's prompt reminded me of a story of a fascinating lady named Agnes Sanford. In the 1930s she was lifted out of suicidal depression through the prayers of an Episcopal priest. She decided she needed to learn how to pray too so she could help other people. She did learn, and she helped many. Once a woman came to her in great distress, because her husband was near death, and she didn't think it would help to pray because they had visited a fortune teller (I don't remember if it was an astrologer or a palm reader) who predicted his illness and death. Agnes told her not to worry, that they should pray anyway because God was stronger than fate. Agnes did pray and the man got well.

I think this anecdote is from her autobiography, Sealed Orders, or possibly The Healing Light.