Scripture, other thoughts, and some art
I've actually been doing pretty good with reading my scriptures daily. While I haven't been reading in German daily, I've at least gotten some scripture study in, whether it be in the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, or Pearl of Great Price.
I can't help but think that, even if you're not religious, there are some good insights to be found in religious books. How to be a good person, treat others, live a better life. Not that there won't be hard times or trials, but the little things that people do to themselves that make life harder become less and less of a problem.
This is one I've been muling over a bit:
Alma 12:10-11
"And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that wil not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.
"And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries..."
Perhaps it's just me, but I've always thought that religion should be open-minded and tolerant. That it should be respectful to all beliefs and solid on its own. I don't get people who feel the need to attack other religions. I don't get people who seem to think they have to tear down the beliefs of others. It is mean-spirited, callous, and against what virtually every religion teaches: tolerance and love of one's neighbor.
You know, if you want someone to be impressed by your religion, to think "man, I want to know what makes that guy the way that he is," live your religion. Be what it asks you to be and don't actively seek to destroy what brings light and happiness into the lives of others.
I think my sensitivity to this is partially because the LDS church is not always held in high light, especially among other Christian groups. Of course, I get equally annoyed at "Bible Bashing" Mormons who take the "I'm right, everyone else is wrong" stance. It's just stupid and it grates against the principles of the Church.
This is the glaze painting from last semester. You wouldn't know that my tromp loiel painting tried to murder it and we had to do some "surgery" to fix it. Note: Glazing takes forever, but looks really cool. The underpainting was a monochrome acrylic painting with various layers of yellow, blue, and red oil paints throw over the top of it. Maintaining the whites of the webs took forever, I used a Q-tip to pull it out after each layer was painted.
The Valentine's Day gift I made for Chris of the big lady, Ruby. Watercolor on a 2"X3" piece of watercolor paper mounted to a board, similar to amperstand's claybord stuff in how it reacts, which means no wrinkling or warped paper, yay!
I've started expanding on these a bit. For my final series in Life Drawing I'm applying the same style/technique to the figure, which is actually turning out quite cool. I'd like to expand and do some more of these horses on the large scale as well. It's actually wonderfully relaxing working like this.
Equine Art eXchange drawing, colored pencil on printing paper. I had fun with it, a nice break from all of the school stuff I'm working on.
School is on the downhill. Only three weeks left and I have two papers to write, three large drawings to complete, as well as the series for Life Drawing.
... I should probably get off my butt and accomplish something.
I can't help but think that, even if you're not religious, there are some good insights to be found in religious books. How to be a good person, treat others, live a better life. Not that there won't be hard times or trials, but the little things that people do to themselves that make life harder become less and less of a problem.
This is one I've been muling over a bit:
Alma 12:10-11
"And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that wil not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.
"And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries..."
Perhaps it's just me, but I've always thought that religion should be open-minded and tolerant. That it should be respectful to all beliefs and solid on its own. I don't get people who feel the need to attack other religions. I don't get people who seem to think they have to tear down the beliefs of others. It is mean-spirited, callous, and against what virtually every religion teaches: tolerance and love of one's neighbor.
You know, if you want someone to be impressed by your religion, to think "man, I want to know what makes that guy the way that he is," live your religion. Be what it asks you to be and don't actively seek to destroy what brings light and happiness into the lives of others.
I think my sensitivity to this is partially because the LDS church is not always held in high light, especially among other Christian groups. Of course, I get equally annoyed at "Bible Bashing" Mormons who take the "I'm right, everyone else is wrong" stance. It's just stupid and it grates against the principles of the Church.
This is the glaze painting from last semester. You wouldn't know that my tromp loiel painting tried to murder it and we had to do some "surgery" to fix it. Note: Glazing takes forever, but looks really cool. The underpainting was a monochrome acrylic painting with various layers of yellow, blue, and red oil paints throw over the top of it. Maintaining the whites of the webs took forever, I used a Q-tip to pull it out after each layer was painted.
The Valentine's Day gift I made for Chris of the big lady, Ruby. Watercolor on a 2"X3" piece of watercolor paper mounted to a board, similar to amperstand's claybord stuff in how it reacts, which means no wrinkling or warped paper, yay!
I've started expanding on these a bit. For my final series in Life Drawing I'm applying the same style/technique to the figure, which is actually turning out quite cool. I'd like to expand and do some more of these horses on the large scale as well. It's actually wonderfully relaxing working like this.
Equine Art eXchange drawing, colored pencil on printing paper. I had fun with it, a nice break from all of the school stuff I'm working on.
School is on the downhill. Only three weeks left and I have two papers to write, three large drawings to complete, as well as the series for Life Drawing.
... I should probably get off my butt and accomplish something.