It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. Busy-ness has taken over but I’ve been squeezing in some art when I can.
I thought I’d share these pages from my art journal from back in September. I love the imagery of these verses from Zechariah. The background and face use watercolour , the jewels and hand use text from an old book and coloured pencil. Black, white and metallic felt pens are used to finish.
This week I’ve seen a couple of interesting Facebook posts about the perception of beauty in our society. The first was a time lapse video of a very ordinary woman in a bikini at a photoshoot. First, she has her makeup expertly done, then a wig of long blonde tresses is placed on her head. Afterwards the image is photoshopped to lengthen her legs, remove any bulges, slim her down about 3 sizes, increase the size of her eyes and generally remove any blemishes and tint the colour of her skin. The before and after shots are completely different, but the after image is one much like most of those we see in teen and women’s magazines.
The second post was a report that a store in Scandinavia were using size 12 (US 10) and 16 (US 14) mannequins to display lingerie and had been accused of promoting obesity. The norm is to use size 8 (US 6) mannequins despite the average size of real women being 14 (12).
These expectations set up by our society can lead to feelings of inadequacy, depression and other psychological illness.
Our outer appearance can be judged and found wanting by this world, but when we are in God’s hands we sparkle like jewels. We are precious and special to him. We are beautiful and attractive.
The most beautiful and highly prized diamonds shine with a clear light rather than a yellowish one. The key to the diamond’s sparkle is not what is on its outer surface but what is inside. The sparkle comes from the refraction of the light as it passes through the jewel. When we are in God’s hand his light shines through us and is refracted to reveal our sparkle. We are held in his hand as something of great value, saved and held as one of his flock.
So let’s stop measuring ourselves by the superficial standards of society and recognise our real value as measured by the Creator of the universe – now that’s a worthwhile measure!
janelydialoves 