In the barnyard and in the field, beauty is found in the simplest things~
As light moves across the valleys and the sheep migrate from the mountains to the fields and into the blessed barnyards, there is a seasonal rhythm you can see and hear. An unspoken liturgy of hooves and bells making a holy procession of white and wool. As a visual artist I dream of capturing these seasonal movements, I see them in my mind and hear them in my sleep.
pink clouds of first light
warm lambing stalls filled with soft hay
new lambs with wobbly knees
tiny hooves pouncing down dirt paths
heart-shaped noses
soft wool tummies
long lamb tails wagging
sheep bells ringing
With an honest desire to capture what is real, an authentic feel of this life and place, I have been met with the inevitable broken and messy too. It has been a photographic journey into the holy moments of hope and divine grief.
the bitter cold snowstorms
muddy wet faces
grass stains and alfalfa snot
frozen fingers and toes (mine)
sickness and sadness
broken bones and broken fences
Perhaps this is why the sheep are such a part of God's Word and such a needed place in my life. They are the real lived out. Not in a pretend or plastic world, but a simple world of dirt and sweat, blood and tears. A soul rendering melody of life and death. A blessed place of messy, hungry, neediness before God's face.
It is a divine rhythm of thousands of heartbeats that stirs in my soul--one I hope that will stir in yours.
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This was my artist message the photography exhibit this week. Thank you everyone for your thoughtful messages of hope & joy over my little exhibit. For a lamb photographer this is such a big deal!
I am going through all my photos of the sheep trailing (yesterday) and will put them up for you to see.
For everyone else working on sketches...I am keeping track ~ keep it up!!!
love & lambs,
jj
