2020 – Write The Vision
This work is different from my usual on this blog, but I thought the message could be of value at this 2020 beginning of the new decade.
“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
And the Lord answered me, and said, ‘Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and it will not lie: though it delay, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not fail.’” (Habakkuk 2:2-3)
Have you a vision for 2020? Have you a vision for yourself, your family, your city, your country, or for the world?
More importantly – have you asked the Father what vision He has for 2020? For “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it.” (Psalm 127:1)
I am sure all of us, looking back over our lives, see a litany of undertakings that failed, or failed to reach their full potential, because we stepped out without consulting the All-Knowing One. The writer of Proverbs said, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
So this year, this great new decade that begins with 2020, there are 2 things that will be useful by way of ‘New Year’s Resolutions’: first, to write down our own visions for the future; to keep the record (“make it plain upon tablets”), look at it often, and be prepared to change it as necessary. Second, to seek the Lord to find out what His will is – not only in the longer term future and the big world picture, but also in the everyday happenings in our lives. Again, we must keep a record and not expect instantaneous answers or instantaneous results. The Lord does not work that way. He is committed to ‘process’, because process is what refines and develops us and our faith.
So we need to ask the question, press in with it, and stay alert for the coming of His answer – “at the end it shall speak, and it will not lie: though it delay, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not fail.”
We constantly thwart His process because we ask and when we don’t get a fast answer we give up, stop listening, and go our own way. Don’t do that – keep pressing in and paying attention. Wait upon the Lord!
I can think of one occasion when I had a week to make a pretty important decision. All week, I continued to ask the question, “Lord, what am I to decide about this issue?”. Gradually my thoughts about the situation began to settle and clarify, and by the end of the week, I knew quite clearly what my answer had to be. Looking back, I am glad I did not run with my first ‘take’ on the matter.
When His answer comes, then run with it. He gives us the answer with the intention “that he may run that reads it.” If we know it is His will, we must step out in faith. That means taking the first steps, even if you do not know how things will turn out, or how the vision will be achieved – THAT is what living by faith is about.
“Behold, he whose soul is lifted up [proud] is not upright in Him: but the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4)
One step at a time.
Digital – assembled in Macromedia Fireworks MX. Inkwell from the Scriptorium of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Khirbet Qumran, before 68AD.
Patricia
Sculpture and The World of Greek Coins
The brilliant artists who decorated pottery throughout the Hellenistic world from 2000 to about 450 BC left a legacy that was unsurpassed in the civilizations of Greece and Rome, and probably unequalled worldwide in any era since.
They decorated huge wine-mixing bowls, plates, drinking bowls, flasks and funerary urns. Their individual styles became known, and enough of their works have survived that even today, many of these artists are identified by the names of their most famous pieces and have listings kept of their works.
Quite some achievement, 2000 – 4000 years later! How much art from today will survive that long?
Art and Ancient Greek Coinage
Equally to be marveled at were die-makers throughout the Ancient Greek world who created the designs for the coinage used by all the city states – of which there were many – all having their own traditions and ‘coats of arms’.
These artists carved in metal, in intaglio (in reverse) the dies from which the many city states’ coins were struck on a regular basis – coins that are works of art in their own right.
Can you imagine the skill required to carve perfect works of art of that size – in reverse? In metal? By hand? A study of the development of Greek coinage from about 700 to about 150 BC brings to light a whole new world of artistic triumph: marvelous, almost unbelievable skill.
If you are interested, go HERE and click on the Alphabetical Index of Issuing Authorities for Greek coins. You will find at the top of each issuing authority page a link to pages with thumbnails, which saves a lot of blind delving.
To round out this post, here are one or two of my own sculptural tributes to the Greek die-makers, sculpted and cast in epoxy resin soon after we came to New Zealand. Size – 9cm (3.5″) diam approx:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
More Classics
Of course, it wasn’t too long before a “Movies” scrapbook got started.
It was mainly for movies about Greece and Rome, and I combed the magazine stands for movie magazines with reviews on anything new in the genre.
Today, things haven’t really changed. The Internet is a wonderful medium for making “scrapbooks”, and we create them all the time – be it in blogs or static websites, with photos, artwork or videos. It’s really great to catch up legitimately with an old hobby in a new format – without feeling ‘wussy’ !
And naturally, there had to be more artworks …
The Masters of Greek Vase Painting
The other thing I frequently go back to in wonderment is Greek vase painting. I love the limited palettes, the brilliant composition, the strong but sensitive lines. These artists were indeed masters:
And a little tribute of mine:
But the Greek Vase painters didn’t have it all on their own – more next time!
Patricia
More Movies
Cinemascope had hit the big screen. And my mom and I went to see “The Robe” from 20th Century Fox.
Aside from Disney, of any film I ever saw, this film had by far the widest and most lasting impact on me. I had already been studying Latin at school from quite young (thanks to that great Scottish education), and I found it rather dry.
Now for the first time, the Roman world began to come alive. I bought the book, The Robe by Lloyd C Douglas, was fascinated by it, and started taking an interest in the Romans and their culture.
Menenius Agrippa Sculpture & Roman Boxer Drawings
More than that though, I got a crush on the movie’s leading man, Richard Burton. Ah me – the effect of getting a teenage crush! But it was a very good thing for creativity, all the same!
Doing the usual teenage girl crush stuff of finding out more about Burton’s career led me into the world of Shakespeare at The Old Vic, Alexander the Great, The Dark Tower by Louis MacNeice, Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood, Coleridge’s Rime of The Ancient Mariner, and some of Christopher Fry’s plays. This new world I stumbled upon had an exciting richness of spirit. Shakespeare took on new life, and I began to look at literature with different eyes.
All of this impacted on my art – especially Alexander the Great : the door on Classical Greek Art and Architecture was opened for the first time. That was hugely valuable, because Greek sculpture taught me a lot about anatomy – along with a couple of books I got for Christmas presents. I spent some hours drawing anatomical studies from pictures of Greek pieces (didn’t they used to do that in Art School? – never thought of THAT at the time!)
Greek Warrior Sculpture and Heracles Vase Drawings
The human body is arguably the hardest thing to render convincingly in art. Quite a number of people doing art struggle noticeably in that area, though the Photoshop ‘Artists’ just grab photos of models, and solve their problem that way. And they call it ‘Art’? Ha! Which goes to show : the good old Art School disciplines – canned in this modern age of ‘permissive everything’ – had some great value, after all!
A couple of years ago, I picked up the B/W drawing at the head of this post and worked it into a full color art piece. Click on the image for larger size and more details:
Ares / Mars – God of War Drawing
Done from a Roman sculpture – this is the most ornate helmet I’ve ever set eyes on : isn’t it gorgeous?
Patricia
Patricia Howitt Art Blog 