I read Josh’s blog and loved this post that he did - go visit his site - very inspirational . . .

This girl, maybe 9 years old, was sitting alone in the gallery at the Seattle Art Museum, sketching the painting in front of her. It was a gift to be in that room as she sat their silently, sketching, looking up, looking down, sketching.

Keep drawing, young artist, for yourself and for the rest of us.

This is some of what she saw with them

Here I am writing from my childhood home in Swansea, Wales where I’ve been for the last week or so to spend Christmas with my family. Its been great to walk around old haunts that haven’t changed as well as ones that have been transformed and only glimmers of the old remains. One thing that I love about coming back to the UK is experiencing and savoring some of the things that you can not get on the other side of the pond such as M&S pork pies, good cheese, awesome dark ales, real cadbury’s chocolate, and the list goes on and on. A highlight for me so far has been going to the newsagent and buying a newspaper, coming home, making coffee (I hasten to add that the UK does not have good coffee!) and reading the paper - once a Saturday morning ritual that I kept when I lived in the UK. Yesterday I read the Times and today was the Telegraph and as I dug around all the bad, good and trivial news was this one article that I thought was a treasure, and wanted to share a link to.

Written by Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, he describes his encounter with a 15th Century painting called ‘The Nativity with Saints’ by Sienese painter Pietro Oriolo. Nichols allows the art to speak to him, stir him and then he goes on to create a beautiful response that the Telegraph readers get to enter into in this Christmas season. Here are a few quotes:

“When weary, art can refresh us. When viewed with the eyes of faith, it shows us the truth that can renew us. For tired eyes, and for an exhausted heart and mind, Orioli reminds us of the beauty at the centre of the Christian faith. It is not a distant beauty that takes us out of this world but a beauty that lives within it. And beauty’s name is Emmanuel, God with us. This is the beauty that saves us and our world.

The Christmas story is not myth; it gives us a vision of the community we are meant to be, and sometimes achieve when faced with crises and disasters. This story does not deal in tired political cliches nor disguise reality with spin. It offer us a truth about God, about ourselves . . .

With genuine generosity and a genuine freedom that is not afraid of commitment and effort, we can work to make this place truly a home for all because it is always His home.”  (Click the picture to read the full article)

 Happy Christmas to you all who may or may not read this post - hope that its a great time of celebration and remembering.

This weekend is action packed with some really great events going on in Walnut Grove namely the Transcendence | Immanence opening happening Saturday night at the Water Shed (7.30-9.30pm). Things are really coming together for this one, with the visual art already adorning the walls of the Water Shed. The opening night will also have performances from local wordsmiths and musicians - very very exciting.

On the same day there is another opening happening at the Fort Gallery - the Open Studio Exhibition. This event is happening Saturday daytime from 12-5pm and I’ve already had a sneak preview of the art - its incredible! I’ll be playing a couple of sets throughout the afternoon with a new friend called Jay (an excellent jazz guitar jammer), who has been attending the Songwriters Open Studio I have been facilitating.

If you are around in the Grove this weekend, then come and check these two events out! Both are FREEEE!