The Evolution of an Art Studio

(a corner of my art studio...)

I had a conversation with a friend today, and it blessed me.  Just since I taught my first mixed media art class in February, she has acquired her very own art supplies, and even a cabinet to put her treasures in, out of reach of her small children.

It got me thinking about the evolution of my own space, and how important it is that a woman  have her own niche in the home...a place that is hers alone, to be able to create what she creates, and walk away from it, and come back to it...because a woman's life never seems to afford her long stretches of uninterrupted time, until her children are all grown.

Wait.  No, not even then.  I speak as One Who Knows.

What I really know is this:  I know what happens when you are truly content, and you make the most of what you have, instead of wishing for things to be different.

So I decided to dig around my archives, to share with you the evolution of one woman's art studio...mine.  I know what it means to have to "make do", and here's the amazing thing...

...it wasn't that long ago.  In fact, it was one year ago this week.  I checked the date on the blog post.

That.  gives.  me.  goosebumps.

To see what God has done in the space of one year.  One year.   How?  I'm not asking you.  I'm asking myself.  How?  One year ago this week, I had no idea what was coming.  Bigger art, bigger dreams, bigger goals, bigger things, and a much, much, much bigger art studio.

Here is how this all began...

...in my dining room.  My dining room.  Out of sheer determination to BOTH create AND be content with what I had available in terms of space, I cleared dishes out of a corner dining room hutch, and plunked my art supplies in it.  Every single art-thing I owned.  And then, on a whim and a prayer,  I made art to raise money so some kids from a single parent family could go on a mission trip.  I wanted so badly to give.  I wanted these kids to get on a plane for the very first time...

...I was stunned when I sold everything I painted.  I put half of it in the offering plate for the mission trip, the other half I put back into art supplies...simply because I felt strongly impressed that I was to keep painting.

So after the mission trip, I kept painting.

And people kept buying.  Then a local retail shop began to carry my art.  Then, on Mother's Day 2012, The Preacher bought me a tiny desk and we literally cleared out a corner of our bedroom, selling the treadmill (a girl has to keep her priorities in order!) and that corner then became my studio.

I was so proud of it.  The Preacher was so glad to eat at the table again.

 my tiny studio, in a corner of my bedroom...

It was exactly here, in this space,  that I found courage to dive into creating my W.E.L.L. Being videos..."Women Equipped To Love and Lead"...videos in which I attempt to bring encouragement to anyone who will listen.

And I kept painting.  And I started my business.  And I opened my online shop.  And started my business Facebook page.  (Like me?  Please?)

Long about August of this past year, the neighbor across the cul-de-sac offered to sell his house to my son-in-law and daughter, who had been living with us, along with our grandson Timothy (who is The Preacher's namesake).  They had been living with us so that Justin could finish his Master's, do his internship, work three jobs, and they could have their baby.  

With all those things checked off the list, and a nice savings built up, they were able to buy the house across the cul-de-sac from us.  That was a day I will never forget.  The Preacher and I wept for joy...and sadness...as this chapter of all our lives came to a close.  A couple of weeks after they moved next door, my tiny corner studio, once crammed in my bedroom became...

...a whole room.  With two rooms suddenly coming available, I had a studio! 

For the first time in 25+ years, I had a full-fledged art studio.  And guest room.

And my studio wasn't big enough.  It felt cramped.

I know, right?  I went from a dining room corner cabinet, containing all my art supplies (well, with a few more crammed into the dining room buffet) to a whole 10x12 room feeling too small.

In one year.  Here's the weirdness:  90% of all the art supplies that filled that room had just...come to me...over the course of about nine months.   

My family can bear witness to the truth of what I am telling you.  There is no explanation...tools and equipment and supplies have been...coming to me...since one year ago this week.  Non stop.  In the form of gifts, gift cards, loans (some equipment is on "indefinite loan").  It has come to me in the form of  Craigslist deals, hand-me-downs, The Preacher spending his lunch money on me...and me investing a little out of our budget, here and there, to fill in the edges of whatever this crazy-train thing is that God is up to in my life! 

Then, last month, I mentioned to the Preacher that our large guest room (the room Justin and Hannah vacated when they moved out) would sure make an awesome studio...because it has a tiny bath, and I could clean my brushes so much easier if my art studio had its own sink.  I truly wasn't even completely serious.

But it was all I had to say.

My Preacher picked up his phone and cancelled and rescheduled all his appointments that day.  (Nothing was life or death...no one was suicidal...that day.)  By the end of that very day, my studio became this:

TWO closets, tons of space, and my own bathroom. 

...and my first art show coming up in three weeks, in...of all places...art mecca of the south...Atlanta, Georgia!

Friends, where God guides, He provides.  Please do come with me on this crazy-train plan of His.

It is going to be one.  wild.  ride.

Oh.  By the way.  If you come stay with us....sorry.  Your room is smaller than my studio.  And your full bath is just across the hall, instead of in-suite.  But you won't mind, because I'll feed you so dang well.

And you would rather be able to crack your window and hear the pond waterfall, anyhow.

The Friendships of Women

I think of the old hymn, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"...and that is the truest thing I know.

Yet, I have also been blessed with the friendships of women.

I have to say, I have the best, most beautiful friends.  Every single one of them, every gesture, every word, every sacrificial and small thing they do in and for my life...

...it is an unearned, undeserved grace.

I treasure them.

Real Women of God - Not Faux Females

We live in a day and time when a young woman's Big Ambition is to get a tattoo...in Jesus' name, of course. And is it any wonder? I have nothing against beautiful body art, and I cannot fault them, when my generation's Big Ambition is career advancement, or a newer luxury SUV, or to add one more pair of exotic chickens to the coop, as they advance to the next stage in their "call" to go off the grid...in Jesus' name, of course.

Because everyone knows, serving Jesus has to come by degrees...one must first get her tat, or a cute car and cowboy boots, or at least a live in boyfriend if she is young....or she needs to build her business and get a Lifestyle Lift, or get off the grid and milk cows if she is older. Preparation is key, right? One must prepare to eventually practice true religion.

And everyone knows that the local church and its people have little-to-nothing to do with the practice of true religion. Give us the organic church. Dude. We can do church while we hang out in Starbucks and the gym. The "organized church" is a hindrance to us girls, as we prepare to desire to eventually bring God great glory with our great bodies, our Jesus tats, our sweet cowgirl boots and cute cars. And for the over-40 crowd, Jesus is made beautiful by our statement necklaces, our weight loss, our beautiful home, our happiness, our connections, and our big bank accounts.

But sacrifice? True religion? Involvement with the children and families of the local church? So not cool. That stuff won't build my self esteem or my business or my future. A girl has to dream her dreams, and prepare to eventually want to practice True Religion.

Well. Last week was world-wide Women's Day. The following was published via the web, by World Vision - the story of the impact of a few women on the life of Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision (and a big shout out to my new friend Tessa Burns, for sharing this with me...)

...may our woman's heart become magnificently obsessed with Christ, may we love and value the Bride of Christ (the local church), and may we dispense with kidding ourselves about what a woman of God looks like...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"My father, Bob Pierce, first traveled to China in 1947 with Youth for Christ. World Vision wasn’t even a twinkle in his eye. But years later, he would write, “My own world vision from God was sparked on that first trip.” Among the people who ignited that spark were women who were determined to change the world in Jesus’ name.
* * *
Beth Albert: “The trigger of the vision God gave me for missions.” -Bob Pierce
My father met American missionary Beth Albert in a remote area of China called Kunming. Beth introduced Dad to a world he never knew existed.

In 1947, leprosy was still considered a death sentence. Beth had discovered more than 100 people struggling to survive in the only place they were allowed to live—a cemetery. They were starving, naked, and dying.

Most heartbreaking of all, their healthy babies died with them. Beth, a trained nurse, was determined to help.

“Beth had no help from the outside,” my dad would later recall. Until he began supporting her, she was dependent upon whatever the locals would give her. She scrounged for old cans and taught the people to fill them with mud to make bricks. With these, they managed to build small shelters.

Food, clothing, medicine, Bible studies … somehow one indomitable woman managed to bring life and hope to those whom the world had written off. And every one of the precious people she served came to know Jesus, not because she preached, but because she loved.

After she was forced to leave China when the communists took over, World Vision continued to support Beth Albert’s work with lepers and the poor in India, which included establishing 14 leprosy clinics.

My dad credited Beth as “the trigger of the vision God gave me for missions.”

* * *
Tena Holkeboer: “World Vision was born that day.” -Bob Pierce

Dad arrived on the island of Amoy for a week of Youth for Christ meetings.

Tena Holkeboer, a Reformed Church of America missionary and principal of the Iok Tek Girls’ Middle School, invited him to speak at their morning chapels. As a result, several of the girls accepted Christ.

What happened next has become a familiar World Vision story. At the end of the week, Dad went to Tena’s home to say goodbye. She met him at the door holding a little girl who had been beaten and abandoned by her family for becoming a Christian.

Shocked and feeling utterly helpless, my father asked, “You will take care of her, won’t you?”

“I am feeding as many children as I can,” Tena replied. “The question is, What are you going to do?”

It was a question my Dad had been asking himself ever since Kunming.
Overwhelmed, he had walked away from the needs of many. But now God was confronting him with the need of one child.

Dad gave Tena his last five dollars, promising to send more when he got home. He would later reflect, “I didn’t know it at the time, but in a real, practical sense, World Vision was born that day.”

* * *
Lillian Dickson: “Typhoon Lil” scooped out her bucketful

My dad was introduced to Lillian Dickson in 1953 on a visit to Taiwan (then called Formosa).

Her willingness to take on human need wherever she found it reaffirmed my father’s conviction that God will do impossible things when we don’t limit him.

Their lifelong partnership would bring thousands to Christ and become one of the enduring cornerstones of World Vision’s ministry.

Lillian came to Formosa in the 1920s as a missionary’s wife. Her husband, Jim Dickson, was the “official” missionary in the family while his bride devoted herself to their children and home. But when the kids got older, Lillian decided she wasn’t going to “sit out her life.”

With Jim’s blessing, she packed up her Bible and accordion, and began hiking with a team of medical missionaries into the most remote areas of Taiwan. They went where neither modern medicine nor the hope of the gospel had ever reached.
Over the next 30 years, “Typhoon Lil” walked thousands of miles, wading through rushing rivers, crossing dangling wooden bridges, and facing down angry witchdoctors and headhunters. She slept, ate, laughed, and cried with the tribal people she loved, and every day God trusted her with new needs and a bigger vision.

Asked why she worked so hard when people’s needs were like a great ocean of suffering that could never be emptied, Lillian responded, “I must scoop out my bucketful.”

Her bucketful included caring for street children, lepers, and abandoned babies. With support from World Vision and other partners, she built churches, schools, children’s homes, and clinics.

Her ministry continues today through Mustard Seed International.

* * *
Elizabeth Hunter: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” -Matthew 28:19 (NIV)

These three women are only a few of the legendary missionaries who influenced my father’s life and ministry. But there is one name that is not in the history books. I doubt she ever left the country. Still, her life helped change the world.

Her name was Elizabeth Hunter and she was my father’s high school Sunday school teacher. Every week, she brought Bible stories to life for a group of active teens, challenging them to make a difference in Jesus’ name.

Throughout his life, my father credited Miss Hunter with first challenging him to ministry. But I never realized how deep that challenge went until I discovered a small blue book among my father’s library a few years ago.

It was titled James Hudson Taylor, Pioneer Missionary of Inland China. On the first page, I found an inscription dated Christmas 1928: “To Bob from Miss Hunter. My prayer and deepest desire for you is Matthew 28:18-20. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.”

Your prayers were answered, Miss Hunter. "

Link can be found here.


shared with love...
Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

Mixed Media She-Art {Warrior Princess}...and a call to fight like girls...

Mixed media 5x5 original, entitled "Warrior Princess". Will be for sale in my Atlanta art show...




...inspired by the book Girls With Swords by Lisa Bevere...

Hi friends!

I don't know about each one of you, but I am certainly in a deep place...of birth...labor...transition...again. But this time? It feels good.

Oh, it hurts. Make no mistake about that. But whereas maybe five years ago, the pain felt like that of giving birth to a stillborn child, this pain comes with a deep knowing that I am pushing out the healthy life of many, many "babies". Multiple births. I am birthing relationally, creatively, spiritually, materially....manifesting grace on many levels.

So are so many of you.

For over a year now, I have been hearing The Lord calling out to our identity as warrior princesses in this day. Let me preface with this: I do not believe that in the natural realm, women should be put in combat roles. I do not. Okay??

You are free to disagree with me. (No hate mail, please. It makes me giggle, and that just makes you angrier. It's a waste of both our energy.) I do not think it bodes well for our nation, when we put our girls in combat.

But. At the same time, the natural reflects the spiritual. And it is a fact that in our nation, women have very recently been cleared for combat.

Girls.

Calling all girls. I have a word from The Lord for you!

You are cleared for combat. Approved. Backed by the full resources of heaven, to fight....not as a man, but as who you are...a woman. You have been given legal authority to kick some serious donkey.

So where are you? Here am I, looking like Annie Oakley in the Spirit....armed to my teeth...fighting my butt off....and I am wondering where YOU are! I see a few of you beside me, but every single one of you better get your sweet selves up here to the front lines, because there is no neutrality. Take captive every thought, or any thought will take you captive. Fight. Engage. Live free or die...

It breaks my heart to see so many of us live for nothing greater than raising daughters (or sons) who make it through high school or college with their virginity intact. As vital as that is, and I am not saying it is unimportant, it does not constitute purpose or calling.

Some live for nothing greater than to have a goat to show at a 4-H show...again, a fine secondary or tertiary thing. Some live to "go off the grid"...that goal consumes their time and resources. It might at the very least be a distraction. It can even be a form of idolatry. It keeps you from the battles that matter.

Milking a goat is not tied to my destiny. Planting a rich garden is a practice of mine...but it has nothing to do with the call of God on my life. The call of God on my life and yours involves His favorite creation...not nature...not livestock...but people. If we are using our resources to minister to people, then we are engaged properly in the combat between darkness and light.

Some of us are finding ourselves facing situations that are unacceptable. Our spiritual enemy has attempted to get us to compromise...reconcile ourselves...avoid declaring war, because war is exhausting.

Well, fight tired, then! Fight injured, then! But for God's sake, stop settling for a sweet little isolated life when there is a battle to be won. Stop setting goals that are beneath you.

This is the season to give up your right to sympathy...your right to hold a grudge (which you never had that right to begin with)....your right to be entitled to this or that middle age indulgement ("I've earned the right to take a break...look at what I have been through!")

hmmmmm. A king named David took on that middle aged entitlement attitude, and ended up undoing his kingdom.

I say we get up and get on with the business of fighting. Whether or NOT the men in our lives are with us. I say this very carefully, only in a manner of speaking. I can speak this way because I am one of the more submitted women you may know. I deeply respect male authority, even flawed authority, and always have - that is one of my God given strengths. I do not mock, disregard, or ignore authority.

Fight. With the boys or without them. Never against them....but with them or without them.

Stop treating life's difficulties as though they shouldn't be happening. This is war. This is training for reigning.

How do we fight?

By our worship.

With high praise in our mouth.

By being an integral part of church life.

With a smile.

By our prayer.

By enduring.

By holding our ground with the tenacity that only a woman can have....there is a reason WE give birth. We can endure.

By not carrying over yesterday's struggles into today. Every day we get to fight fresh. We get to be relaxed and refreshed and loaded with new ammo.

Patience is your weapon of mass destruction. Possess your soul with it.

Everything in your life...your family situation...your marriage....your church and its unique season...your place as a children's minister, nursery worker, musician, multi media person, greeter, encourager, meeter of physical needs....all of it is meant to train you how to be excellent, passionate, distinctly and amazingly feminine. An overcomer.

So go be awesome.

I will be looking and listening for my fellow girls-in-combat. Show up fresh. Show up ready.

Be ready to receive twice what you expect...battle spoils.

But know this: two times nothing is....nothing. You better figure out what it is you expect. Because God only commits His warriors to winnable wars. What would a win in your present situation look like? Strategize accordingly.


Written for you with love...
Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

Rock, Paper,Scissors, Key {Hint: Pick the Key}

In all my art, every piece, you will find hidden within it the image of a tiny key - or several keys.

Three groups of people tend to do things without fully knowing exactly why they do them: artists, poets, and prophets. I happen to be a quirky mix of all three, therefore half the time I am saying or doing things of which I have no clue why I am saying or doing them.

The key would be one of those things.

If you asked me, last week, why the key - I would have vaguely told you that understanding the grace of God, and the utterly Finished Work of Christ is the key to understanding all of life and Scripture.

And that would be true.

However, I always knew there was more to it. Artists, poets and prophets are comfortable with waiting on their complete clarity. It doesn't all have to make sense right away before painting it, imaging it in words, or proclaiming it boldly.

But clarity does come, eventually.

Today, the Holy Spirit spoke to me about the keys in my art. He said, in His own special way of speaking to me, "Are you ready to know what these mean?"

I said no.

Just kidding...I said, "A thousand times yes, Master!"

He said, "This is your season to find your keys. This year is your year to discover keys you never knew you had. Keys represent access to wealth and intimacy. Your keys represent the access granted to you, through the cross, to provision, favor, wisdom, authority, all that is Christ's is yours."

Then He said, "Let's play Rock, Paper, Scissors, Keys. Keys always win."

Suddenly...so suddenly...I got the download of revelation.

So you have a lot of cash.

I have the key to the whole vault.

So you have a rock. I have the key to the quarry.

So you have scissors. I have the key to...to JoAnn's Craft Store. ::cough::

So you have a gun. I have a key...to the armory.

So you have a book. I have a key to the Library of Congress.

So you have a cupcake. I own a key to the bakery, baby.

So you have the law. I have the key of David...blessed is she to whom The Lord does not impute sin. God has opened a door of salvation to me that no man can shut...let alone my puny attempts at sin or righteousness.

Keys win. Keys trump all.

I saw, in my spirit, The Lord with a large key ring, containing an unlimited number of keys. I sensed I was being asked...with a loving twinkle in His eye...

"Where would you like to go, and what would you like to see?"

Keys.

Now I know why they are all over my canvases.







Written for you with love...

Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

{Hope}

Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

I Dwell in Possibility

I am working hard, these days, to be ready for my first art show. I will be in the north Atlanta area on April 13th and 14th...if you live in the area, and want to attend this great art show...




I would love to meet you!


In the grip of His great grace...

Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

I Love...Change {February, the Month of Love}

{this home girl hates changing her mind about things}

You can experience troubles or trials without change, but you can not experience true, lasting change without some trouble and trial. In fact, trials are God's means of enlarging you. They carry within them the seed of new horizons, of territories gained, of increase and inheritance.

The essence of repentance is simply to change your mind. If all your dearly-held opinions have brought you to a place of isolation or misery, why then, you have the distinct and incredible privilege...and even the pleasure of changing your mind.

Try it.

I have found it to be even kind of fun. A few years back, I found myself with some life-long views of God that were so far beneath who He really is, as to be an insult to His Finished Work, His kindness, and His nature. Changing my mind was a privilege. I was glad to do it.

Change is God's way of lifting up your head above your enemy. You literally think at a different level than before, and grow bigger and stronger on the inside, than the giant you face on the outside.

Dude. Goliath is so about to become my little sister.

God has so enlarged me, using trials and my willingness to let those dang things change me, my Goliath (and he is honking big, if you could see him with your eyes) may as well be wearing Mary Janes and licking a lollipop. I am about to feed him to the birds.

Change is good. I rather enjoy being increased and enlarged. The bigger the battle, the bigger the spoil.

I invite you...if all your thoughts have led you to a place of anxiety, bitterness, or a critical spirit...

...change your thoughts. Change your mind.

It is one of our greatest privileges as saints of God.

Written for you with love...
Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

I Love...Godliness {February, the Month of Love}

THEREFORE THEN, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us...

( Hebrews)

Oh, lovely women of God...of every age...I invite you to love Godliness with me. There is so much more to this life than what some of us are living for. Our heritage as Kingdom Daughters is so much more than we are actively experiencing. Some indulgences are too expensive...because they cost us our cutting edge.

There is nothing worth more to me than the Gospel, nothing worth more to me than learning "the art of losing myself in bringing Him praise". No glass of wine, no country song, no man, no extravagance, no job, no promotion, nothing is worth being even ever-so-slightly weighted down, or even a little entangled.

And everyone knows I love me an occasional Merlot, I love my red lipstick (toned down with a little nude color) and a good Rascal Flatts song. I love me a spa massage, a designer handbag, and being invited to show my art in art shows held in exclusive locations. My theme song can sometimes be, "All I Wanna Do is Have Some Fun" a la Sheryl Crowe.

But that is just a persona to compensate for the fact that I would toss it all overboard this moment, for one encounter with the Living God. There is an intensity in my spirit...a fire shut up in my bones...

I am all about leadership. Lead, follow wisely and well, or go sit down, out of the way. Some indulgences aren't worth my reputation as a leader.

I invite you to love Godliness. When you put it with contentment, you are a sloppy-rich woman.




Written for you with love...

Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

I Love...Process {February, the Month of Love}

So much going on, here at this cottage. Lots of letting go, where letting go is healthy. Lots of holding on, where holding on will make a difference.

Every once in awhile, I get a glimpse of a much bigger picture. I can clearly see, in these moments, how somany means are working themselves out towards a single end: that my life be an illustration of The Art of Bringing Him Praise.

No pain has been wasted...and no joy, either. Nothing wasted. All things truly do work together for good. I live my life at an unfair advantage, neck-deep in grace.

Not many strong or wise or even particularly, wildly beautiful are called.

And I revel in this fact. Me and my crazy-train family are vastly qualified to be His Ambassadors.

The process is the solution. Processes can be very long, and can seem to make nosense.

So often, we cannot find the forest...too many stinking trees. But there really is a greater, over-arching plan, right in front of our lovely faces. Problem is, it cannot, will never be found or discovered or discerned in any list of dos and don'ts anywhere. It is found in the daily monotony of process - when we, day after day, choose our point of reference according to the Gospel, and move forward, choosing to relate to God, people, and circumstances from that point of reference alone...no other perspective.

My point of reference these days is that of a cherished daughter, who, with open spiritual eyes, can see so clearly that "those that be with me are far greater, both in might and number, than those that be against me."





Written for you with love...

Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

I Love...Coffee {February, the Month of Love}

This is some of my original photography, available as a print, in my shop...

I love me a good cup of coffee.  I am also one of those women, whose husband delivers her a cup - in bed - each and every morning.  I sit, tousled hair and reading glasses, looking far less than lovely -  propped up on pillows, prying my eyes open so that I can begin my morning reading...and The Preacher makes my first cup and brings it to me.  Some mornings that might be six AM....most mornings it is seven, and some mornings eight.  Just whenever I wake up, he fires up the Keurig.

Don't be a hater.

He's a grace-man.  That's what you get, when you are blessed enough to be married to a man who "gets" the Gospel...who understands the grace of God.  He doesn't expect perfection from me...he loves me to perfection.

 

I Love...ANNOUNCING THE WINNER {February, the Month of Love}

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:5Powered by RANDOM.ORG
I counted up the entries in our Jeanne Oliver Online Art Class Giveaway...carefully counting those who entered more than once, through Facebook and Twitter...and...you can check this below, yourself, in the comment section...the winner...via Random Number Generator is... NUMBER 5...MELISSA FINK, of Melissa Ellen's Loft!

I could not be more pleased unless it was my own daughter...(and one of my daughters did enter, by the way, and if the Random Number Generator had picked her comment, I was going to give it to her, fair and square!)...well, this sweet girl won the giveaway, and months ago, she grabbed a little piece of my heart as I got to know her.  She is quite good at mixed media art, has already taken the plunge and started an online business, and is fearless about her love for Christ, on her blog.  You.  Go.  Girl.

That makes us kindred spirits, right there.  So weary of women who are ashamed of their Christian faith, or too hung up on themselves, trying to break into certain circles in the online business/art world...or simply embarrassed to be a little bit radical or a tiny bit more bold.  This is NOT our spiritual heritage!  Think Sarah of old...think Deborah the judge...think of Ruth Graham or Corrie Ten Boom!  Come on, girlfriends...RISE UP.  I am continually sharing my faith, all the time.  So does Melissa Fink.  Being a good - technically good - artist, being a gifted business woman and fun friend, and a great woman to get to know...NONE of these things are incompatible with being a bold believer in Christ.

Oh dear.  I'll stop right there.   I promise the Random Number Generator picked her...but I do like Melissa Fink that much.  She and Shannan Garber Martin just tug at my spiritual mothering heart-strings.  Bold women.

This is besides the fact that I think Melissa's blog has the potential to be the next "up and coming" DIY blog out there...her projects are interesting, her photography is good, her taste impeccable.

Apparently, her heavenly Father wanted to bless her with a few art lessons - keep your eye on her, I think she'll amaze us all one day!

Congratulations, Melissa...and again, thank you Jeanne Oliver, of www.jeanneoliverdesigns.com

I Love Art Supplies {Happy Valentine's Day to Me}

This is what my Preacher got for me for Valentine's Day. Better than any several dozen roses...

...and just as expensive. I got the fifteen color set! These are just some of the colors, and the large blending stick...all oils.

The man saves his lunch money...he eats on the cheap, at home, or some days not at all...to get me little gifts like this. I would be unhappy if I weren't so happy.

I better post this, and shut the computer down, so I can go thank him properly.



Written for you with love...

Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

I Love...Little Monkeys {February, the Month of Love}

Warning: your cute-o-meter is going to peg waaaaay in the red. Alarms may go off.




My daughter Hannah went on a little Valentine's date with her little man today...these pictures stopped my heart.

For reals. I needed defib...too cute.

Don't forget the Jeanne Oliver Online Class Giveaway! To be entered to win, leave a comment here

Don't be intimidated...you do not have to be artistically inclined to enjoy these online classes...you will learn so much...and you will have so much fun....learning art techniques in your jammies should you so choose....

...class kicks off in April. You will have ~months~ to finish it.

A winner will be announced Friday!!

Written for you with love...
Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

I Love...My Daughters {February, The Month of Love}

8x10 on canvas, mixed media original, entitled "Her Daughters"

I am so proud of my identical twin, 25-year-old daughters. I love them beyond words can say.




In His Amazing Grace,

Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

I Love...The Preacher's Photography {February, the Month of Love}

So The Preacher loves DSLR photography. And he has gotten quite good at it...sometimes to my consternation. His composition is often better than mine. He always seems to grab the best shot. We are in an ongoing competition over who is the best...there are days I feel pretty good about my skills...

...then, there are days like today, when it seems God helps him win.

Wouldn't that be cheating???

Look what landed in our back yard, four feet from our (dirty) kitchen window:





A gorgeous, gorgeous young hawk.

Blessedly, Mr. Hawk was standing on a very special painted rock that only we own...otherwise you might think The Preacher stole the shot off the Internet somewhere.





"Whaddya lookin' at, preacher man?!?"

(The hawk wasn't really saying that...)

Who can compete with that? So not fair. Hawks never pose for me.





Written for you with love...

Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

One Thousandth Post, a JEANNE OLIVER GIVEAWAY, "I Love...Art" {February, The Month of Love}

Friends, this is a big day.

This post officially marks my one thousandth post. One thousand blah blah blabbety blabs...and I still have friends, and new "followers" (a term I am not fond of, but did not coin...we just have to roll with it, don't we? YOU know it is just a blog word...you are all leaders, not followers...say it with me: "We have minds of our own. We just like to win free stuff.")

I am beside myself to reveal that the sweet Jeanne Oliver, of Jeanne Oliver Designs- has graciously donated one spot in her upcoming ONLINE mixed media art class...her brand new class...the one entitled "Letting Go."

Here is where the good karma gets all weird and even better...I didn't plan that this would be my 1,000th post...I knew I wanted this post to be a special one!

Well, here at the cottage, the entire story of my life, in the last two years, has been a journey of "Letting Go"...wearing forgiveness like a crown...releasing my too-tight grip on situations and offended people and prodigal sons....none of it is under my jurisdiction anymore. I do not have to fix anything. Just let it go.  Guard my heart...keep relationships...let go of expectations.

Not only that, but wouldn't you know it, as I was planning this giveaway post, just this week, the whole "Letting Go" mojo has reached even newer levels in this house.

I am now a certified black belt ninja letter-go-girl.

So there is something of full circle-ness and fulsome sweetness and just rightness about this giveaway, as well as who the giveaway features, and our connection as mentor/mentee. (Jeanne teaches me online, I learn...)




Please visit Jeanne's website www.jeanneoliverdesigns.com - check out her shop, and once in her shop, check out her online classes. Take note of how amazing the "Letting Go" class is gonna be. Look at all the techniques you will learn, because Jeanne is a good teacher. You will learn. Promise.

To win the generous gift of a FREE spot in her class, please simply leave a comment on this post, first of all. Then, if you tweet about this giveaway (giving the blog address) - that is another chance to win...

...if you Facebook the giveaway or Pin it to Pinterest...same thing...as many chances to win as you can get the word out on social media, and come back here and leave a comment letting me know.

I am also opening this one up to my church ladies, but I promise to use a random computer generated number app, to pick the winner. I will in no way draw names or pick her myself. Everyone has as many chances to win, as they are willing to help promote the lovely Jeanne Oliver's class.

Honestly, if you had to pay her $58 or so fee, you are getting a product...a web workshop...worth over three times what you paid. I can direct you to online art classes all day long with a price tag of $149. Jeanne's classes are worth more than she charges. Homegirl is that good at her art classes.

Those of you who home school will want to win a spot for your student. Easily worth a semester's fine art (not just "crafts") credit.

I will announce the winner of this special giveaway (weeks of classes, tons of demonstration videos) on Friday of the upcoming week. So you have plenty of time to tweet, Facebook, Pin, and refer people to this blog to sign up. Those of you who bring referrals who follow this blog and sign up for the giveaway??? I will add your name yet again, as a "thank you" for the referral. Just make sure I am told that "so and so" sent them here!

FUN FUN!!! And thank you, thank you, Jeanne Oliver!

{www.jeanneoliverdesigns.com} Such a generous giveaway.

So get going, girls! Cannot wait to see who wins this one! Maybe we can take it together!

Letting Go What is His Burden, Not Mine...
Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

I Love...Pink and Tutus {February, the Month of Love}

(Post-edit:  This post was originally posted about February 2nd...I went in today to edit the title, and it is now posting for today, along with my "simple dresses" post, and I don't know how to fix it...sorry.)

I love...




...this baby girl. I know, right? You really want me to stop bragging and get on with my bad self. Is this not "hand on heart", gasp-and-squeal cute?!? I have the most beautiful granddaughter on God's earth. (Photo portrait by her artist daddy, Jonathan Howe, taken just one week ago...hard to believe we were having 70+ degree weather...today is frigid and snow...)

Look at that pouty mouth.

Homegirl is six months old today. Will someone please stop time for me? I want her to be all this cuteness a bit longer.

I Love...Simple Dresses {February, The Month of Love}

Oh, sweet, sweet goodness, I love me a pretty dress.  A simple, pretty dress.  Truly...they are hard to find.  The dresses in my mind are actually impossible to find, because they exist only {for now} in my imagination.

But here are a few that get close to my ideal...

Are you feeling the sheath-ey, A-line, simple sweetness?  Each of these styles would have to be adapted to my over-45-years-old age bracket...in each case, the mantra would have to be:

Lengthen the dress, shorten the heel.  Unless I am wearing that short dress as a long top, over jeans.  

Make the dress a tad bit longer.  Make the shoe heel a tad bit shorter.  No mini dresses and stilettos for this preacher's wife.  Not that I am against either of those things per se - I am just a huge fan of age appropriate dressing.  I'm pretty sure stilettos and short hemlines are for the under 30 crowd - and not even all of them can pull it off without looking a bit insecure.  Faith Hill might be the only exception...she's so country music.

Translate these designs above, into beautiful, heathered, solid colors in a medium weight linen or light wool or heavy weight knit...

{no prints or patterns, thank you, I am no longer a fan of them...and no more light-weight knits in either my shirts or my dresses...I am tired of flimsy fabrics.  I am a grown-up, after all.  I'm not a junior in college, and do not want to be...though I will still wear some of my patterned knit shirts.  Once in a blue moon.  Because it is what I have until I have what I want, or what I want to design - though it chafes my very soul to wear them, truly}

...add jewelry designs that are organic, a bit askew, unexpected - with mixed metals and always a scrap of leather here and there...

...add a chunky leather cuff with a word that feeds your spirit discreetly stamped on it - or boldly stamped...and no hint of a manicure, because you are an artist, and everyone knows a real artist cannot...cannot...keep a manicure looking good longer than one day.  If you think I am lying, ask a girl artist.

...add a patch pocket to the front left side of every dress, in the same fabric as the dress...

...with a word{like "grace" or "bliss"}  hand-embroidered on a tiny patch, and added to the  corner of the pocket...almost unnoticeable...it would have to be pointed out for someone to even see it...it exists for you, because you are "all that", and so worth the extra detail...

...with a tailored shoe, about two or three inches in the heel...preferably a lace-up 40's style, a flat spectator oxford style, or kitten heel pump...

...or a western boot, for that element of surprise...

...with one little layer, peeking from the hem of the dress, or a ruffle on the 3/4 sleeves - a petticoat, if you will, or a bell sleeve, but not both...

...throw in an unfinished seam or two {a la Alabama Chanin}...

...and a great bag - also in my head, not to be found anywhere, yet...

...and really, really cool bifocal readers...

...and medium to medium-long length hair - in a messy bun.  Buns are beautiful, no matter what your age or the shape of your face.  Say it with me:  buns are beautiful.

Put all the above in a drink mixer thingey, shake it, then pour it into a glass and pop an olive on the rim, and there you have my very own finished design.  My style.  My look.  Classic, not trendy {except in the jewelry - my jewelry is quirky sometimes and edgy other times} and good on any age, but great on a grandmother.

Smokin' hot on a grandmother.  No matter what size she wears.

Only, right now, I can't find dresses like that anywhere.  Such is the dilemma of having a designer brain.  Or...should that be a designer's brain??

Sooner than I think, longer than I wish.  I cannot wait to wear my own designs...someday.

I Love the Law {February, the Month of Love}

(My foyer vignette, with tiny original art)

I love the law more than any legalista. I love the law more than any woman who is convinced that she is "more blessed" if and when she keeps the law - whether that be Jewish ceremonial/celebratory laws, or the law etched in stone...I love the law more than even she.

Far more, in point of fact.

Legalists (and their legalista counterparts) do not truly love the law...they love their's and everyone else's perceived performance of it. If a legalist really loved the law, they would study harder in order to use it lawfully.

The old covenant is cancelled. The new has come. The law is to be used as a schoolmaster, to point inexorably to Christ.

No other use for it. None. It is no longer a source or conduit or channel of blessing.

Anyone who thinks that they are blessed to any degree by keeping the law has not studied the law in all its exacting and fierce force. The standard is a perfect standard, and only One has ever fulfilled the law....Christ.

All God's promises are "yes and amen" if you are in Christ. All God's promises are "no and maybe" in the law.

You choose. I choose Jesus.

I love the law for what it reveals to me of Grace. I may be the only person you know who has read the curses of the law (that must come upon your life if you seek to be justified by the law in any way) and wept with joy and excitement and passion.

Because of Christ, my experience in this life is one big fat "instead".

Blessing instead of cursing.
Instead of the thorn tree, up comes the myrtle tree...in full bloom. (Is. 55)
Instead of ashes...beauty.
Instead of sadness...the oil of joy.
Instead of broken relationships...restoration.

Not one curse can touch my life, because I have died to the law and am "married" to the Gospel...married to Christ. All that is His, is also mine.

Especially His righteousness. His righteousness belongs to me, as sheer gift.

Using the law lawfully has led me to utter fullness in Christ.

Written for you with love...
Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

"I Love...The Church" {February, The Month of Love}

In celebration of this "month of love", why not begin a short series titled, "I Love..."

Pretty open ended.  I like it.  I could go anywhere with this...

...but I will begin with the church.  I.  Love.  The.  Church.  Not just Harvest Church, where my husband is senior pastor - but THE church.  The bride of Christ.  The called-out, chosen ones.  The family of God, the people of God. 

I love the organized church. 
I love the disorganized church.
I love home churches.
I ~love~ small churches.
I love big churches.
I love mega churches.
I love interesting church buildings.
I love church history.
I love all things church.

So, I'm pretty much a church chick.  If you are not part of...and I do mean part of...a local church, I strongly suspect, nay am convinced that you are missing out on one of the biggest, most wonderful, most tedious, most awesome, most wrenching, most indescribably sweet blessings this side of heaven.  You likely think you are blessed without the local church - but that's only because you think the level of blessing you have experienced is all there is.

There is more.

Like...way, way more.

Yeah, it comes at a price.  Most worthwhile things do. 

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

AND THE WINNER IS...{Edie Wadsworth's 31 Days to a Heart of Hospitality E-Book Giveaway}

First of all, a HUGE "thank you" to sweet Edie for generously sharing two of her e-books with my readers/followers/friends.  Thank you so much!

Using www.random.org's number generator, we have winner number one:


True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:19
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Congratulations, Hayley!!

...and now, the second winner, again using random.org's number generator is:

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:6

Congratulations, Sandi Holman!!

 Now, if you will both kindly contact me with your email addresses, I will get you your free download! Now, for the rest of us who didn't win...Edie's e-book is only $5, and so well worth that price. You can still obtain it via her blog www.lifeingraceblog.com.

And...stay tuned...because next week...sometime...I will be hosting a BIG, WONDERFUL giveaway, featuring my small-business-mentor-and-friend Jeanne Oliver!

Original Art For Sale

She's finished...beautifully framed...and for sale in my shop

Written for you with love...

Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

Hospitality {an e-book GIVEAWAY}

Edie Wadsworth, of  Life in Grace has graciously donated TWO downloads of her e-book to TWO Sheila Atchley Designs/Season of Harvest readers!

::cheers, confetti::

For those of you who don't know Edie (which is hard for me to believe...) she has an amazing, amazing story.  One that is still being written.  First of all, her thoughts and theology on grace are right in line with everything The Preacher and I have written/blogged/spoken about for years...the same message of radical grace that I have fought, and even little pieces of me have died for.  I will never leave the subject of grace alone.

Rest assured.  Ever.  Right along with Edie, I am "living a dream I have not earned and do not deserve."  (That was Edie's original blog tag line)

She left a career as a physician to go home, and home educate her children.  That alone makes her as interesting as all get-out, in my book.  She blogs about this part of her life, too.

She lost ~everything~ in a terrible house fire about two years ago...she, her children, and her physician husband Stevie have since rebuilt their home and their life - a life centered around hospitality.

And, this past summer, Better Homes and Gardens featured her home in their magazine!  I swear, I was as thrilled for her as if it was me gracing the pages!  Her home is lovely...so...so Edie.  Quirky.  Different.  Beautiful.

Edie recently blogged about hospitality for 31 days straight, this past October.  (I have yet to scrounge up the courage to take that "October 31 Days Of _______" blogging challenge...kudos, Edie!)  It.  Was.  Wonderful.  Truly, I read every word, every day.  And her tomato soup is to die for.  It has blue cheese, honey, and hot sauce in it, and it changed my life.

In a manner of speaking.

I want to keep this giveaway simple.  If you would love a FREE copy of Edie's E-book (which is such fun to say, twenty times, as fast as you can..."Edie's E-book. Edie's E-book, Ed....never mind)  please simply:

1.  Leave a comment

That's it.  

If you tweet or Facebook about this giveaway, come back and leave an extra comment and let me know.  I will count you twice.  Or thrice.

If you become a follower of my blog, that's another chance to win.

So you have anywhere between one and four or so chances to grab yourself a free copy of this sweet book.

TWO winners to be announced on Thursday!

{A Peek Into My Digital Art Journal}

And I've been dabbling in digital art...using a free app called "53 Paper". Here is a peek into my new digital art journal:




I can't tell you how fun it is to have yet another avenue to test out ideas and color schemes, and just a place to "mess around"...without making a mess at all! I can paint in bed!

Written for you with love...
Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...

Experiences Versus Identity - Another Post in a Series on Middle Age

There is something about turning forty-something.  You suddenly realize that the years you look back on are more in number than the years you likely have to look forward to.  You suddenly realize that in some areas of your experience, there are no do-overs.  And - I do not care who you are, or how wonderfully you think you lived -  you slowly realize you were not the daughter...or spouse...or parent...that you really, really wanted to be.

Because you filled all those roles the only way sinners know how - imperfectly, at best.

Suddenly, you have accumulated a cache of very, very painful experiences.  What to do with the pain?

I have a friend, a dear friend, who came to the devastating realization that a grown child had slid into unimaginable, deviant sin.  With all I have personally been through with my sons, what this friend discovered made me feel like I'd raised angels.

Regret.  Even though none of it was her fault, the instinctive reaction was searing guilt.  Don't we all feel it?  When crisis hits one of our children, we suddenly remember every wrong, hurtful, thoughtless, weary, selfish thing we've ever done - accidentally or on purpose - in the course of our short season as mothers.  No matter how hard we  tried to do all we knew to be right...we, each and every one, fell short of the mark.

When you are twenty-something, and you fall short of the mark, you somehow think you have a few do-overs in your future.  When you are fifty-something, all you can do is remember how you wasted a good many of your do-overs.  Trust me on this.  You better tap into the grace of God, now!

If there was ever a time to identify with who God says we are - middle age is the time.

In the Biblical account of the prodigal son, we call him the prodigal son, but he was really simply a son.  We even sometimes refer to the father as the "Father of the Prodigal", but he was really a dad like any other dad.

Sometimes our perspectives are so skewed by our mistakes, our sin, and our devastating experiences, as to entirely misplace our identity.  The "adulterous woman" was someone other than that to Jesus - just as a sterile man named Abram and his barren wife Sarai were to God the progenitors of nations.

Having a prodigal child is a difficult...beyond difficult...human experience.  Unfortunately, it is an experience common to parents dating back to the garden of Eden.

But it is not an identity.

Being a single parent is a difficult experience - but it is not an identity.

Financial struggles are difficult - but they cannot be allowed to define you.

Losing someone you love to suicide is difficult.  The urge to identify with the event can be compelling.  The Preacher can tell you all about that - his father killed himself when he was eleven years old.  As painful as the experience was, and still is, for him, it is not a part of his identity.  He has never allowed it to be.

"If any man be in Christ, then he has become a new creation..."

No matter what we have already experienced - no matter what we will experience in the future - our true identity must not be those experiences, but rather we are to be found in the Gospel.

Dear one, your life is hid with Christ in God.  You are not "the mother of a prodigal daughter".  You are not a bankrupt human being, regardless of your bank statement.  You are not a recovering alcoholic, a grieving parent, the child of an abusive parent, or even a cancer survivor.  You may be experiencing one (or more!) of those events - painful beyond description, but your experiences must be kept separate from your identity, else you can never rise above the pain.

You are a much-loved daughter of a Father whose power and greatness is all surpassing - you are written into the Father's will, right alongside Christ Jesus.  If it belongs to Him, it belongs to you.

You are righteous.  You are blessed.  You are favored.  You are a delight.  

God Enjoys Speaking To You

Pick a chair by my fire, and let's talk, shall we? I really, really want you to be encouraged to hear the Lord in ways that are Biblical...yet personal. God is personal with you, and wants to relate to you in ways He relates to no one else.

And so, I want to share with you a little of what, and how, God has been speaking to me.

"For you shall be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you..." Job 5:23

This is a word God gave me, recently.

See, I have been reacquainting myself with the positivity of God. I have been side-swiped again by His sense of humor, and by His surpassing ability to handle everything at once. He is a supreme genius, He loves to laugh with me, He "gets" me when no one else does, can correct me and make me love Him for it, and He never....ever...commits me to anything but a winnable war.

That scripture...up top...in the book of Job? It told me last week in no vague manner that the things that normal people consider obstacles to their harvest (rocks...boulders...Gibraltar...wild animals...lions, tigers, and bears) will for me be the helpers of my harvest.

For me, stones and all manner of impenetrable granite, cougars and wild boars will be forced to become willing participants in my version of world domination.

Just because He loves me, and can trust me with a measure of responsibility and authority.

I know, right? Cool word. The sort of word you have to get for yourself, so do be cracking open your Bible.

Written for you with love,
Sheila Atchley

All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...