Before I began to paint, before I even imagined I would paint, I worked as a waitress to help with our family income. During that time, I attended a little Bible study of a few women. As we began our weekly meeting with prayer I think I fell asleep because much like Alice in Wonderland, I found myself in another place: I was walking barefoot in a warm and sunny garden, the sun was bright and I could hear bees buzzing in the air; it was warm and peaceful. I approached a screened in sun porch and strained my eyes to see inside. I could make out a person standing at an easel who invited me to enter. It was cool in the sunroom. My eyes were still adjusting to the contrast of light, but my feet could feel the comforting pleasant coolness of the stone floor. I thought at the time that the stones felt as if they were alive, they were definitely rejoicing. The stones sent their song into me through the bottom of my feet, much like a master massage. As I began to see the Artist, I noticed that He was painting with sticks of color which were leaning upright in a basket beside His easel. The paint sticks and the canvas He was painting on were also alive. The paint and the canvas became one as they danced. The painter’s face was in the shadow, being contrasted by the sun outside, and I could not see what He was painting but I heard his voice inside me. All of the air was filled with music, a symphony of voices were singing outside. He leaned out and asked the voices to sing a little more quietly. Then He spoke to me at length. I have never been able to bring into my conscious mind what he said but, I listened closely and loved our conversation. I loved being in the sunroom with Him. Our moments together had a timeless quality to them. They were now. Just being there was pleasure in its purest sense.
At some point, I felt myself being pulled back into my body. I did not want to go back. I wanted to stay there with Him. Tumbling back into this world, my heart was longing to stay with Him. I wanted His reality to be my reality. He answered me in return with laughter and love in His voice: “My reality IS your reality”. I opened my eyes to what seemed only seconds later but my life had already been altered. It was literally only a few weeks later a houseguest gifted me with a book by Betty Edwards “Drawing from the Artist Within”. Another gate had been opened for me into this world of Creativity. It was the beginning of a whole new adventure…