~Sea Gulls~

"Sea Gull Collage"

(This picture is made up of many different pieces:

- the autumn leaves, taken from photographs of a local artist,

printed in a local journal-magazine.

- the lavender, pictures from an article I'd saved for years,

about lavender's healing, medicinal properties,

and the weathered farmer's hand, holding a bouquet.

- pieces of zebra fur pattern, from a magazine ad for a fashion company,

saved since I was a teenager.

- the seagulls flying over the ocean, a picture saved from a calendar.

- the flowers popping out of the grassy field,

and background trees; pictures saved for years, from a magazine.

- the waterfall, a magazine photograph from the

hot spring falls of Zarqa Ma'in, near the Dead Sea.

Patterns of nature, Creation

Pieces of the world in one fractalized picture.

Fringes places in layers,

making it all come together. 

Curved edges, to create flow,

the life flow of newness,

of water's ebb & flow.

And holes that create patterns

through which we can see.

The seagulls remind me of an all time favorite book of mine,

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Jonathan Bach

Some quotes from the story:

"You have the freedom to be yourself,

your true self, here and now,

and nothing can stand in your way."

"The only true law

is that which leads to freedom,"

Jonathan said.  "There is no other."

"The gull who sees farthest who flies highest."

While I'm collaging, I don't have a vision of

what the final piece is going to look like. 

I just grab the pictures that feel like the right ones

to be put together into one piece at the time,

and I cut, place and glue them on paper.   

The act of collaging is freeing,

and something within me receives healing

as I replace, rearrange, and piece back together.

Collage represents what is happening to my life

at this point in time, by the One who is leading. 

Through the act of this process,

I hear a Voice speaking to my heart, teaching. 

This piece, specifically, it's about freedom. 

Set your heart on being free, the Voice tells me,

and I breathe deep, and I follow.

A Word of Life comes to me,

stitching the pieces together:

 ^"So, my friends," Paul is writing,

"...when Christ died he took that entire
rule-dominated way of life down with him
and left it in the tomb, leaving you
free to "marry" a resurrection life...
But now that we're no longer shackled
to that domineering mate of sin,
and out from under all those oppressive
regulations and fine print,
we're free to live a new life in the
freedom of God."

I am grateful for this.

~Brianne