u/cakkielou

Winter so far has been relatively mild but I hear that is about to change. I painted this one a few years ago when snow was common every winter. It still makes me feel cold looking at it.

I love a good storm rolling in especially when you can smell it coming on the wind. As a kid I would dance in the rain with the lightening flashing and drive mum crazy with worry. Good memories.

I wanted to share my painting with you guys that was inspired by the Catlins rugged coast line. My husbands family have had a crib there for generations and whilst it is not a warm beach its beauty is in its wildness.

I am not sure if you guys will like this one as much as you liked Leap of Faith. I don't often do skyscapes but absolutely adore the dawn as I have wonderful memories of walking in the early light with my dad. Let me know what you think.

I wanted to share my painting with you guys which was inspired by my childhood swimming hole. I would swim in the river at the back of our property and leap off the rocks. Great memories of summer heat. I hope you enjoy it.

I read a book called Hinds on high places , which depicts the souls journey home to Christ. In the book the soul's journey is very hard until finally she is brought up to the heights and is united with Christ. I tried to show something of the experience in my painting pictured here.

I am an Aussie import (married a kiwi as we often do) who fell in love with the landscape of NZ. I know we have our issues but I just go out into the mountains and I feel my spirit lift and breathe in the beauty of them and everything else feels somehow more manageable. I tried to paint the subtle colours in them to capture a small part of their essence that gives so much to me. Does anyone else feel this way about mountains?

Dorothea Mackellar wrote the poem 'My Country" back in 1908 when she was living in England and felt homesick for Australia. I to have felt homesick for OZ many times whilst living in NZ and was reminded of this poem that we use to recite at school as kids. I painted this piece called Scorched Earth inspired by the sentiment of the poem and particularly the line " of droughts and flooding rains". Does anyone else know the poem? Enjoy.

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop famously said in 1867 "We are but travellers here". As she is the patron saint of our diocese in NZ , I was inspired to paint this piece symbolising the travellers journey. It is a good reminder for me not to worry so much as Jesus is in my boat. I would love to hear if you know of St Mary of the cross MacKillop. Enjoy.

I lived for a while at Prince Henry hospital in Little Bay Sydney and loved the cliffs along the seaside. This piece which is a work on paper was inspired by those cliffs. I hope you enjoy it.

My dad was a contract harvester and as a child I would drive for days through western QLD looking for wheat crops as potential jobs for him. We would sleep in the car and I remember it as a magical, adventurous time. Years later I made a monoprint based on my memories of the spirit of the earth out there and all the characters we met. It feels to me like a country that has been kissed by the Gods. What do you think?

I grew up in north western NSW on a virgin bush block. I loved to go into the tangle of gums and bush and hide out from my parents and the chores they would have for me. It was a place of bird song , peace and refuge. This piece I painted was inspired by my love for the gums. Enjoy.

I painted this picture to remind us all that we are on sacred ground when we move through a wild landscape. Our very existence depends on how lightly we tread.

I saw a documentary on the luxury pods hanging off the cliffs in the Sacred Valley near Cusco Peru. I was filled with a sense of the wrongness of it. It made the cliffs look like alien growths hanging off it and it felt like a desecration of a sacred place. The feelings it left me with inspired me to paint this piece showing how much we intrude on and exploit the natural world for our own ends. I would love to know if anyone has been there and how seeing the pods made you feel.

When I was a kid and wanted to escape from the yelling in my house I would run to my secret place hidden in the bush and talk and sing to God. It was a place of green moss and large rocks where the sunlight filtered through the trees and it felt like a place of safety , a place of refuge for me. I painted this to remind me that God is always faithful and provides comfort, peace and strength when I need it. Do you guys have a place where you feel close to God?

I was painting one day in my garage and knew that Jesus needed to be in this picture I was doing but I couldn't paint him no matter how hard I tried. So I eventually gave up after trying for days and said Lord if you want to be in my picture you will have to put yourself in it. After a couple of minutes I noticed this wet purple paint dripping down the canvas and what looked like a bit of an outline of a figure. I picked up the end of a paintbrush and followed the outline I could see and within about 3 minutes I had the figure you can see. I burst into tears and couldn't believe what had just happened. It really made me think that maybe God wanted me to paint for him so I have kept on trying too. Thanks for reading my story and bearing witness to it.