Devotion based on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflower paintings

One of my children’s art classes once began a sunflower project based on Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings. They looked at the flowers up-close, and saw that sunflowers have huge round centers and large petals. The children decided they should use curvy lines to draw the petals, and that some had rounded ends, while others came to a point.

Sunflowers, 1889, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, public domain

 

While the children drew large sunflowers, they chattered about the bright yellows and oranges they’d add next time.

 

But then we missed class for 2 weeks. And in those two weeks, all the sunflowers lining our roads and looming tall over gardens had mostly disappeared and those that were left looked like this painting of sunflowers done by Van Gogh.

Sunflowers, 1887, by Vincent van Gogh, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, public domain

Have you ever started an art project but for some reason, couldn’t finish it right away?

Do you sometimes wish summer and the colorful flowers God has created could last a little longer?

Isaiah may have wished that, too, but the changing seasons reminded Him of something that doesn’t change and will stand forever—God’s Word. He wrote, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8, NIV)

Even though we had to use photos to finish the pictures, they turned out beautiful. God has made flowers beautiful to look at. They satisfy our love of color, but a flower’s beauty does fade. The beauty of the Word of God never fades, though, because it teaches us about the Lord and leads us to the living Word, Jesus Christ, and His love and forgiveness.

Match the following verses to what they tell us about God’s Word:

Psalm 18:30                                    We must correctly handle God’s Word

2 Timothy 2:15                                Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Psalm 119:11                                  God’s Word is a light for our path

Psalm 119:105                                God’s word is flawless (perfect)

Matthew 4:4                                     We must hide God’s Word in our hearts

Discuss why we need God’s word even more than bread (food) and how:

• To correctly handle God’s Word
• To hide it in our hearts
• It is a light to our path.

Activity: choose one of the verses to hide in your heart this week. To help you memorize it, write it out and decorate it with bright colors.

Prayer: We thank you, Lord for Your Word that lights our path and tells us of the hope we have in Jesus, the Living Word. In His name we pray, amen

Van Gogh’s father was a minister and not long after his death, Vincent painted this still life of his father’s Bible.  Vincent, himself had once ministered to poor coal mining families in the Netherlands.

Still Life with Bible, 1885, by Vincent Van Gogh, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, public domain

Before You Go

My fall newsletter is all about a time when beautiful copies of God’s Word were threatened, and a courageous man and woman rescued one book, the Codex Aureus. Over a thousand years later, we can still see the Codex Aureus! Sign up above for my newsletter, and I’ll see that you not only get the free guide to help make museum visits a fun masterpiece for the whole family, but also my fall newsletter.

You may also want to visit the kids’ corner page on my website to download a template for writing and decorating a Bible verse.

Molly and I hope you enjoyed this devotion based on Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings. We hope you’ll come back next week for a fun art project also based on the paintings. Better yet, subscribe to our blog and never miss another post!

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God, the Ultimate Artist/Naturalist

Remember the mysterious 7-mile wide blob on Denver’s weather radar in the fall of 2018 that began this nature series? It turned out to be painted lady butterflies invading Colorado in never-before-seen numbers. That post led to my summer-long series about artist/naturalists and suggestions for how to study nature in our own neighborhoods.

Now let’s come back to the butterflies and the ultimate artist/naturalist—God. With unbelievable creativity, wisdom, and power, He created all that exists and continues to uphold and preserve His creation. He designed painted lady butterflies with their intricate patterns of orange and black and gave them the instinct to head south when autumn winds blow.

Among several posters I always kept up in my classroom was one of a little boy holding a fuzzy yellow duckling and gazing intently at it. The Bible verse said, “Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.” Job 37:14

That’s just what Molly and I have been doing. We stood still to watch hundreds of butterflies fluttering on the same bush and lone bumblebees gathering nectar on a single flower. We saw red-winged blackbirds land on thin cattails, hardly bending them, and goldfinches plucking seeds from thistle flowers without getting hurt.

In early summer I considered that both swallows and red-winged blackbirds eat insects, but swallows soar through the air to catch flying insects, while red-winged blackbirds hop along the ground to find their insect lunches. God has truly provided for all the birds of the air. Matt. 6: 26

Now as summer fades, I consider the golden sunflowers God has spread across every field and along every roadside, and am reminded of how God clothes the lilies of the field in splendor. Matt 26:28-29

All summer I’ve considered how perfectly these wondrous works point to our Creator God. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:20

God is also the ultimate author/teacher, and His Word clearly shows us that our Creator God is also our loving Heavenly Father, who cares for our daily needs and especially sent His Son to die for us so we may become new creatures in Christ, (2 Cor. 5:17) loving God and trying to live our lives for Him.

God knows that we need concrete pictures to learn spiritual lessons (just look at the lowly things Jesus used in His parables!)

So it’s not at all strange for Christian writers and artists to use the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly to illustrate the new creatures we become in Christ.When the Holy Spirit gives us a new heart to believe in Christ, we are newly dressed in Christ’s righteousness, and just as butterflies receive new compound eyes that see much better than caterpillar eyes, our eyes are opened to see the beauty of Christ and to want to know Him and live for Him more and more.

Through science we can now see just how apt an illustration metamorphosis is. The latest research shows that the changes are even more profound than once thought. Inside its pupa the parts of the caterpillar actually liquefy and rearrange to become a butterfly.

So I think we can see that this transformation of the butterfly not only helps us appreciate what God does initially to change us, but is also a wonderful illustration of what will happen when Christ returns for His people. As Paul explains,

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must cloth itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:  “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” I Cor. 15:51-54

In that day the miracle of people being transformed from the perishable to the imperishable will way, way outdo even the marvel of butterfly metamorphosis, and when people from every tribe and nation are caught up in the air with their changed bodies to meet Christ and live with Him forever, that will outnumber the greatest butterfly migrations ever!   

Hallelujah, What a Savior!!

 

 

 

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I’m taking a short break to finish up a proposal for a book of devotions and activities for families, but be sure to sign up to receive these posts so you don’t miss out on the next art subject  —  What’s up with Claude Monet and all those paintings of haystacks and cathedrals??

Molly’s taking a break, too, to play with her favorite ball!

 

Writing Poems about Nature

In my posts this summer, I’ve introduced or reminded you of several naturalists:

Maria Sibylla Merian public domain, wikimedia

Titian Ramsay Peale II public domain, wikimedia

 

Maria Sibylla Merian and Titian Ramsay Peale II whose rediscovered nature illustrations have perhaps inspired you to go exploring with a sketchbook in hand.

Beatrix Potter and her dog Kep, wikimedia commons

wikimedia commons

Beatrix Potter, whose children’s books are familiar to us all, but perhaps not her lifelong interest in nature, and who may be inspiring you to write stories about the creatures you’ve seen and studied this summer.

All three of these naturalists studied plants and creatures right where they lived.

And so did poet, Aileen Fisher (1906-2002),  who wrote books of poetry for children, mostly about the nature all around us. Fisher grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, received a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and received many awards for her poetry. Eventually she settled in Colorado.

You can find some of her books at libraries, and lots of them are available from second hand suppliers through Amazon. Fisher’s poetry is in many anthologies, and some of her books have been re-released in recent years with new illustrations.

Here’s a poem by Aileen Fisher from her book, Out in the Dark and Daylight, published in 1980.

Bumblebee

I sat as still

as a playing-dead possum

and watched a bee

on a clover blossom,

Watched him poking

his long thin tongue

into the blossoms

pink and young,

Heard him bumble

and sort of sneeze

as pollen stuck

to his two hind knees.

I held my breath

as the bee buzzed over,

and hoped I didn’t

look sweet as clover.

Can you find two comparisons in the poem?

Yes, “still as a playing-dead possum” and “sweet as clover.” Comparisons help to create pictures for the reader. A comparison of two things using the words like or as is called a simile.

In the same poem are two examples of another type of figurative language. These are words that imitate sounds, such as clunk, thud, boom, cheep. Even the name of this type of word sounds wonderful!  Onomatopoeia.

What 2 words does Fisher use in this poem that imitate sounds? Yes, bumble and buzzed.

Poetry also often rhymes and has some rhythm. Aileen Fisher is a master at both of these. Here’s another poem from the same book.

Cricket Song

Did you ever see

a cricket’s ears

stick out upon his head?

You certainly didn’t

since they grow

below his knees instead.

It’s good he doesn’t

put stockings on

and cover his knees up tight,

or how could he hear

the songs he sings

night after autumn night?

 

Now it’s your turn to write some nature poems.

Choose a plant, a place, weather, or a creature or two that you’d like to write about

1. Brainstorm all the ways you’d describe your subject. Include how they look—furry, scaly, feathery, colors, etc. How they move (even plants move as they follow the sun or blow in the wind). Where they live and what that looks like. What they eat and how they catch it. What is dangerous for them. Anything you learned from your research. Remember to think of sounds and smells, and how something might feel
2. Think of how you could turn some of these descriptive words into rhymes, similes, or onomatopoeia.
3. If you’re familiar with other forms of figurative language, such as alliteration, metaphors, or personification, you can try those, too, but it’s probably best to stick to just a few types of figurative language in any one poem. And your poem doesn’t even have to rhyme. Lots don’t!
4. Here are some of my brainstorming thoughts organized into a couple poems. These two poetry forms might help you organize your thoughts also.

Concrete Poem

A concrete poem follows the shape of your subject or an action. Draw your shape on one piece of paper and darken it so it can be seen through another paper. Lay the second sheet over the drawing, and write your poem along those lines. When you remove the paper, you’ll have a poem in the shape you originally drew. Mine follows Molly’s lying-down shape!

 

Name Poem

In a “name” poem, each letter of your subject, such as sunflower, is used as the beginning letter of each line of your poem.  Each line tells something about the subject.

         SUNFLOWER

Sunshine on my shelf

blUe delft dishes shining

Now filling every field

Fuzzy brown centers

Lining dusty roadsides

gOlden pollen grains raining down

Windblown but still blazing

Everyone snapping photos

biRds feasting on sunflower seeds

SUNFLOWER

I bet you can do a lot better, and I hope you’ll send in a poem so I can post some on this blog.

 

Here’s Molly getting up close with a painted butterfly last autumn. That butterfly didn’t stick around long!!

 

You don’t want to miss the next Picture Lady post, which will help connect our summer nature studies with some thoughts from God’s Word. So be sure to sign up.

For those of you who follow the Picture Lady on Facebook, Facebook is changing many policies, and will no longer automatically post from WordPress. I will continue to do it manually, but you might want to just find and start following Molly and me on WordPress. kathythepicturelady@wordpress.com