Pray and Paint || The Social Easel

Hey guys, how's everybody doing today? We are gonna be doing something a little bit different today than I normally do with you guys. So we're still gonna be painting, but we're also gonna talk about what painting does for us and how we can use it when we have hard times. And how we can focus on God's truth when we're in those hard times as well. So I'm gonna pull you guys up really quick so I can see your comments. Let me know if you can see everything okay. I'm gonna move this down so you can see some examples of what I'm working on. How's the connection? Are we good? If you guys will shoot me a couple comments up really quick and let me know. If not, I may have to test our connection out. Hey Rosalyn, connection working good for you guys? Okay, so these are a couple of hand lettering traceables that I get from my friend Casey Hope over at Pizzazz Art Studio. So if you want her link later to get your hands on some of these freebies, then I will, I will post that in the comments here in a minute. Hold on, I'm gonna— maybe it's my iPad acting up, not the, not my phone. Okay, but these are— Casey and I went live on her page earlier this week, and this was one of the traceables. I'm in her membership, and this was one of the traceables we got a few months ago. And it's one of my favorite verses. So this is what I did, and she wanted me to show people what you can do with these because this is what they come like when you get them, and they're just grayed out lettering, and it's to practice getting your lettering down. And then, you know, I like to add to them and make them pretty, so she likes sharing that with her members so they can see that too. So hopefully that inspires you guys as well, but you can jump over to her page and and get some freebies of these. But these— this is the one I did with her earlier this week, and this is one of my favorite ones that I did quite a long while ago, and I actually have this hanging on my fridge. So, and I'm gonna try not to cry, and there's a reason you're not seeing my face today, because I look a bit like a hot mess. And we'll get there. By tonight, I'll be fine. But I wanted to talk a little bit about why art is healing, in addition to remaining in Scripture and remaining in truth when hard things happen. Because yesterday Sorry, yesterday afternoon I got some news that I didn't want to hear, and sorry, someone that I love a whole bunch was diagnosed with cancer yesterday. So I found this out, and, and keep in mind that you guys have probably noticed that you've seen me a whole bunch lately because we are in the middle of opening my membership to new members, and I only open it 2 times a year. And this is one of those times. And we close the doors tonight at midnight. And so I had 4 Facebook Lives scheduled yesterday and only ended up being able to do 2 of them because I found this news out yesterday after I got done with my first Facebook Live, which was some interviews with my— some of my tribe members. And then I, and then I got a phone call telling me the news, and I didn't really even have time to process it fully because I had, I had it, I already had this, this next life scheduled, and I had to get right back on. And I went over on my friend Cindy's page yesterday from Art Shattered. If you want to go watch that, we did buffalo plaid pumpkins. And it was honestly, I think, a God thing that it did happen that way, because I needed the— I needed the distraction. And I couldn't— finding out Finding out that someone has cancer is something that none of us want to hear. It's like that— it's that phone call that none of us want. But there was a— there was nothing that me worrying about it and dwelling on it and thinking about it was going to help. And I knew that the best thing for me to do was to jump over on Cindy's page like I had planned. And that's what I did. And that's why I want to talk a little bit about what art can do for you, because after just getting that news, you know, I collected myself and I was like, okay, it'll be fine. I know God is in control of this. He knew this was gonna happen. Um, I know that he has good plans for me. I know that he has them for my family member and that we're gonna be okay. And, um, and so I jumped over to Cindy's page and she, she knew what had happened. Um, we had talked right beforehand and, you know, she was like, do you still want to do it? And I was like, yeah, I do. Let's you know, let's go ahead and do it. And this is what I want to say about art and painting and what it can do for you. It's not just about learning to paint. It's, it's not about becoming a better artist. Those things are great, and I want them for you, but art is so much more than that, and painting is so much more than that, and it's therapy. And it's a stress relief, and it gives you time away from your problems. Because worrying about our problems does not solve anything. It doesn't make God work any harder. He has it all in his hands and it's all in his control. And me sitting at home and worrying about it was not going to help anything. But me getting on there yesterday with Cindy, we painted for an hour And for that hour, I didn't have to think about it. And so, you know, I was talking to some of my team about how to handle this because after I got off with Cindy yesterday, then, then, you know, things hit me a little bit harder and I just, I just needed to walk away from the business and I needed to walk away. I couldn't get on and talk to you guys. I can't. I couldn't get on and be cheerful. I just didn't want to. I just, I I just wanted to walk away from all of it, but I'm in the middle of this launch and, and, you know, trying to share with you guys and make sure that everybody knows about it, because when the doors close, they close. And so I talked to my team about it and my, my friends, and they totally stepped in for me, and they helped me with my business yesterday, and they hosted watch parties, and they answered questions for people who were curious about things, and they totally stepped in and let me have the rest of the day for myself to kind of process and deal with things. Um, and just all of it, all of yesterday was just a reminder for me, one, that God is in control and that we just have to lift up our voices to him to pray for healing and to pray for comfort and answers and all of those things. But it was also a reminder of how important it is to have a tribe of women around you that love you, that support you, um, that take care of you when you need, when you need them to. And that's what my friends did for me yesterday, and it was amazing to have people who can step in and do that for you. But I'm thinking about all this, and I'm thinking about today, and today's the last day, and I have a lot of stuff planned for you guys today. Um, like I said, right now I kind of look like a hot mess because I did a lot of crying yesterday, so my eyes are a little puffy. I have no makeup on, and, uh, and that's fine. Um, I'm gonna rest a little bit today, but I am gonna be painting with you guys later this afternoon and then again tonight. But I wanted to get on— for me, I'm still saying it's morning because my day's just been a little hectic. I wanted to get on this morning and show you a little bit different kind of painting, something that I do. This is, this is for me. This is my me time. This is how— this is my time with God to do these scripture cards, to do these traceables, and think about the words. That I'm reading and that I'm writing while I'm painting a painting to go with them. Um, it's very, very peaceful to me, and I just want to make sure that people understand that that's what art can do for you. And art is so healing, and it is so much more than just about learning techniques and learning how to do it, but just involving yourself in the process and just allowing yourself that time to let your brain just go, to to let it calm down, to not think about things for, for a little bit. It's so good for us. It's so good for us to have that healthy escape away from things. And I just felt like God put it on my heart to share that with you guys this morning and to be completely honest with you about what's going on. In my life right now. And there's never good timing for this. There's never a good time when someone can call you and say that. But I had the wind just knocked out of me yesterday, and I had to take the rest of the day to kind of, you know, get myself together and calm down and spend time with my girls. And, um, today I woke up with peace. Um, yeah, I'm still crying because it doesn't— it still hurts. Um, but I woke up with peace knowing that God's got it all under control. And as long as I remain in him, and as long as I rise up every day and pray to him, and I know that he's taking care of me, and that's the truth that I have too. When we go through hard stuff Not every day is going to be easy, and he never promised us that it would be, but he did promise us that he would be there with us. And that's what we have to hang on to, and that's what I'm hanging on to today. And I'll get through this, and I know that his strength is going to help me through it, and ultimately things will be okay. But I wanted to get on and I just wanted to share that with you guys and let you know where I'm at and what's going on in my life. Things will be okay. But I wanted to get on and share that with you this morning. I will be back later this afternoon for some more fun stuff. I do have lots of fun things planned for the day. You know, I didn't— did I get my emails out like I had planned? You know, did I get everything done on my to-do list that I wanted to do? No, I didn't. But it'll be okay. Shawna, someone that I love very much was diagnosed with cancer yesterday, so yeah, I just kind of, you know, no one wants to hear it. Thank you, Sherry. Sherry was saying it causes us to be able to focus on the present moment. And to even commune with our Creator. Absolutely agree. And you guys may see me with some puffy eyes later, who knows. But that's what we're doing today, and I'm using watercolor on these traceables, and then I got these I got these brush pens that also work with watercolor. They're really cool. I used them the other day when I was with Casey. But have you guys heard that song Beautiful Things? You make beautiful things, and God can take the saddest moments and make them beautiful. And that's what I'm gonna use this moment for, is I'm gonna remain in Him, and I'm gonna rise up and pray to Him every single day. And I'm gonna see the beauty in that, and I'm gonna paint that beauty, and I'm gonna paint the beauty that He's given us, that He's surrounded us with every single day. And in the process, I'm gonna share some new techniques that you may not know about, and you may learn something here while you're with me today. About painting that you didn't know, because that's, that's where I get my healing from, and that's how God chooses to give it to me. And He's given me that gift to share with others, and that's what I want to do this morning. So these— you saw me just kind of do that with that brush pen, and then I can go into watercolor here and just some water on my brush and start softening those lines. I can leave them a little darker in some areas if I want to. And we'll know more— I'll know more Friday about how to move forward with the diagnosis that this person got and, and more of what we can expect. But I'll keep you guys updated as, as I know more, and I'll let you know so you can continue praying for healing and for guidance and for comfort. But I love painting these little scenes on these cards that Casey has. They are just so good for me. They are good for my soul. Yes, Robin, I love the Footprints poem. I used to love it so much when I was a little girl. It was my favorite thing. I had a a necklace that reminded me of it, and I had a little bookmark of it. I think I had a little sign of it in my room. But there is never a moment he is not with us. That is for sure. Thank you guys for the prayers. All right, now I'm trying to decide what color I want to do this. Chapel here. So who else out there watching uses painting as kind of your own therapy or stress reliever? Helps reduce anxiety? Sometimes when I'm having a hard day, I literally just— I'm like, I want to just lock myself in my studio and and paint. And I always feel better when I'm done. Always, always, always. And some of my best artwork has come from, um, moments of sadness. And not that the paintings are necessarily sad, but it's just my release. And so then I end up creating something beautiful in the process. These pens are so fun because they work with the watercolor too. And we're gonna do maybe some stained glass windows inside of here. That's awesome, Sherry. Maybe you can share with people the benefits that come from painting and the therapy— or the therapeutic benefits of it, I guess I should say. I love doing stained glass. It's so fun. So we've got red and green. Maybe a little bit of gold in here. Sheri, I got these pens. I found them. I was gonna buy more Tombow pens because that's the name brand of these brush pens that you use for hand lettering and stuff. And then I went to Hobby Lobby and I found this amazing set. There's 36 of them in here. And they're exactly the same as Tombow. They have a thin tip on one side, a brush tip on the other. They were only $20, and then I used my 40% off coupon, so it was a steal, and I'm really, really happy with them. There's so many good colors. Thank you, Kathy. I'm trying to keep the music quiet so Facebook doesn't pick it up, because sometimes they block your videos if they hear licensed music in the background, which is really annoying. It's not like I'm trying to bootleg it or something. I'm listening to it, but Facebook and all their rules. So I'm just kind of bouncing back and forth between my watercolor and my pens. How many of you guys have worked with watercolor before, or is it a foreign thing to you? Exactly, Shawna. I mean, it's definitely not about trying to be perfect or anything. It's just enjoying the process, which is, you know, I try to tell my tribe sisters all the time, trust the process, enjoy the process. This is supposed to be relaxing, not stressful. Just have fun being creative. It's so good for us in so many ways. That had too much water in it. And when you're painting— this is cardstock that I'm painting on, and it will kind of, you know, like bow up on you, but all you have to do to get it flat like this other one I have is just like put it under a really heavy book or brick or whatever you want it. And I have a watercolor expert that came and was a guest speaker in my group last month. So I dabble in it, and I know enough to, you know, make, make some pretty things, but I am no expert in watercolor. So in my group, I have experts come in for what I feel like they are better at than me. Casey, who does the hand lettering that I'm showing you guys right here, she is also a guest inside my membership. So if you are not already a member, doors close tonight at midnight. And inside the painting membership with me, it's called Christie's Inner Tribe. You get 3 new acrylic paintings per month with me, 3 new designs every single month. And then the 4th week of the month, we either have a guest artist like Casey or the watercolor artist that I mentioned, several different people who focus in different areas, or we have a business coach come in to talk to you guys. About the business side of things, because some people are starting to turn their little painting hobby that they never thought was gonna be a business is now turning into a business, whether it's paint nights or doing like selling one-off, you know, all that kind of stuff. Let's add some flowers over here. We need some Some color. I need some more color in this painting. Maybe it's in a field of flowers, and you can just create your own little world here. There's no rules. You can make it whatever you want. Callie says she's trying to start an art journal. I pray and have conversations with the Lord. I just feel uplifted when I talk to him. Yeah, that's awesome. I have not started an art journal, but these have kind of become that for me. It would actually be cool to turn these into like a little book or something even. And you know, you could also— Casey has these free over on her page. You could do these and give them as gifts to people too. I mean, how uplifting would that be? And such a beautiful gift to give someone. Mary says she's new, she doesn't paint well, but following. That is what it's all about, Mary. Let go of the perfectionism. It's— I know it's hard, especially if you tend to be type A, you know, personality, but painting and art is so much more fun when you let go of the rules. So much more fun. I mean, I'll teach you techniques on how to do things, but then I want you guys to turn it into your own. Linda said she loves the watercolors. They're soft and unpredictable. They are. You kind of never know what you're gonna get. But I think I'm liking this so far. I'm gonna add— I've got this— I'm trying to figure out what I— I think that was metallic gold that I used on my other chapel over here. I've got this metallic gold watercolor. Oh, awesome, Linda, you got your free traceables. Oh yeah, I love this metallic. It's so pretty. I put gold in almost everything I paint. It's just what I do. I'll probably come back over my stained glass with a little Sharpie in a little bit. Pat, if you go to Pizzazz, I'll put a link here. After. I wonder if I can tag Casey. I don't think she's on here. I'll put a link here after for her free traceables. She's one of my friends, and we went live the other day on her page, and we did this together. So you guys check out Pizzazz Art Studio, and it's P-Z. There is no I in that, but if you type in Pizzazz Art Studio, you'll find her on Facebook. You guys can go back. I shared the live on here. You could go scroll down my page and find probably find it as well. But yes, she has an awesome freebie. I love these things. I get them every single month because I'm in her membership, and then we do other hand lettering projects. She's gonna be coming into my membership as well and doing a fall project with us. It's hard for you guys to see. My flowers are not that dark. They look really dark on that. Oh, my cat is meowing like crazy. And they're just messy little blobs. It's nothing, nothing fancy there. I could use— Oh cool, Callie, you can, you can message me on the SocialEasel page if you want to. That is really fine tip. I don't think I want it that fine. I'm gonna do a bunch of little dots. I have— I'm actually going to be posting inside the Inner Tribe later today because I was going through paintings and have about 8 different options of some holiday ones that I'm going to be sharing with you guys. And let you vote on which ones you want to do. So inside my tribe, they get a lot of say in what we do in there. So it's not always me just deciding what paintings we have. I let them have lots of feedback in there as well. All right, I think I'm gonna leave it like that, and then I'm gonna go back over my lettering because my my watercolor kind of whited it out a little bit. And then I'm gonna add my gold highlights that I love, and I always add them on my lettering. So the few tips I've learned from Casey, and you probably watching me do it, is on your downward strokes, always outline the letter first, and then you go back and thicken it up on your downward stroke. But I love Casey's handwriting. This is all her handwriting, and then she turns them into traceables for us. I think it's always important to keep your mind open, even if you are already an artist. I don't think you ever quit learning. I mean, I learned from my friends, and I've learned from other artists all throughout my life. I don't think you ever get to that point where you're like, okay, well, I learned it all. I don't need help from anyone. I mean, also, what a sad thing. I love learning, though. I love learning new techniques and new styles. I'm constantly evolving my style of art the more I grow. It's just fun to see what happens. The more you do it, the more you discover what you really love and what your passion is. Thank you for sharing the video. If you guys think this will help someone today who might be going through something, um, go ahead and spread that love, and hopefully this will reach the right person who needs to hear it today. But I think what a blessing it is that God gives us. I mean, what— I mean, when you really, when you think about that, what an amazing gift that he gave us that he gave us art as a way to heal, as a way to feel close to him. It's really kind of an amazing thing that he gave us this creative desire, and I believe that we all have it. And there are people out there who will say, I can't draw a stick figure, you know, I I'll never be able to paint. And the fact is, that's just not true. I've taught thousands of women how to paint over the past 6 years, and 95% of those people have never painted before and said those exact same things to me. And this is what I believe is true. God is the original creator, and he created us in his image. And if we believe that, and we believe that he's a creator, then we believe that he also gave us that creativity. And I— that's what I believe. And I believe everyone has it inside of them. They just haven't had it pulled out yet, or don't have the right resources to, or haven't been guided in the right way. But I believe each one of us has creativity inside of us, and He instilled it in us. And I've seen it come to fruition in my membership again and again and again, whether it's women using painting for healing to get through rough times, to battle depression, which I also suffer from and is, you know, another reason I love art so much. or to go through hard times, or just to relax and just forget the day's stresses. It's so, so important, and it's good for you regardless of if you have any experience in it or not. So now I'm just going to go over with my gold pen, and I usually just start on one side. Need to get this a little bit more. Never push your paint pen down on the piece of art you are working on. You will have paint everywhere. That's awesome, Kelly. I'm glad. Don't you love the gold? I love the gold. You can decide how much you want to add. It doesn't have to be a on everything, but I sure love it. All right, my friends, I hope that was uplifting for you and not too sad, but we all go through sad stuff. But this is what I do. This is my healing, and these are some of the verses that I hold, hold this truth in my heart. And I love having these around the house, and I love turning them into beautiful pieces of art. And it's something that any of you can do. So I will post that link for Casey's page, and if you just go to the top of her page, I believe you can get those free print-offs. And then if you want more information about learning to paint with me, just comment "tribe" And my membership is called the Inner Tribe. Just comment "tribe" and I'll send you a personal message with some information about it. But doors close at midnight tonight, and you get 3 paintings per month with me, as well as a guest artist or speaker each month, and immediate access to over 45 video tutorials in our membership hub that we already have in there. Live Q&As, templates, all kinds of goodness, and our amazing community of women. That I absolutely love and adore who lift you up and pray for you and encourage you, especially in times like this. So thanks, guys. I will be back on probably in just a few hours, and, and then I'm gonna go live later tonight at 8:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. But the next time I come on live with you, I'll probably put my face together and so you can see me. But we're gonna be making this really cool sign that it's gonna be my Tribe Sister sign, and I'm gonna hang it above of my art desk where I do all my painting, and I'm going to be adding the names of all the new members that we've had join our tribe. So I'm going to get my list printed off. We've had over 120 women join us so far, and so I'm going to be adding all those names on, and it's going to be kind of this cool graffiti-style piece of art that I'm going to hang above my desk. So if you want to come watch me do that later, you can jump back and join me in a few hours. And I'm only sending out one Facebook Live alert today so you guys don't get bombarded started with them, and I'll send that one out for the 8 PM live paint class. If you haven't already, you can go vote. There's a post up for you to vote which painting you want me to do tonight at 8 PM, and the winning post is going to be what I paint. So I will see you guys soon. Bye!