The Artist's Life

The Artist’s Life was never even a vision of my future growing up. I was an adventure crazed, fashion floundering, hyper, athletic tom-boy. My vision of creativity was stifled by the need to go, the need to make myself something, instead of settling into who I was.

Many people find themselves reluctant to sit and be, and thus, find themselves prolonging their true, unique self by busying their lives with “everyday adventures”. What is typical in humanity isn’t truly living. I found myself, in the event of finding myself, burying the gem inside me, with the rubble of the World.

In 2006, I took my first overseas trip. It was a mission trip to Honduras, and it was there that I first met Jonathan Howe. At 17 years old, he was the heart throb artist surrounded by a group of your typical, athletic males. The big stature, the athletic flaunting of the young men there, didn’t grab the attention of the girls there… It was the carvings, the paintings, and the beauty that Jonathan created that captured their heart in fact; it also was the flamboyant, unhindered worship of God that grabbed their attention. Silly me, I was still captured by the World’s illustration of beautiful, and totally missed the “be inspired to be different memo”.

But God always seems to guide you, even through your misguided blunders. And luckily, the other girls never captured his attention.

It was 6 years later when I saw him again! My life had moved from trite quests for meaning, to the process of peaceful, pleasant, meaningful, simple pursuits.  I was, who I was, for a specific purpose, and that purpose was valuable to God.

Jonathan was at a small local bible college, and it just so happened that I ended up at the same place, at the same time. It was a year after that, that we got married.

Jonathan was still pursuing his art, and was venturing into doing it full time. He was strong, and established in who he was. Little did I know how much marriage to him would chance me for the better!

We got married, and suddenly I found myself working from home, pursuing a business, submerged in Jonathan’s paintings, and blessed with the time to really think, and invest into what I found myself falling in love with. And ever since, I have seen beauty in new things, what used to be menial things are now blessings in the scope of my life. I can create, I can write, think, clean, travel, and use gifts within me that I never even knew were there. I am finding myself becoming better at LIFE than ever I was when I was running around pursuing fruitless thrills. I am establishing a heritage and a future, instead of wasting away the potential God placed in me.

 Being married to an artist, and living The Artist’s Life means you exist to be creative and flexible, to experiment with new and better things, to make everything around you beautiful, and meaningful. You exist to experience the best, to make the best out of all you do. And when you do all you do to the glory of God, in the scope of creativity that opens doors no one knew existed.

So why did I ever begin this journey I call “The Artists Life”?  Because life is too good to not share it! And frankly, because who wouldn't want to brag about an artist with art like this?! God  is good, all the time!