Tip of My Iceberg

You’ve gotta love Disney for creativity and flair.

We went to Epcot this past weekend and experienced the International Festival of the Arts. Being a right-brained kind of gal, this was amazing. A wonderful blend of performing arts, music and food preparation.

One artist that grabbed  my attention was Stephen Fishwick. His art expresses his deep passion for creating things that reflect what’s alive and vibrant. People, animals, living things “with their own story to tell” move him to paint in a way that will inspire others to go after their own dreams.

I like how he thinks.

He began with a black canvas and loud music. Everyone was tapping feet and clapping hands. As he bounced around the canvas, he put both hands in paint and began applying it with the beat.

Mothers in the audience had to be cringing. Jumping around with hands covered in paint wasn’t a message they probably wanted their kids to pick up.

It looked so random. He’d bounce to the side, wipe his hands on a cloth, and bounce in to dip his hands in new colors. He’d put them on in the most arbitrary fashion. It made no sense.

He picked up several paint brushes, dipped them in color and applied them all at once. It looked like a blue blob in the middle of dots of color.

Very haphazard. People stood, heads bent to the side or just staring as he continued.

I was clueless as to what he was painting.

He was being purposeful.

Murmurings began in the crowd as to what it might be. No one was sure. People had ideas.

It wasn’t until he was almost done that I figured out what it was.

He’d been painting Donald Duck. Upside down.

When I see an artist painting a picture, I figure he’s doing it the way he wants us to see it. Right-side up. To have Stephen intentionally paint a picture upside down made my perception totally wrong.

No wonder I couldn’t tell what the picture was.

God is the ultimate Artist. He’s painting our stories with us now, and often we don’t grasp the bigger picture of what’s happening.

Often it feels very upside down.

So many things in my life seem arbitrary. Haphazard. There are days my canvas seems pretty black.

The splashes of color that represent growth and experience, good and bad, are the bursts of life we experience. The bright colors of joy and gladness; the somber colors of pain and loss. The picture painted is full, rich and beautiful.

A lot of times I don’t see why things are the way they are. Why something has to happen when it seems to be unnecessary pain.

Pictures without the deep hues, the dark greens, purples and blues, can often seem lacking.

The colors work together in beauty.

God is painting my whole story.

He allows dark color in my life, but not to see me hurting. I experience the consequences of my choices and the choices of the world. My story becomes fuller with all the shades of the color palette.

You’ve gotta appreciate God for His creativity and flair.