Leanne Shawler, Artist

OK, so it just won't be links on race relations, which has been a huge topic here in the United States, but there will be other interesting blog posts as well. First, if you haven't yet watched President Obama speak at Clementa Pinckney's funeral, please do. It's 40 minutes, but it's 40 compelling minutes. Amazing grace indeed. (Start it at the 1:20 mark.) Race relations: Repenting of 'Colorblindness' by Rachel Held Evans is a powerful piece " Afterwards, a black woman approached me and with far more grace than I deserved, reminded me that to African American listeners like her the image of God as a cosmic master is not only discomforting but frightening and oppressive."   What You Can Do About Racism at Love Bids Us Welcome David, Goliath, and Emmanuel Church by Rev. Mike Angell, his sermon from last week. And just in case you haven't seen Jon Stewart's monologue on the Charleston shooting. Here it is. Murder in the Char...

What has been the role of relationships and/or community in your spiritual growth? This question was recently posed on Facebook by Christianne Squires and I told her I could probably write an essay on it. So here it is. The roles of relationships and communities have both helped and hindered my spiritual growth. Community has hindered my spiritual growth by not teaching me. I've been a Christian from the cradle. I would say I spent the first half (currently) of my life not really getting Christianity. When your Christian education consists of some Sunday School and a confirmation class (where I was taught things my current church teaches to pre-K and elementary school aged children), it shouldn't be a surprise that I didn't really get it. I'd never been educated beyond a kindergarten level and somehow I was expected to know why it was so important to worship God and what exactly that entailed. I was taught nothing beyond "come to Sunday worship...

I've never done this Q&A before, but it seemed a fun thing to do while waiting for paint to dry. (Golden's high flow acrylics are VERY high flow. I have artistic puddles drying. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) 1. Any big plans for the summer? A quiet summer this year. Am spending a long weekend in Santa Barbara at Mt. Calvary Monastery. It's my once a year trip. (Now that I work full time, it's once a year.) The rest of the summer, I will be working to prepare for my vacation later this year. 2. What is the strangest thing you believed as a child? I believed many strange things. I was pretty sure there was a hungry dingo under my bed. 3. What is your favorite amusement park ride? (can be a specific one at a specific park or just a type of ride) Fantasyland is my favorite part of Disneyland. I love the carousel and the Peter Pan ride there. My favorite in California Adventure is the Toy Story Mania and Grizzly River Run. I don't do the big ro...

OK, so I have been somewhat distracted by this little, year-long class called Life Book 2015 . I haven't had time to reflect on the week's Gospel passages or, well, anything beyond the occasional link of other people's content because I have been making art, and making it a habit. And I confess that I have also been hooked on TV shows like Game of Thrones , Scandal and Ripper Street . I love how Shona Rimes speaks to the issues of the day The best thing about Life Book 2015 for me has not just been learning new ways to draw faces, which was my main reason, but it has made art a habit. It was something I did maybe once a month, now it's almost every week, and if I can't make it to my art room, I am thinking about it. I wanted to share my version of last week's lesson. It was taught by Tamara Laporte. It was the second male face I've drawn. I stuck pretty close to Tam's example: it's her composition, her method, her template for drawing a male ...