Leanne Shawler, Artist

Where I sing snippets of various Ave Maria tunes learned while I do the repetitive act that is meditative and prayerful (interspersed with chatting with my one viewer), but aside from the opening summary, you'll miss all that unless you can find it on my Facebook feed. I also forgot to readjust the camera when I went back to work on the other wing. Sorry about that! And here's where we are at now:

And after I was done, had some more prayers! So here's the progress thus far (before I add the two new prayers): Not sure what will happen next, beyond the hypothetical I mention in the video. I've had a couple of more prayers to add since I went live and will go add those.

During this time of lockdowns and social distancing, I’ve felt this need to do something to help. Monday, I felt the call to let you all in on this. But let me start from the beginning, so you can understand my request. Last week, as COVID-19 ramped up in the United States, I remembered that I’d seen a painting in the Accademia or maybe it was Scuola Grande di Rocco (or maybe both) where the artist had created the painting as an act of devotion. I am pretty sure it was Tintoretto, but I have a vague memory of seeing also seeing a Tiepolo. At the time, I thought little about it and moved on to the next painting. But, now I remember it.  And I thought, what if I created a painting as an act of prayer to spare us from this current plague? I’ve entered into this very slowly and meditatively. First, the idea, then the next day, an idea of how to begin. I reset my little altar in my studio (a figurine of Mary, a candle, feather, shells, gemstones and seedpods), took the ...

We're trying out this new thing in church that in addition to one of the standard forms of prayer found in the BCP (Book of Common Prayer), we write an additional prayer that reflects specific concerns. Last week, we prayed for the people of France. This week, it was my turn to write one: We especially pray for the nation of Nigeria, for the souls of over 2,000 dead in their northern villages and we mourn those who have no one left alive to mourn them. We pray for the 200 kidnapped girls, still not returned home, that they may feel Your comforting presence and may yet find freedom. We ask You, Loving God, to guide us in a way of ending hatred, that is more than hashtag BringBackOurGirls, hashtag IAmNigeria, and bring peace to this broken world. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. You'll note I spelt out the hashtag # as I had no idea who would be reading it. I don't have any answers for that prayer. Sarah Bessey posted something beautiful this past week: A ...