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A Peek Inside: Painting Prophetically?

August 31, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

{Also check out my guest post at Taylor Sky’s blog, Word Enlightenment.}

Way back in February, I gave a little peek inside After the Snow Falls, and told about the small Quebec town that inspired the fictional town of Point-du-Fleuve.

I’m thrilled to give you another peek inside today. You’re in for a treat, because I’m going to introduce you to my friend Elsie Underwood Naraine whose unique artwork is the inspiration for that of Adele in After the Snow Falls:

Here’s a brief excerpt:

Caleb ran straight to his suitcase, already packed and sitting by the chair, pulled it up onto the lower bunk and found the picture. His painting depicted a brilliant sunrise lighting up the sky, reflected below on a shimmering lake, and above against overhanging clouds. The clouds became darker and gray further away from the sun, but those close to the sun burst with splashes of radiant color–yellow, orange, pink and pale purple. It was spectacular. Like the painting on the easel, it stirred something inside her.

“Look.” He handed the picture to Celia and turned it over. Again, a small penciled inscription, Rising Sun, and another Bible reference: Isaiah 58:8. He looked up at her eagerly. “Do you know what that is?”

“I think so. Do you?”

“Yeah. It says, ‘Then the light of my blessing will shine on you like the rising sun. I will heal you quickly. I will march out ahead of you. And my glory will follow behind you and guard you.'”

Celia sat down on the lower bunk, ducking to avoid hitting her head, and stared up at him, unsure how to respond. Finally, she said, “Who taught you that?”

“Grandma. When she gave me the picture.”

“And what do those words mean, exactly? Do you know?”

“Well–” Caleb looked down at the picture. “I think it means that God will protect me and he’ll make me better–he’ll heal me.”

She held the picture, drawn by its haunting beauty, yet frustrated that her mother had apparently joined forces with her father to push this message at Caleb. She’d had no choice but to leave Caleb with them this week, but she trusted them not to pollute his mind with these ideas. Caleb didn’t deserve to be caught in conflict between her and her parents.

She sighed. “Beautiful, isn’t it.”

“Yeah.”

“I hope you thanked Grandma. It was very nice of her to paint this for you. Here.” She handed it back to him. “You’d better pack it up. Why don’t you check around under the bed and at the beach–make sure you have all your things. We’re leaving soon.”

In After the Snow Falls, Adele is Caleb’s grandmother, but in real life, Elsie Underwood Naraine is a (much younger) vibrant artist and speaker–a very busy lady–but I finally caught up with her for this interview:

When did you begin painting?

I began painting in 1979–a deal that I made with the Lord when I was 8. I had asked Him what He wanted me to do with my life and He said that I was to paint and to tell People that He loved them. I asked Him if I could wait to paint until I was 25 (I thought that all artists die if they are to become famous and I wanted to get some living in–the thoughts of children–LOL) but I promised to tell people right away that He loved them.

Do you have formal training as an artist?

No formal training although I did take a commercial Art course to supplement the lack of art taught in our rural school. The deal was that if He would teach me and instruct me then I would do it. He was in charge of marketing as well since that was not my interest in the least.

What does “painting prophetically” mean?

Painting prophetically means that when I am inspired it is coming from God’s thoughts joining with mine and it is conversation. It is relationship unfolding about His activities in my own life and the lives of others. He likes to talk about His creation and His loved ones and when I paint….He is always talking and I am generally listening. He speaks to me in colors and shapes and movement and I just record what is impressed on my spirit. The paintings carry the message and are posted like declarations into the atmosphere…of God’s intentions.

When did you begin to paint prophetically?

I began painting prophetically right away but did not understand what that meant until years later. God asked me to put scriptures on the back of each piece (discreetly) because they would prophesy to the individual or business even though they were not aware of it in. The scriptures were my inspiration. Psalm 19 was my instruction from the Lord when I asked Him what I should paint: The heavens declare the Glory of God and the earth His handiwork.

Is it ever hard to part with a painting?

It is not hard to part with the artwork since it is painted with a mission…in fact it is difficult to have then for long periods of time since they need to go to the right people at the right time and that requires that I wait for God’s timing. It is during that maturation time that I get discouraged. He still speaks to me about my life if a painting lingers. As I trust Him…they are eventually sent out. In all the years that I have been painting…33 years…there are none that have remained with me for longer than 10 years. Timing and maturation can also be more about the person receiving the painting.

Where do some of your paintings hang today?

The paintings are in so many places that I cannot recall–both private and corporate–they are in most nations and it is fun to watch how they have gone on their little journeys. My favorite project of all time was being asked to paint protocol gifts for the Israel Keneset. The Canadian Government and Israel-friendly churches joined together to commit themselves as friends and I had the honor of presenting them personally to each of them. They were told that the artist was given their names and that she prayed for each one of them personally and God gave her scripture and the painting. The Israeli ambassador at the time had tears in His eyes from being given Psalm 139. There are many stories and hopefully many more to come.

Thank you so much, Elsie, for visiting with us here.

Thank you Carey for asking me to share. Now back to the drawing board!!!

- Carey Clark

Stand by Me by Neta Jackson

August 24, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

I found it difficult to get into Stand by Me. The first chapter intrigued me, and I turned the page to chapter two, settling in for an interesting read. But I felt betrayed. The first chapter featured Kathryn Davies, “Kat,” who surprised even herself by taking a dramatic turn in her life, dropping out of med school to pursue an unknown future at a Christian liberal arts school.

But in the subsequent chapters, Kat seems to be a radically different character than is promised in the first chapter, and we are introduced to Avis, a member of the SouledOut Community Church, the church Kat has adopted in her quest to live a radical Christian life.

Avis is immediately turned off by Kat, and as a character, I found Avis equally difficult to warm up to.

Eventually, however, I came to like both characters, was moved by both Avis’s secret heartache and Kat’s quirky charm, and pulled for both of them. Although Avis was a character previously introduced in another series of books (of which this series is a spin-off), I felt the author gave enough background information for this book/series to stand on its own. The author did a beautiful job of weaving all the story threads into a touching and satisfying ending.

Note: I was provided an electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

- Carey Clark

Name that Bean!

July 24, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

I have food issues.

Not the kind you might imagine I’d be talking about–issues of eating too much or body image-associated issues–although it’s true I’ve had my share of those.

I’m talking about the daily challenge of what on earth are we going to have for dinner (or breakfast and lunch for that matter–especially lunch).

Part of my problem I blame on my mother. Like her, I’m addicted to variety. I don’t want the same old thing every day. I don’t even want the same old 30 things every month. Shortly after we arrived here I sat down to make a list of the things we like to eat. This may sound strange, but the list of foods available to us here is different than what we would consume back in Canada, so after almost two years back “home,” it was time to get my head around my modified menu list again. I don’t eat pork, and I’m not sure whether I should trust the fish pulled out of the ocean here, although our city is somewhat renowned for its seafood, so my choices really boil down to chicken or beef. I made a list of about 35 possible meals.

The problem is, when I sit down to examine this list on a daily basis, almost nothing inspires me. So I branch out. I add a new meal to the menu list. But after that meal is consumed, I don’t want to eat it again for a while to come.

My family is no help at all. If I ask Sweetpea what she wants for dinner, her answer is always the same: spaghetti or sushi.

If I ask JavaMan for his input, again the answer is always the same. “Whatever you make is good, hon, I don’t care.” He regularly reminds me that we eat more variety than the average family likely does, so just cook something easy.

Thanks. (He obviously doesn’t understand my food issues.)

My parents recently embraced The Hallelujah Diet. Eating vegetarian has always interested me, but I’ve never figured it would work for my carnivorous bunch over the long haul. I have been interested, however, in having the occasional vegetarian meal.

With this thought in mind (and hoping for some potential variety for the cooking schedule), I headed to our local market. At one end of the market is a “grains lady,” or at least that’s what we call her. Her little shop is stuffed with big bags of grains and legumes of various descriptions. I long ago figured out which were black beans and which were kidney beans, so I could use them. I also buy my brown rice, cornmeal, sorghum, oat groats and buckwheat flour from this lady.

On this trip, I asked her if it would be all right for me to take one bean out of each of her bags and examine them to try to figure out what I could cook with them. She let me help myself.

Beans in Market

Problem is, even though she taught me the names of some of them in Chinese, I haven’t been able to accurately identify them, even with my online Chinese dictionary or the help of my old friend Google.

I was able to figure out a number of the beans from the Chinese I was given and from referencing pictures on the internet. Some were a big surprise. What I assumed was a lima bean was actually a hyacinth bean!

I was told two of the beans are the same kind–one is the “white” variety and the other the “red” variety, so I grouped those two together as one “mystery bean.” The third “mystery bean” may or may not be a “mottled kidney bean,” which is a legitimate variety in China. The problem with all three beans is I couldn’t make out the scribbled Chinese characters on my cheat sheet with any confidence. The pinyin didn’t help either as a reference. One of them is a “红__圆“ (I think.) I’m missing the middle character. And for the final variety of bean, marked with a “???” I was able to make out the characters, but they don’t particularly make sense. My dictionary came up with nothing. The literal translation of the characters is “river bean.”

So I’m putting it out to the blogosphere: Can you name that bean? (And if you have any great recipes for any of them, I’d love to hear them.)

Beans

The future of dinner in our house depends upon you.

- Carey Clark

P.S. – No children were starved in the making of this blog post. I promise there’s dinner on the table every night, I’m just occasionally challenged about what it should be ;)

Chocolate Quinoa Cake with Maple Frosting

July 18, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

Well, my baby is six. It is incredible to think that her entrance to the world came that long ago. And yet the evidence is clear before me. My little girl is growing up, fast!

For her birthday, her extended family teamed up and provided the money for this little gem:

Sprout's Bike

And of course, there was cake. Gluten-free cake, naturally.

I managed to find a source for relatively cheap quinoa here in China and bought it in quantity. (There will be other birthdays, after all.) Up until our family’s discovery of this cake, we had another favorite that used oats, but this one is hands-down the most amazing cake we have ever baked at home, gluten-free or not. How amazing? Well, Sprout couldn’t finish her piece and had to eat the remainder the next day, it’s that rich and wonderful. (Somehow, I managed to get my entire piece down in one sitting.)

We topped it with a recipe for frosting my parents found in searching for the best complement to the cake. They use maple syrup to sweeten it, as the recipe suggests. Maple syrup is like gold here, so I used honey instead.

Here’s the recipe. With quinoa, cocoa and honey, it’s practically health food, right?

Quinoa Cake

Quinoa Cake

Ingredients:

2/3 cup white or golden quinoa
1 1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup honey
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preparation:

Bring quinoa and water to a boil in medium saucepan. Cover, reduce to simmer and cook 10 minutes.
Turn off heat and leave covered saucepan on burner another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow quinoa to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two 8″ round or square cake pans. Line the bottom of pans with parchment paper.
Combine milk, eggs and vanilla in a blender or food processor. (I used what we have here–the blender attachment for the Magic Bullet–worked great with a little encouragement.)
Add 2 cups cooked quinoa and the butter and continue to blend until smooth.
Whisk together honey, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add contents of blender and mix well.
Divide batter evenly between pans and bake on center oven rack until 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove cake from oven and cool completely in pan before serving. Frost if desired.
Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to one week or in freezer for up to one month. (Honestly, I don’t know why this last instruction is here. Completely unnecessary. Store it?)

This recipe originally comes from Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood.

Chocolate Maple Syrup Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup maple syrup (It should be noted here that if replacing with honey, normally one cuts the honey in half, as it’s about twice as sweet, but I was afraid of how that might mess with the icing’s consistency. A six-year-old’s birthday was riding on this, after all. So I left it the same. It was über-sweet, but no one objected too strongly!)

Preparation:

Process all ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth and creamy. (I simply used an electric hand mixer for this. Turned out beautifully.)

So, when’s the next birthday?

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