Helen will be signing at the From the Fragment to the Whole art exhibition in Hackney.
Date: Thursday 28 March at 6.30-8.30pm
Venue: Hackney Town Hall
Tickets: free from https://robertadecaro.com
A few weeks ago, my church curated The Narnia Experience, an interactive walk through tour with actors telling the C.S. Lewis story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Over 90 volunteers came together to create the experience; offering props, painting, set making and acting skills plus helping in many other areas to create a unique experience.
I painted a backdrop of the White Witch’s ice castle; it is the biggest painting I’ve undertaken, and it took 10 hours to paint. The process started with a line drawing which I projected onto the material and sketched the outline in the bigger proportion design.
There was a slight debacle with the actual painting as I didn’t have enough room at home to stretch the calico across the floor, so I had to roll up the material on one side, paint one end, wait for it dry and then roll the painted side up and paint the other end. One night I literally painted myself into a corner and couldn’t get out of the kitchen. I stood for 20 minutes waiting for the paint to dry before I climbed across the painting to get out. The next night, I painted until I was out of the kitchen door and then realised that I couldn’t get to the oven to cook the dinner! The kids were delighted with take away…
One thing I learnt was that acrylic paint takes much longer to dry on calico; the paint needed to be quite thick to cover the material well and this more than doubled the drying time. Also, I found that drying it with a hairdryer can make the paint crack if the temperature is too hot.
Anyway, here is the finished painting in situ, hanging on the wall ready for visitors…
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Painting: Narnia Ice Castle by Helen Sanderson-White (Copyright 2024 Helen Sanderson-White. Do not reproduce without permission).
A Prophetic Word For 2024: Let Loose
Every December I ask the Lord for a word or theme for the coming year; something that will focus my thoughts and prayers as I cross over into the new. This year the Lord gave me a prophetic word not just for me but for many others too. As always do prayerfully weigh up this word and test it.
Many of us have had a difficult season over the last few years; we have watched the death of dreams and hopes, lost relationships, and let go of career, business and job aspirations and taken unplanned detours. For me, this has been a ten year journey of transition between the old and new seasons, walking an unknown path and leaving behind things that I hoped for. However, the Lord often asks us to surrender to his will and let go of things that are no longer fruitful so that he can prepare us for the new season ahead, and ultimately new, greater fruitfulness. We have found ourselves in constrictive situations where our callings have been limited for a season, but this been part of the preparation. The last season has felt like death as we have been deeply pruned, we have laid low in the grave waiting for our resurrection.
In September last year, I felt the Lord say that the season of death was coming to an end and that I would be “let loose” from the pruning and preparation. Let loose is quite an old-fashioned way of saying set free or released. It reminded me of the story of Lazarus in John 11 where Jesus brings raises him from the dead, “Loose him, and let him go” (verse 44); in other words, step out of the grave clothes and live again. I believe this is a powerful call to many of us to rise out of our dead situations and live again.
I have been waiting for many years to see God move in certain areas of my life, and I believe that the season of God’s wonder working power is here. Just as Jesus said “Lazarus come out”, he is also speaking resurrection life to us. For Mary and Martha, their life with their brother had become a dead dream, but Jesus brought that dream back to life. I believe that Jesus is releasing resurrection power to bring dead dreams and hopes back to life for his glory. Everything in our lives can be transformed by a miracle that reveals who God is to those around us.
God is calling us out of the tomb, and to thrive as he resurrects our dreams and hopes. He is letting us loose to do the things that he has called us to do. Now is the time to be free, now is the time to be LET LOOSE.
Twenty years ago, I lived in London and worked teaching music with churches and further education colleges. Most of my work was with underprivileged young people living in areas of deprivation and poverty. Wealthy, salubrious neighbourhoods bordered these city areas, yet for most of the teens and young adults I worked with, this lifestyle was out of reach. They had become accustomed to accepting that their career path would be crime. Shootings and violent attacks in the area happened with alarming regularity, gangs and drugs became an easy option for a living.
As I reflected on this culture, I wondered how I would express the Gospel to young people who had never heard of Jesus. How would I explain the cross and resurrection to them? As I discussed this with my church youth group, the breakthrough moment came when one of the young people said that the highest honour in gang culture was to take a bullet for a friend. That was the way in for me to explain to an unchurched community what Jesus did for us through his death on the cross and the resurrection: he took the bullet for us, so that we can live with him forever.
Sometimes we need to understand the culture we are living in so that we can explain the Gospel using a vernacular that our community can relate to; a contemporary example that connects people with the divine. As we go about our week, perhaps we should ask ourselves, in what ways do my community need to hear about Jesus?
At thirty years old there were words in his head
He didn’t know where they would lead to
The burning words, well they all signalled red
But somehow he had to see it through
He took the bullet for me, He took the bullet for me
At thirty years old he took a trip out of town
He knew he had to speak the truth
The scholars and vagrants, they branded him a clown
They didn’t want to see the living proof
He took the bullet for me, He took the bullet for me
At thirty-three years they put a gun to his head
They knew they had to end his reign
What they didn’t know when they left him for dead
Is that he’d come to reign again
He took the bullet for me, He took the bullet for me
Copyright 2007 words & music by Helen Sanderson White
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I wonder how many of us long for a miracle? A breakthrough moment for ourselves or someone we love. Maybe you don’t believe in miracles or maybe you have never seen one. Sometimes we get out of the habit of asking for miracles because we rely too much on modern life; the convenience of science and technology creates obstacles for our belief that God can help us. Equally we can get sidetracked wondering whether God cares about situation enough to do something about it.
Recently my thinking has been challenged on this topic. In John 20:30 we’re told that
“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.”
This made me wonder what the other signs and miracles might have been? What did Jesus do that isn’t recorded in the gospels? It stretched my imagination as I pondered on what else Jesus may have done to restore people’s lives and bring hope. For us, this verse is an open invitation to dream with Jesus and to ask him for his vision for our lives.
It’s often the case that we have no idea how Jesus will solve our problems; if we knew what he was going to do, there would be no element of wonder and awe at his authority over the situation. Handing the issue over to him, removes our control and leads us into a deeper level of trust with him. Our faith grows and our relationship with Jesus deepens as we surrender to him.
There are personal miracles that I have waited decades to see happen, and this invitation to imagine how Jesus might work to bring restoration has reignited my hope and trust in him. It also involves opening up to possibilities and changing my mindset so that I’m allowing God to work in my life. Obedience also opens doors for Jesus to do more in lives; our “yes” to something unusual or even mundane can lead to far greater things.
So my challenge to you is: what miracle are you going to imagine today?
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Amazon has released a new film called You Hurt My Feelings starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies as an under-confident couple who struggle with finding fulfilment in their work. Julia’s character overhears her husband (Menzies) telling her brother-in-law that her latest book isn’t her best artistic work, and the revelation shatters her. The film details how the couple explore being honest with each other and learning to let go of their co-dependent affirmation.
Should it be a given that our closest loved ones like our work? Before I get into this topic, I want to say that there are no clear answers to this question. When God calls people together it is holy and sacrosanct. Each relationship is between those people and God.
I meet creative people all the time who are surprised or hurt by the fact that their partner or friends and family don’t like their art. Thinking back over my relationships and previous partners, some were supportive of my creativity while others were not. Needless to say, the relationships where there was little or no support did not last. Why? Because we weren’t united in the same vision. To my cost, I learnt that we need to be running in this same direction, having the same ambition for the things of God. Without this, there will always be compromises that lead us away from God’s vision for us and the things he is asking us to do. If we’re called to serve God together, then we need to be moving in harmony together, and there needs to be unity in our God-given vision and mission in life.
If we constantly need the affirmation of other people, we are driven by our insecurities rather than our faith in God. The need for admiration and love gets in the way of why we are creating. Our focus should be on following Jesus as looking for affirmation will only lead to building our ego and not our faith. Accepting encouragement is good for our wellbeing, but an unhealthy need for validation can distract us.
There are some positives about negative criticism: someone not liking or “getting” our work gives us the opportunity to evaluate and analyse the piece and learn from it. We can see the project from a different point of view, learn more about our audience and how to communicate with them, as well as analysing the message or media used. Our work isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, and this is a good thing because a small group of strong supporters is better than a large group of apathetic followers. Negative criticism from our closest loved ones is more challenging because it is hardest to hear from those we love. However, if the message is delivered to us in love and grace, we can benefit by reflecting and learning from it. We need to distinguish the difference between an unhealthy relationship that is hindering our calling and healthy criticism which sharpens and refines our work.
Whenever we’re offered feedback, it’s important not to be dismissive but to filter what’s relevant and what’s not helpful. Finding a mentor or trusted colleague to review our projects with is a good way to gain perspective and grow in confidence. If your partner does not like a piece of your work, it’s not the end of the world but an opportunity for discussion. Loyalty is not superior to honesty, the two should work in harmony.
Balance is a key factor to relationship stability. You’re never going to please everyone all the time. Learning to filter and reflect on criticism can lead to greater maturity and working relationships and helps us understand more about ourselves. Maturity is accepting that others are entitled to their opinion, whilst being secure in our own viewpoint. So should my partner like my creative work? If you’re depending on the praise to boost your confidence, then no, but if you’re settled in who you are and what you do, then any praise is a bonus. My personal feeling is that it is better to surround myself with people who will support and encourage but also be honest about my work, than to be with someone who always agrees, or worse, someone who discourages and is moving in a different direction. As artists, it is important to become resilient and use criticism to better ourselves, so that we can persevere and endure in our creativity.
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A few weeks ago, Paul Gibbs from NoteSpire radio interviewed me about faith and being creative. We discussed using life experiences in our songwriting in order to help others, the post creatives blues, creating the Thaw painting and the role of music teaching. We also talked about my song I Won’t Rush You which you can find here.
NoteSpire radio is based in the USA in York, Pennsylvania, so we had challenge with the time difference, and the interview was recorded at midnight here in England. However I was wide awake!
The interview is being broadcast live on the radio station from Wednesday 7 June, however it is also available as a podcast to listen to now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all main podcast sites. Grab and a cup of tea and enjoy!
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You’ve finished a piece of work that you have loved creating. A real passion project that has been a dream come true. You’ve given your all to making this work and now it has finished. You’ve had lots of amazing comments and feedback on your creation, and it feels good, it feels amazing. Yet underneath it all, you feel drained and slightly down. How can this be? It makes no sense; your brain tells you that you should feel amazing but secretly you feel exhausted.
Recently, I was speaking with a friend who is experiencing the post creative blues, that space within the past project and the future project. A mixed space of joy and depression that leaves you confused by the paradox of both emotions. A space that leaves you exhausted wondering if you can do it all over again. She was mainly confused by how tired and drained she felt from giving herself to a long, demanding project. Her questions ranged from, “is this normal?” to “will I feel like creating again?”. And the answer to both those questions is yes.
The post creative blues are real. To be realistic, you’ve just given birth to a project that you have been nurturing for a long time. You’ve taken care over every detail and carefully grown an idea from a small seed of an idea into a beautiful baby. Now that baby has been born you need to rest both your mind and body before starting again. We forget this and presume that we are capable of continually producing work, that we can always give to others, but before we can give, we must receive and replenish ourselves. You can’t pour out of an empty vessel.
We are more than artists; we are human beings. Being an artist doesn’t define who we are, it adds to who we are. Learning to care for and nurture ourselves before we create is essential for our daily living, our survival. If we look after ourselves will ultimately create better more defined work, and more importantly we will enjoy what we are creating. If we’re so tired that the joy of creating has gone, then there’s no point creating.
Part of the creation process takes us beyond ourselves and our capabilities; we channel the divine in order to create. Those artistic eureka moments bring both ease and exhaustion as we battle with our inadequacies and rejoice as we achieve our goals. The ease and exhaustion come as the divine pushes us beyond our capabilities, and we create something far greater than we imagined. The Bible tells us that God created the world in six days and on the seventh day he rested. There’s a good lesson in this, that even the supreme creator took time out to rest.
The other issue is the loss of purpose after a project ends; suddenly we have time on our hands and we don’t know what to do with ourselves. All the drive and passion are laid down as we step back from the projection completion. It’s in these times that we need to remind ourselves of the ebb and flow of life, there are always busy and quiet times, and they follow a natural cycle. It’s important to recognise that these seasons will pass and a time to create will come around again. You haven’t lost your purpose; you are in the process of redefining your purpose whilst you wait for the next project.
The post creative blues should remind us that we have just achieved greatness in our creativity. They are signal to remind us to rest and recuperate, and to take stock of everything that we have achieved, but also that there will be further opportunities in the future. This is just the lull before we get back up and try something new, it’s not the end. If anything, the post creative blues remind us that the best is yet to come.
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Some days starting a new creative project is really hard. Creativity can be as difficult as it is pleasing. If I’m not in the mood, distractions become attractive. My head tells me that other options are available, but my heart wants to create…
PS. I wrote this blog instead of composing some music that desperately needs finishing. I was listening to Killer by Adamski. You’re welcome.
What makes you procrastinate and not be creative?
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Helen Sanderson White 