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!
Painting: Thaw by Helen Sanderson-White (Copyright 2023 Helen Sanderson-White. Do not reproduce without permission).
A few months ago, I was asked to create some artwork for an exhibition that my church is hosting in Holy Week entitled The Journey. Over the last ten years I have been on a journey. It has taken me through many low valleys, difficult circumstances and tested my character to the hilt. I survived domestic abuse, divorce, the loss of a career, the death of many friends and the list goes on… What kept me going was the fact that at some point this season would come to an end. The Lord made me a promise in the autumn of 2013, that if I walked with him through this difficult time, the new season of singing for joy would eventually come. That new season has taken a decade to materialise.
Just before Christmas I was sat at the piano working on some new song ideas, when I sensed that the Lord was saying the word “thaw” and he gave me the verses from Song of Songs 2:11-12:
See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come…
I immediately I had an image of a garden thawing out after a freezing season covered in snow. Everything changed from frozen to flourishing, and there was a vibrancy to the new colours that were shining through in the spring sunshine. A new season has begun after a long, dark winter; life is sweeter in the newly revealed season. I wasn’t sure about the image so asked the Lord for confirmation that I really was leaving the long, dark season and that change is coming. Twelve hours later I got it! I was in a prayer meeting later the same day when someone had a picture for me of a winter snow scene that suddenly turns to spring and a beautiful garden is revealed!
So why has it taken so long for the season to change? Firstly, the Lord is always working on our character; we need to be God-built so that we can carry the new things he has for us. If he promoted us before our character is strong enough, it would crush us. Secondly, sometimes the Lord has to position us for the new to begin. This may mean stepping out and doing something scary or leaving things behind that are no longer fruitful. All of this takes time and obedience before we are in the right place at the right time.
In the painting, I wanted to reflect the ice from the last season melting away to reveal the new season’s beautiful garden with new, fresh flowers and fruit to enjoy. Although we can’t see what the future holds, we know that God’s hope does not disappoint and that he is always moving in our lives. Difficult seasons come to an end, and bright futures begin.
The best is yet to come.
The exhibition is free to view at Gold Hill Baptist Church, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks from Monday 3rd and Tuesday 4th April from 9am-8pm and Wednesday 5th April 2.30-8pm.
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I’m Helen, I think I’m 4ft 11in, but my kids are convinced that I’ve shrunk. I’m often described as quirky and a bit mad due to my anarchic sense of humour. I studied Theology at London Bible College (now known as the London School of Theology), and music at Middlesex University (where I met my lovely friend Rachael Forsyth who write and performs with me). I’m a musician, artist and writer living in Buckinghamshire, and I’ve taught singing and piano to children and adults since 1996. I’m obsessed with creativity and I like to write songs and music, create abstract acrylic paintings, and spend hours thinking about blogs I might write.
Tell me a secret about yourself…
I once applied for a job with MI5 and got an interview! I didn’t go for the job in the end because the security checks took over 6 months to complete, and quite frankly I needed a job immediately so that I could buy cereal and ridiculous shoes.
When was your first performance?
When was three years old, I told my parents that I wanted to sing at church. I think they thought that once I had sung in public it would put me off, however I sang at an Easter meeting and that was the beginning of many performances! I was so small that they had to stand me on a stage so everyone could see me. I started to play the piano when I was five years old, and I wrote first (terrible) song when I was about six (I didn’t release it).
What’s your greatest creative achievement?
A music teacher once told me that I had no talent and that I should stop wasting everyone’s time, so in 2011 when my song Do You Seek An Answer reached number one in the New Christian Music chart (in both the UK and Europe, I might add), I was pleased that the teacher was wrong and that I’d stuck to my plan! I learnt that you shouldn’t ever let anyone define you or limit what you can achieve, only God can define who we are and the possibilities of what we are called to do.
Tell me about your influences…
Too many to mention! But probably Karen Carpenter, I do think her best work was her solo album which she recorded with Phil Ramone. We can hear the real Karen, an artist who has matured and found her own style. Unfortunately, it wasn’t released until 1997, fourteen years after her death so she never saw the public’s fantastic reaction to it.
A love of music by female singer-songwriters and finding that I had a voice of my own has greatly influenced my work. When I was 18, I fell in love with Alanis Morrisette’s lyric writing and that gave me the impetus and confidence to write my own songs. Her brutal honesty inspired me and her ability to make just about any word rhyme, makes laugh a lot!
Judith Owen is an amazing songwriter and musical interpreter. Some of her arrangements of well-known popular songs are incredible and she loves to take traditionally male genres and add a female spin to them. Julia Fordham is also an incredible performer and songwriter and knows how to take the listener on an emotional and musical journey. The two albums that she collaborated with Larry Klein are amazing and are well worth a listen.
What do you think is your mission in life?
Well, that’s a big question. It has taken me a long time to work out what I should spend my life doing. However, I feel that the Lord has called me to lead a creative lifestyle, and to be an example of how to foster the routine of creativity in everyday life. Artists have a mission to represent God’s love and truth in artistic and diverse ways. What we create today, can help someone find hope tomorrow.
If you want to find out more about my creative projects or join me in this journey, check out my Patreon page. You can join from as little as £2 a month.
Tell me a something I don’t know about you…
I was born with six fingers on one of my hands. The finger was deformed and had no bone in it, so it was removed. I always wonder what my piano playing would have been like if that extra finger had been viable! The again, it might not have made any difference at all…
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I’m not one of those people who has a lot of luck with competitions. Almost a decade ago, I won a booze hamper in a raffle and I felt like I’d hit the jackpot. Carrying it back to the car was a comedy of errors as it took two of us, but it was more than worth it. Back in the summer, I entered an art competition on a whim. It was one of those crazy, mad moments on a Saturday night where I thought “yeah, why not?”. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d win so it was a bit of surprise when I got an email to see that my entry had been chosen. The prize? My painting, Walking Into the Light was chosen to be turned into a charity greetings card. It’s probably the most well known pieces from my portfolio and is one of my favourites as it’s part of my personal journey. The painting depicts coming out of a dark season into the light.
The charity I have chosen to support is Aylesbury Women’s Aid. They support women who have suffered domestic abuse and their journey back to freedom. The charity’s work isn’t just with victims, they also advise the police and other agencies on how to help victims and what emergency help is available, they run refuges, counselling, and courses for survivors and other agencies. Education is very much part of their mission as well as offering help and advice.
If I’ve learnt anything from this exercise, it would be that it’s always worth having a go at something even if you think it won’t go your way. Life is too short to miss out on opportunities and its never too late in life to have a go. So if you’re procrastinating on something, take the leap and have a go. You never know where it might lead. Be brave, courageous, and adventurous. Believe in yourself, you might find that someone else agrees with your vision and supports you.
If you would like to support Women’s Aid, you can purchase one of my cards for £2. If you would like to make further donation to this wonderful organisation, that would also be appreciated. To purchase a card, please click here. For more details about the charity, click here.
What do you do with a blank canvas? It’s been a long time since I started a painting without sketching the idea first, but this canvas has been calling out for a landscape scene, so I thought I’d just go for it. When I looked at the panoramic shape of the canvas I could see a sun setting over a flourishing hillside. I’ve always liked the idea that woodland has many colours throughout the seasons of the year, so the colour scheme came naturally.
There’s a freedom to being able to paint without sticking to a previous sketch. It’s also a little daunting as you realise that you don’t know where you’re going with it! I must admit that this approach meant that the painting took longer than anticipated, but eventually I got the result I was looking for. The longest part was choosing the colour scheme for the sun; after a few attempts I could see that it needed to be darker than the rest of the painting to get that feeling of “the sun going down”.
This painting sold before I even managed to advertise it! Probably the fastest selling piece for painting so far…
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Earlier this month is was in an art shop and felt the prompted to buy a heart shaped canvas. I can’t say that it’s something I would normally go for but I bought it anyway. That same day, someone told me that they loved the bold colours in my previous work and that they would love to see more of that. Within 48 hours of that conversation, I painted the RAW HEART.
Amazingly this painted sold with less than hour. I’ve never sold a painting that quickly before, so it was a real blessing! What’s even more lovely, is that it was bought as a present for a birthday. I gave my heart away and someone gave it away as a gift – the love was passed on. Here’s a beautiful photo of RAW HEART and it’s new owner, Allie…
Artists Have Big Mouths… And we have a responsibility to speak out about issues that concern others as well as ourselves. Art is about creating something beautiful, but sometimes it can also be about reflecting the ugliness, injustice, unfairness or the fractured nature of the world. An artist should represent the world as they see it. It’s about using our gifts to help others as well as entertaining.
I’m always looking for new and creative ways to use art to promote causes or make a statement in the public arena. Back in May of this year, I was asked, along with a group of other artists, to create some art for a political protest that would highlight the differences in the gender pay gap for ministers in the Baptist Union. The project was presented to the Baptist Council at the beginning of November and was installed in secret before the meeting started so that no-one knew that it was on the agenda. The art installation was a response to a survey of salaries and benefits across the national ministerial spectrum.
All the artists were asked to create a leaf in any medium or style that represented one of the respondents from the survey: I was given the profile of a senior male minister on full benefits and salary. None of the artists knew what what the rest of the team were creating; this meant that each leaf was unique and distinct from the others, highlighting our individuality and the uniqueness the Lord has given each of us. The project was well received and provoked conversation about how to further the study and conversation of equality within ministry. Each member of the council got to take a leaf home with them to remind them of the discussion.
It’s been an interesting and challenging project and not one that I would have have naturally gravitated to, but it’s allowed me to explore art in another arena and make art that speaks out for other people. Initially I found the protest element intimidating because of the possibility of rejection. However once I got past that I could see the true value of the project. It’s taken me outside of my comfort zone and made me think about other ways to use art writing, and music in society. Who knows where it will lead? I’ll keep protesting… the creative way.
Painting: Walking Towards The Light by Helen Sanderson-White (Copyright 2017 Helen Sanderson-White. Do not reproduce without permission).
Sometimes we wait and wait and wait, and then we wait some more. We begin to wonder if this is it? Will things ever change and move on? We all go through times when life changes unexpectedly. Dreams die, seasons change and we find that we are not where we thought we would be. Hope gets deferred while we go into self preservation mode. We become too scared to dream or hope for something new or dare I say, exciting. The scenery has changed to something we weren’t expecting.
And then we remember all the things that God promises, and for a few moments we know that God won’t leave the story like this. If anything, we know that God loves to show off and show how involved he is in our lives. This can’t possibly be all there is? Yet there is still some waiting to do. We wonder why we are still waiting, seeing no change but believing for good things. It’s in the silence that we really learn who we are. If we submit to God, our faith deepens and our vanity is challenged by his supremacy. If God loves us enough to let his Son suffer to the point of death and to hell and back again, then surely he loves us enough to restore the things that have been destroyed.
I have discovered on my journey through this period in my life that I need to prophesy hope to the dead areas of my life. To speak out positively against the crap and dead ends. To take each days as it comes. I suffered decades of abuse, divorce, failedprojects and businesses that flailed, colleagues and friends who fled at the first sign of trouble. I hit rock bottom and realised that I was about to become jobless and homeless. I thought I would never survive yet somehow I’m still here taking each day as it comes.
What a waste, right? All those hopes, dreams and relationships gone to the wall. Maybe not. I hope not. Sometimes things have to die so that they can be reborn in a new way, a stronger way. Often a period of death is actually a period of transition to greater things. A time to grow and change in preparation for what is to come. Although I don’t know how things will turn out, I’ve decided to enjoy finding out! God often allows things to be removed from our lives so that He can replace them with greater things. The journey brings us closer to him and in line with His will for our lives. It’s not that he wants to see us suffer but rather that He wants us grow closer to Him, so that we become more like Him.
So on days when things seem hopeless and bleak, I remember that this is not the end of the story…
The best is yet to come.
If you have enjoyed this blog, join the mailing list here
Artists Have Big Mouths… And we have a responsibility to speak out about issues that concern others as well as ourselves. Art is about creating something beautiful, but sometimes it can also be about reflecting the ugliness, injustice, unfairness or the fractured nature of the world. An artist should represent the world as they see it. It’s about using our gifts to help others as well as entertaining.
It’s been an interesting and challenging project and not one that I would have have naturally gravitated to, but it’s allowed me to explore art in another arena and make art that speaks out for other people. Initially I found the protest element intimidating because of the possibility of rejection. However once I got past that I could see the true value of the project. It’s taken me outside of my comfort zone and made me think about other ways to use art writing, and music in society. Who knows where it will lead?
Helen Sanderson White 