Also!

Stirring is now for sale!

What's New Now

We signed a lease today for a rent house! Which means :)!! I have a huge new bedroom with room to paint for real...lol not out of my dinning room any longer :D. Everything has been SO different for me over the past month but wow, has it been wonderful. Seriously my life has been turned upside down :]...but I would ask for change in heart beat again right now if it simply means getting closer to God's heart ;). Me, my current roommate, and my 2 new roommates have asked, and man have we been freely given to.

Also! This summer I am stepping into the photography world :D. I have always been so intrigued with literally every form of art but here lately (the past year) I have been so drawn into the thought of working in this art too. Micah Schmidt (micahschmidtphotography.com) has been teaching me along the way and this summer we head to some sweet destinations like Nashville and other places in Texas. I'm pumped to say the least.

What else you ask :)? Well I OFFICIALLY have 3 new siblings...James, Taylor and Eddie. The three of them and baby Gabriel have been in my dad's home for some time and finally, their last name became Young last week! G-Baby, who I call Gabriel :), is still on shifting ground but I am believing he too, will be my 4th brother ;).

So what does this all equal?? Lol not one solid thing but it has all helped lead to my next point! The fact that this summer I am starting a real website (with the help of my lovely father-the computer wiz) and on this lovely website will be: paintings, photography and miscellaneous. Hopefully it will represent me well and all that I love. So be expecting something legit, if ya know what I mean lol :).

Here are some pictures of related topics of this post :):

In order: my new bedroom/studio!, my sweet new siblings [Taylor, G-baby, Eddie, James], and the last one is my grandparent in 1985. not lol.

Funny Walk

It's funny to me to look back over my blog and see that my last painting was "Winds of Change." Since then- a short month ago- I find that my own life has met some redirecting winds of
change. I have a job that I have been believing for and am loving it! I'm working at a gas station. Some may ask how in the world do you love that? I promise it's true! I love it. The people are my favorite part and I love the responsibility too-truly I do. Along with that alteration I am also no longer in Chi Alpha. Ever since I've been in college this has been all I've known but I just really felt the Lord saying it's time to step away. So out of faithfulness I said ok, though I was intimidated by the options of life. :)
I feel that many more changes are on the horizon and for those I am excited as well!
Paintings are sweetly in the making :). Tomorrow it's on! Watch out canvas, becuase I'm coming *rawr* :D

Winds of Change

Why Me, Why Now?

For Sale: $75

Hi!
So obviously the picture quality of this painting is not very good :(. Pretty sad actually I no longer have a camera but at least I still have the dinky one on my computer lol.
This painting happened so fast! Literally I was cleaning my house and bam! I decided to get out a canvas and paint the snapshot I just received in my head. I didn't stop for nothing and painted until I knew I was done. No breaks.
Anyways I painted this girl in a bar. I honestly had no clue she would end up looking the way she does (to me, Asian) but there ya go, she's her. In this scene she is questioning how she got to this point. She is questioning why she can't seem to get her head above the water and seeks desperately something more.
This is part 1 of a series of paintings. It'll kind of be like reading a book...but paintings instead! So much funner to me :D. I hope you enjoy this one and look forward, with me, to what the others will look like!!

Back to Life

FOR SALE: $75

What an exciting painting for me! I've been waiting a long time for something like this to be painted or for me to paint it in honor of Africa and the restoration that is coming to it. Once I was finished I was immediatly filled with hope! I hope you are touched by this too.


What's happening here?
A young African boy is being prayed over by a young woman. The boy, being deeply healed by Jesus, is breathing life back onto his country becoming more and more desperate.

BLOOM

For Sale: $55

A couple of days ago a Misty Edwards song popped in my head and the part that really stuck out to me matched the image I had seen just moments before. The line is "and you oh God, are better than a thousand blooms..." For me, that means a lot because flowers are wonderful! And them blooming is even better...and a lot of blooming flowers is even better lol :)!! The simple fact, however, is that God is better than a thousand of all my blooming favorite flowers! It was just a beautiful understanding that hit me with a lot of umph :)......Now the awkward part is that as I was painting I realized that the little flowers also looked like sperm. Quickly I went to paint over that but even quicker I felt Him say "keep it!" The reason was this: just as sperm make a woman pregnant, God is impregnating us with the things of His heart, planting them in fertile ground.
So...as funny as it may be, it's truth, and that is really all I long to display :).
Enjoy! -Love, Your Awkward Artist.....haha.

Consider

This is definitely not the painting I was talking about in my last post but hold tight! That one is on the move, this is just one in between :)

For Sale: $35

To consider means to believe. I felt led to name this Consider because when I think of Jesus' robe I see it never ending, just like everything about Him. I also remember that there is more consistently and that His vats are never ending, there is NO bottom to His well. So, this is entitled "Consider" because I long to believe these things about Him deeper and deeper in the core of who I am.

Also this seems to be a season where I'm constantly getting new ideas for paintings so there are many on the way that are already started! I'm so excited! I'm believing ;] this is just the beginning of a huge flow of creative ideas!! Thanks everyone for checking out what's going on here.

With much love!- Ashley

"Show the Lay of the Land"

I am a BIG dictionary.com guru :)) and I was looking up a synonym for update haha. All I have is an update on my painting corner nothing too big, but "show the lay of the land" is awesome!
I started a piece I am so excited about and I actually whipped out my oils for it! (secret: it has a lot to do with Africa) I love texture so oils are awesome for that, but costs...well they are a different story especially for a college student at the local apartment "ghetto." But the piece is well on it's way!! I will have it posted in no time!

To The Nations

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Spirit of Adoption

For Sale: $25

Some of you reading this believe that God has forgotten you and think he has said you aren't worth his time. Some of you reading this feel too imperfect or too “bad” to ever be worthy of His love. Some of you believe that He is only a God of rules and regulations who is boring and powerless. Even still some of you believe there is no God so there must be no true love right? ...Wrong. Those are all lies and even I have been a victim of their vicious circles. God’s heart is big enough to love every nation and every single person. His limits are endless and His love also never stops, never!
Recently I have realized how much I have been living in a lie. A lie that says I’m a child of God but there isn’t enough for me. You see half truths are no truths and it is absolutely freeing to see the whole truth. There is an evil force against everyone called the Orphan Spirit that tries to make us believe that we are alone with no hope, no future, no resources and no love. Regardless of what extent we believe this, any dose is tormenting. However the truth is God also has an opposing force. His opposing force is called the Spirit of Adoption and it’s stonger! This “adoption” allows us to have access to all caves, all doors and all opportunities because our Father made it all and He has access to it all. It puts no restrictions on our hearts and desires and allows love to make us completely whole where we feel no lack.
The truth is God loves us AND he likes us…meaning He wants to BE with us. No technical structures, no forced beliefs and if I’m allowed to say this, no more sick religious patterns…He simply wants to BE with us. THAT is why we were created in the first place!
So… with all of that said I have been learning some cool stuff AND I’ve been painting! This painting is called Spirit of Adoption and it is a reminder of His echoing promise to be a faithful Father, no matter how we feel.

New Degree

So up until this point I have been under several different majors and had no clue which road to take amongst the millions. I finally decided to change my major to art!! Who would have thought huh;)? It was what I always wanted but due to insecurities and fear I withheld my desire to learn more about the thing I love to be a part of: art. So you ask "You painted all these with no lessons?" lol sure. I just do it for fun! I don't consider myself a fabulous artist or someone who will be famous for even a single piece. I don't care about that. I do it because it's what I love to do...and it's one of the ways I like to spend time with God... isn't that what it's about anyways? :) to me it is.

After a few weeks of classes this semester I am already learning a lot!! I'm not in painting classes yet... which is a drag but I am slightly enjoying my drawing and design classes...slightly. The paintbrush for me is the tool and paint is the substance but I can still do that at home and will. So soon enough there will be more paintings posted!! ... after I find the battery charger for my camera lol.

"I Do"

In my family we have at least 3 rounds of Christmas each year between all the family members. Today I was finally able to present my mom and Mick, my step-dad, with their gift! I was literally nervous :). I liked the piece but it's never a guarantee that others will appreciate it too. After the opening of a few other gifts I had them open the gift and they loved it. I was so relieved!! (This was also my first black and white painting!)
My mom and Mick have been married for 6 months now and I can see the love between them. They have both been through a lot to get to eachother and I was just so thankful to see them get married. This painting is inspired from a picture of them on their special wedding day. I love you guys and hope your love grows deeper over the years.

These are a couple of the prep-pics. ( good thing they were only the prep lol)

Merry Christmas!

"Brother"

















The day I decided I was going to paint Josh with his tuba I remembered he had a band concert that night. "How perfect!" I thought. After his concert I had a little photoshoot with him off to the side. He thought I was being goofy but the whole time I had a secret plan :). I caught some cool shots and was off to my apartment to start right away. I love my little brother so much and thoroughly enjoyed painting this special gift for him. Love you buddy!



















"Home"


















This season has been quite an adventure for my dad and step-mom, Shantelle. They have been trying to adopt for over a year now and if you ever adopted or tried it is quite a trip. They finally got the opportunity to adopt a sibling group of 3 and they jumped at the offer. Even then, the road was a little difficult because nothing was set in stone. The day they both said "ok, whatever happens happens we will accept the outcome," is when everything changed. Minutes after their surrender they got a phonecall. It was THE phonecall. They were to be James, Taylor, and Edward's new parents. (This was actually the same day my brother's band concert was that I shot his pics for the painting above! What a crazy day you know?!) Anyways this painting is called "Home" just for them and it's a picture of us all walking in a wheat field just enjoying eachother. Merry Christmas guys I love yous.

Banner of Love

For Sale: $75

Banner of Love depicts a young man searching for Love. In the painting he has just found it! He looks mysterious but truly he is mystified by the one who has captivated his heart. You may be wondering about the title and that I will tell you of :). Usually I just paint and leave it at that but this time I went searching for a scripture. I found Song of Solomon 2:3-4 and it just made sense. It says "with great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste, He brought me to his banqueting house , and His banner over me was love." Here is "Banner of Love!" Enjoy :)

Compassion Sea

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Compassion Sea actually started out as just a vision. In this vision God showed me a sea of blood (intense, I know!) washing over this girls feet. When I asked God what it meant He said the blood represented the fact that when we stand before Jesus and let Him purify us, He does...and it is that simple. I was so moved that I decided to paint it. So here is the sea of compassion :].

Pots

For Sale: $100
Size: 3'x 2'

Pots shows an African desert scene that hasn't seen rain in a very long time. In the painting it's raining! They are getting the rain they have waited for and this African mother is so thankful :).

My Mountain

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She's there. Away from the chaos, away from the pain. My Mountain shows a girl focusing on what really matters to her. It shows, in the darkness, how the light shines through on her face. She is not escaping but simply refocusing, something I have to do all the time :].

Stirring

Not for sale.

Everyday I still learn from this painting. I guess...it's like...I should understand it, since I painted it, but it isn't like that. This one is different to me, abstract and uncomfortable, but in the same breath, comforting.

Stirring started out as a completely different painting. Behind this image of the colors and the tree there is a garden. If you look closely enough you can see the texture of smaller trees, flowers, grass and a gate door in the distance. Behind these stirring colors is a garden...and no one can touch it. Not for sale.

To Know You

For Sale:$100
Size: 35.5" x 24.5"

Sometimes when I paint I just go for it. No pre-sketches, no brain prep, I just...do it and hope something cool comes out of it. This was one of those times and it became one of my favorites. To Know You depicts land and water coming together with three doves flying overhead.

Ablaze

Sold.

Ablaze was so fun to paint! I really like lions and all that they represent so painting it was cool road to travel. I named it Ablaze because he is so fierce here; ready to take care of injustice and conquer fear.