Central Texas – Melanie Stokes Art

May 25, 2024May 26, 2024

Headed Home, Again

A few years ago, I painted an evening skyscape with only a few tiny cows walking in a line on a ribbon of a landscape and called it Headed Home. So, when the title “Headed Home” came to mind for this new landscape, I named it Headed Home, Again. Then, I started thinking of the implications of that title.

Home is the place we return to day after day. We head home — again and again. And there is comfort in that. Home is a place to go to after a busy day. Home is a place where others greet you. Home is a place you can kick off your shoes and relax. Home is a place you can be. And, it also makes me think of the eternal, heavenly home that I believe in, through faith in Jesus Christ.

My home has never been on a country road. (Not counting the two years we lived in Sierra Leone.) I grew up in a subdivision, where all the kids rode bikes together and knew who lived in each house. My adult years have been in a variety of settings, moving in ministry with my minister husband. We have never lived in such a place as this — with wide open acres, surrounded by magnificent skies and cow pastures. This is now our “home.”

Mart, Texas is about twenty minutes from Waco, Texas. So after going shopping, or banking, or to get a haircut, or to church, or to attend an art event, the ride back home goes from the congested craziness of downtown Waco, to the endless Loop 340, to rural roads like this. When I turn off the Loop onto Elk Road, I notice that I inhale with a relaxed breathing and almost a sigh of relief that I am back on “country roads.” Obstacles in the road, and rude drivers, can be accepted better when they come upon you one at a time on a deserted road!

Maybe it’s because I am older now. Maybe it’s that in 45 years of marriage, my husband has helped me see that there is much to enjoy in the quietness of nature. Maybe it’s the place God speaks to me the most, when I look at these vast skies. Maybe I have finally become a person of contentment. (No, probably not. I’m still working on contentment.) 🙂 But, when I travel a fence-lined road in the country, I’m headed home.

November 8, 2023November 8, 2023

Protection and Provision

After a long, hot Texas Summer of no rain, we (as in the collective, whole county “we”) were thrilled to see the storm clouds of September rolling in. The dark clouds and hailstorms came, but we all were glad to see the parched earth become covered in green again.

The water in the tanks, ponds, lakes and streams began to rise and the cattle did not have quite as far to stretch into the mud to obtain a drink. Now in November, Lake Waco is able, after a few years, to supply water to all the households which depend on it.

The photo references for these paintings were taken on a walk through our property. Both images were striking enough to make me want to paint them. And as I painted, the titles, Protection and Provision, came to my thoughts

How many times have I used those words, as I prayed for my own or another’s needs? “Lord, grant us Protection and Provision in these days.” Two “P” words that sound poetic, but are packed with power and meaning.

I hope the images speak. The titles speak. But my words will also speak of the Protection of an Almighty God. I see this in a variety of circumstances, in amazing miracles that have happened, and in retrospective realizations as I live through these years. I live in gratitude for the Provision of daily needs, as I continue to trust God. Just when we think the water is as low as it can go, the rains come. We are restored and ready to move ahead.

June 21, 2023June 21, 2023

Just Over the Fence

Just Over the Fence 12×12 oil

This is the view I see from my porch. I often sit out there, drinking coffee in the mornings when the weather cooperates. For several days I have been noticing the morning sun glinting off of the red horse trailer, surrounded by wild sunflowers against the overgrown summer greens. And even if it is the first day of summer and we are already hitting temps of close to 100, I sat under the porch shade and painted from 9 to 10 a.m.

Yes, I have things I need to get painted in the studio. But, this morning, painting en plein air became the priority. While I painted, I listened to the birds sing, felt the warmth of sunshine, and even detected a coyote pup barking somewhere in the brush. All of this was necessary to remind me of why I paint what I paint. A snippet of time, an hour actually, was recorded with colors of paint and a variety of textures to proclaim beauty, and wonder, and miracles that grow from seeds. And I never tire of examining and marveling at it – this natural world in which we live.

Just Over the Fence – 12×12 en plein air

February 23, 2023February 23, 2023

New Every Morning

melaniestokesart.com — New Every Morning
24×30 oil

This view: this huge expanse of a sky, with only a few distant wind turbines breaking the horizon, is what I see each morning when I walk out on my front porch. The colors, the shapes, the atmosphere, the smells or sounds may vary from day to day. But one thing I know for sure is that the view is going to be there. It will be new to me, every morning.

And it reminds me of an Old Testament Bible verse,

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Written at a time when God’s people had truly messed up, the prophet Jeremiah was lamenting all that was wrong. Yet, he doesn’t give up hope in the steadfast love of God and His faithfulness. He believed that God would not turn his back, would not grow weary of their shortcomings, would not hold back His love from them. New beginnings are welcomed by the God who provides a way for us to give up and start over. His mercies are new every morning!

And when I walk to the door, with my morning coffee, the sunrise reminds me that it is a new day, a new beginning, a new grace, an opportunity to be better than the day before, with God’s strength and through His love.

March 30, 2022March 30, 2022

Fly Away!

Remember when you were a child and would look up at the sky and pretend to fly away? Clouds floated gently on the wind, while changing shapes. It seemed they could lift you easily into the sky, where you would experience looking back at the earth below.

As I painted this wispiness of clouds, the words “fly away” came to my mind in song. I couldn’t remember anything about it but those two words sung over and over. I googled later, and found many songs with the words “Fly Away.” Many. So, when I tell you the one stuck in my mind was sung by John Denver, you may equate that with my Boomer age.

For the past two years, I have been obsessed with watching the sky on this Texas Prairie. It’s so different each day. This time, the shadow of a cloud and the bright light, cast on the horizon, caught my attention just long enough to snap a photo for studio reference. The painting of the “cloud dance” continued for weeks as I changed them with as much undetermined shape as they change themselves. But as all paintings come to an end, I finally made myself put down the brush and back away, continuing to ponder how one’s spirit can fly away.

I remembered that it was the light on the earth that attracted me to this scene. And perhaps, that is the reminder for me. While it seems easier to “fly away,” avoiding all of the problems of today, the earth is our home for now. We are here to care for it and its inhabitants. We are here to be light, to love, to guide, to encourage, to teach, and to support. I need to work on letting the worries fly away, casting my burdens to God, trusting that He cares for us.

And I’m reminded of that other Fly Away song that the old timers always requested at Sunday Night Hymn Pick — I’ll Fly Away. “…And when I die, Hallelujah, By and By, I’ll Fly Away.”

April 21, 2021August 21, 2023

It’s Bluebonnet Season!

It’s Bluebonnet Season in Texas! And that means plein air painters are traveling the back roads, looking for the perfect scene to paint their annual bluebonnet painting! I haven’t found a field of bluebonnets in a good location yet. But the close up studies have been really fun. And from that, painting the larger 20×20 reminded me of painting hydrangeas in Georgia! (Some of my GA friends may recognize the same style.)

Those of us in Central Texas are glad to see the bluebonnets blooming! It’s another sign that spring is here – new life, longer days, sunshine and brighter colors!

If you’ve got the winter blues, maybe a bluebonnet painting would take care of that:

…or a walk through the bluebonnets…that’s a sure cure for the blues, too! Happy Spring!