Sandi Hester

Paintings by Sandi Hester

The Whistle of God

I will whistle for them and gather them in.  Surely I will redeem them…Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember Me.  Zechariah 10:8-9 (taken from the NASB & NIV)

This is for my friend Amy who is in Africa.  She is wrapping up her time there and will be returning to the states soon.  My prayer is that the people there will hear the whistle of God and draw near to Him.  We are also praying that as the team leaves to return to the states, that those who know Him will remember Him.  Lord, gather them to Yourself – make Your Name great in Africa!  Amy sent me several pictures to paint from and this is one I was really drawn to.

Happy Birthday Daddy

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet!  Be still!”  Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  Mark 4:39

I painted this for my Dad for his birthday.  There have been some stresses with work this year for my Dad, and I wanted to remind him that during the “storms” of life the wind and the waves still know His voice.  Happy Birthday Daddy – I love you!!!

This One’s For Grady

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow… Job 38:22

It’s that time of year around our house – ski season – where the magazines start coming in and Grady starts talking a whole lot about planning our ski trip(s).  It’s the time of year where Grady has skiing on his mind ALL the time.  I painted this first painting from a picture I saw in one of his ski magazines – I was drawn to the skis and to the lanterns on the side of the building.  The second painting was more of a quick sketch I did – I wanted to try a snow technique in painting so I did a quick background to put the snow on top of. 

Grady’s watching the weather channel right now – that’s another thing that we do a lot more of when ski season is upon us – Grady starts filling me in every time it snows somewhere.  We would watch the weather channel 24/7 if it was up to Grady – he LOVES it – he even refers to the people on the weather channel like they are his friends – like he knows them personally or something.  There’s someone new on there tonight and he was wondering if she was a fill-in for Alexandria who is pregnant – he got all excited and said, “maybe she had her baby!”.  I don’t even know who Alexandria is, much less that she’s pregnant!!!  Ok, this is funny – Grady just proofed this post for me and informed me that her name is Alexandra… I spelled it wrong – oh brother!!!

Rest

“Come to me, all you who are weary…and I will give you rest.”  Matthew 11:28

The Lord definitely gave us some sweet time of rest at the Warden’s cabin this last weekend.  Grady and I fished and painted our hearts out.  No TV, phones, or computers – it was perfect!!!  The Warden’s were very gracious to let us use their cabin – it was a very restful time – – THANK YOU GUYS!!!!.  Tommy also let Grady borrow his kayak – Grady had a blast with that thing (you can see it in the first painting of their cabin).  Here are a few paintings and sketches I did while resting at their lake cabin.

This is a painting I did of the Warden’s lake cabin and Tommy’s kayak – like how I got the kayak in there, Tommy???

This is the marina that is down from their cabin – it was really cute – when I saw it I knew I would be painting it.

Colorful fishing boats.

This was my favorite to paint.  There was this old factory or old mill down from their cabin that I passed to drop Grady off at the river.  I loved it so much that I pulled in one day and just sat there in the parking lot and painted it.  I may paint this one again because it was so much fun doing those old buildings.

This one needs some explaining – and I’m second guessing myself for even putting this one on here.  One day while I was painting I heard a loud boom and I thought a log had fallen on the cabin until I saw feathers flying everywhere.  I ran outside and saw that a fairly good size bird flew right into the window and it was lying there dead.  I quickly called Grady and told him about all the excitement and he told me not to get too close to the bird because sometimes they just knock themselves out – I’m sure he was picturing me bending over to get a good look at the bird and it coming to and flying in my face while I screamed my head off… well I assured him it was dead because blood was running from his little head (Tommy and Debbie don’t worry we discarded the bird into the woods – there is a big blob of “stuff” on your upper window though).  So, here’s where it could get a little weird for some of you – I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to paint this pretty little bird (I mean, how often do you get to look at a bird for so long and that up-close???), so I grabbed my paints and plopped down and painted him – he was so pretty!  I did scream and almost fall out of my chair at one point because I thought I saw the bird move 🙂 – but I think my mind was playing tricks on me – thanks Grady!

Butterflies And Storms

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted.  I’ve been working hard on the art sale and now that it’s over I can post some small sketches I’ve worked on over the last few weeks.  We had a good turn out for the sale, but I had a lot of people who weren’t able to come because they were out of town.  So, I’m keeping the “store” open a little longer – if you’d like to come by leave me a comment or e-mail (sandigrady@comcast.net) me and we can set up a time for you to come by and shop.  I haven’t had a lot of time to paint, but I’ve gotten some small quick sketches and paintings in over the last few weeks – here are a few of them…

How many are Your works, O Lord! In wisdom You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures. Psalm 104:24

He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from His storehouses.  Psalm 135:7

This And That

I will have a new addition at this next art sale – a “This and That” table.  It will include some random creative things I’ve made throughout the year.  The items on this table won’t be things I’ll necessarily always be making – they are just “itches” I’ve had and the “This and That” table will be an outlet for my creative “ideas”.  Here’s a peak at some of those items:

Here are some of the necklaces I’ll have on the “This and That” table.  Some have words on them, some are chokers or can be made into bracelets, and some look like pages torn from the bible or hymnal.

I’ve also made some shadow boxes that have aged hymnal pages in them – here is a picture of one on my shelf and a close-up picture so you can see some detail.

These may be the strangest items, but I love them.  They are bowls made out of scripture pages (I have one with the name of Jesus on it and I’m working on making some out of hymnal pages).  I’ve had these on my table for months now and am growing quite attached to them – so we’ll see if they actually make it to the “This and That” table – I’ll try my best to part with them :).

I’ve been quite busy getting ready for the sale so I haven’t been painting much.  Here are the only two paintings I’ve done since I posted last.

If you didn’t receive a “save the date” e-mail about the art sale and you are interested in coming you can e-mail me at sandigrady@comcast.net or leave me a comment.  The sale will be at our house on Saturday July 26th from 10:00 – 1:00.  If you did receive that e-mail I’ll be sending you an invitation closer to the sale with all the info. including directions to our house.  Hope to see you then!

Amanda’s Birthday

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! Joshua 24:15

My sister’s birthday was June 24th, but we just celebrated it last night so I couldn’t post her gifts until now.  She asked me last year to paint a picture of their house since it’s the home where her kids are being raised and there’s special memories associated with it.  Well, I did my best – which wasn’t great, but here it is.  I did 3 different versions of it and this is the one I decided on giving her – I didn’t love any of them – I don’t think this is my forte – but I’m also not a very good judge of my own work – I rarely think anything is good.  I also matted a sketch for her that I did at her house while the kids were asleep of Aidan’s scooter.  Happy Birthday Amanda!

 

Road Trip

Grady and I just got back from a road trip.  We went down to Georgia to visit some of his family.  Since I started painting, long road trips go much faster.  I love that about watercolor painting – you can take it just about anywhere!  Any long trip in the car or air plane I take my paints – time seems to fly by when I’m painting for some reason.  I thought I would share some of my sketches I do on these road trips and my travel painting supplies with you.  My travel supply kit includes my sketch books (the one below is the largest I carry), small travel size paint box (I LOVE this paint box – Grady got it for me for my birthday), I usually only carry 1 or 2 brushes, pencil, my favorite eraser (Artgum), spray bottle, water – of course, and I have this great lap desk that I use in the car – it has a place for a small cup.  I love looking at other people’s art supplies so I thought I would take a picture of my “travel” supplies before I put them away from our trip.  The first 2 sketches I did on this trip.

  

They Will Soar On Wings Like Eagles

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:31

Thank you for those who prayed for the Crowders.  I received an e-mail this morning saying they arrived safely.  It took quite a bit longer than they expected.  A 31 hour trip turned into 2 days.  They were tired but arrived safely.  I did this quick sketch painting Saturday while Grady fished.  It was interesting timing because this is actually a picture Beverly gave me of the plane they fly in on once they get in Africa.  You can tell by the painting that it’s quite small and the runway isn’t exactly paved.  So this painting is for the Crowders safe arrival.

 

Prayer Request

If you’ve read my blog you’ve heard me mention our missionary friends the Crowders.  I have a prayer request for them.  They are returning to Africa tomorrow and I’m asking you to cover them in prayer.  They have a VERY long flight tomorrow – those of you with children will understand – Beverly is pregnant and they have a toddler – have you ever traveled for 24 plus hours with a toddler – you can see why I’m asking you to pray!  They also have 12 “bags” – I think they’re more like crates – they will be traveling with and that they need to arrive on time to Africa with them.  I’m sure you can also understand the importance of their bags arriving, especially with all they need for their toddler.  I appreciate you covering them with your prayers.  I know this may seem strange, but even if you read this after the 17th will you still lift them up in prayer – our God is not bound by time and even if you pray for them well after the flight I know my God will hear and “count” it toward tomorrow :).  Pray that they have very uneventful flights, that they get some rest on these flights, that Thomas (their little boy) has an easy time traveling, and that their bags arrive on time.  Thank you friends for praying for them. 

The paintings below are painted from some pictures the Crowders gave me.  I’m not sure what this building is – in the painting it turned out looking more like a barn, but it is some concrete building -I’m sure Beverly will let me know what it is when she sees this post.  The other painting is self-explanatory.