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Daily devotional

More of Reformed Perspective!

Interview with an artist

Anne deJong is taking a palette knife to the Rockies

Rest (12 x 12”)
A view from along the Icefields Parkway - alongside her favorite palette knives.

Breathe in the crisp mountain air. Allow the hustle and bustle of everyday life to drift away on the breeze. Drink in the beauty of the jagged mountain peaks and the blue, blue lakes. These are the feelings that Anne deJong’s paintings summon up. Her love for spending time in the mountains, and her awe at the majesty of God’s creation she finds there, inspire her.

"I take every opportunity I can to hike and camp in the Rockies, and I always come home with hundreds of photos as inspiration for my work. Those stop-in-your-tracks moments where I am filled with awe for the creation around me is what I try to capture on canvas."

She wants the viewer to feel like they are there. And she's succeeded – over the years, many who've found similar feelings of tranquility and awe in these majestic Canadian landscapes have connected with her work.

How did she become a painter of the mountains? Beginning as a graphic designer, she started to take painting more seriously in 2019. "My Grandpa did a lot of painting after he retired, and he was the one who encouraged me to try painting." Her unique style developed as Anne dove into the use of palette knives, something she discovered while leading an Art Club at Parkland Immanuel Christian School. She loves the thick textures the knives create with oil paint, and uses different strokes to capture motion in long grasses or the rugged cliffs and rocks. At first she painted many different landscapes, but she found herself drawn more and more to the scenes of the Rockies.

Original Minis (5 x 5”)
Anne likes wrapping her paintings around the edges of the canvas as it gives the paintings a 3d-feel when viewed from an angle.

For Anne, the mountains bring to mind the presence of the Lord, as in Psalm 125:2: "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore." She explains, “I don’t think specifically of what I believe when I work, but to me the mountains are such a witness to the majesty of our God.” She feels blessed to experience God's creation through the mountains, and to be able to recreate it on canvas.

For many artists, getting their work out into the world is a challenge, and it didn't come easily to Anne either. She had to research the selling process and find the best ways to reach people interested in her work. But she has found that people who share similar experiences with the mountains connect with what she paints, so she starts by talking about her experiences in the mountains. Through her website, social media, and in-person events such as art walks and community markets, she has found ways to bring her work to others who find joy in the scenes she creates.

And her work has gained recognition and appreciation over the years, and is included in private collections in Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and the Netherlands, and corporate collections within Alberta. Most recently her paintings have been chosen to be displayed at the Avens Gallery in Canmore, a well-known gallery that focuses on western Canadian artists. God gives great opportunities for His people to display the joy they find in His creation!

Learn more about Anne deJong's work on her website and her Instagram page. She also has a newsletter you can subscribe to on her website, which is the best way to learn about her events and latest work.

Steadfast (24 x 36”)
This is a pre-wildfire view of Jasper National Park’s Pyramid Mountain, from the parkway. It looks quite different now but the mountain is the same – standing strong above the devastation left behind by the wildfire.

Send Harm-Mae Smit suggestions for artists to profile at [email protected].

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Interview with an artist

Created to create: a practical person’s thoughts on creativity
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Interview with an artist

Paula Roth loves painting her studio

Hawkins Pond was painted at sunset to capture light sparkling off the leaves of the tre...
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Interview with an artist

Rachel VanEgmond is exploring God’s general revelation
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Interview with an artist

Ruth de Vos is quilting kids and creation

Textile art is perhaps not the typical career choice for someone with both science and engineering degrees, but Australian artist Ruth de Vos says the...
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Interview with an artist

Jason Bouwman is finding hope in the desert

Antelope CanyonOil on birch panel | 12X16May 2024Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ. is possibly the most famous and most photographed slot canyon in the west, maybe the world. Surreal and enchanting. The abstract symphony of shapes beckons one deep into the canyon’s serpentine walls and across the narrow sandy stage where time-sculpted stone twirls gracefully in delicate light. Jason Bouwman is a familiar name to many of us from his devotionals Just Thinking (available as a free e-book here) and Still Thinking (which can be purchased here) that sit on our shelves. Then there’s his coin designs for the Royal Canadian Mint, to this very “Interview with an Artist” column where he’s profiled many other Reformed artists, Jason has had many projects we might have seen. But let’s get to know the man behind the work a bit better, as well as his latest venture, the Arabah project. Jason Bouwman is an artist whose personal philosophy is to “live artfully.” He’s done that by working in visual communications, through his company Compass Creative, as well as through illustration, graphic design, and landscape painting. And it is the latter being featured in his latest series of desert paintings. It can be challenging for a creator to decide what their next big focus will be, but Jason knew a project focused on desert landscapes was next after he realized he’d been returning to the southwestern landscape throughout his whole life. From a cross-country road trip with his sister and parents to his honeymoon in California and Arizona, the deserts worked their way into his consciousness and his soul. “I've been in a season of life for which the desert seems to be an especially fitting metaphor for what I've been experiencing,” he says, “and so I wanted to explore it for personal reasons too.” He explains, “There’s a feeling one gets when staring out that horizon under an endless sky that I still can’t explain. The desert is a place of jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, otherworldly beauty. The plants and animals that inhabit this otherwise inhospitable landscape are some of the most inventive and resilient organisms you’ll ever see – as are the people who live there... I have also come to see the desert as a metaphor for certain seasons in my life – those seasons which have been disorienting, confusing, obscure, dry of emotion and seemingly directionless. Those times in life when I’ve been tested, challenged, humbled, brought low, brought to the end of myself so that I might experience more of God and His power and provision.” Evening Drive with MikeOil on gessoed panel | 10X10June 2024I saw this scene on a road leading west out of Mount Pleasant, Utah early one evening. There was something nostalgic about it. It reminded me of photographs I used to see in National Geographic. It reminded me of a road trip our family took out west when I was a boy. It reminded me of Sunday evening drives down country roads with my parents. I shared some of that with workshop instructor Michael Workman and he said; “Paint that!” So I’m calling this “Evening Drive with Mike” “Arabah” is referenced in the Bible. It describes a region of the Negev Desert bordering on present-day Israel, and deserts are a frequent landscape in biblical stories. The Arabah project mirrors the Exodus journey the Israelites took through the desert. The desert can be challenging, but it can also be beautiful, and Jason wants viewers of this project to be able to see both the struggle and the possible blessings found there. After all, as Jason says, not all wandering is a waste of time, and God’s own people were led through the desert, but not without purpose. This project was also a little different because he has been collaborating with his daughter, Jamie, which Jason finds very rewarding. She brings a very different set of skills as a filmmaker, which gives this project a different dimension. “I'm often more excited about what she's doing than my own work.” The goal is to create an art exhibit, a coffee table book, and a short film. Jason and Jamie have already been invited to show a few sneak previews at various events. A big thing Jason’s been thinking about lately is the role of community, and the role the support of others can have in an artist’s life. “I've been blessed by a community of people and patrons who are willing to take risks along with me in creating something new…. They invest time listening to my ideas and concepts, providing feedback about what they think is valuable or not (to themselves and the rest of the community), and commit to purchasing work before they see it completed.” Both the patron and the artist benefit from this connection, the artist from the support and the patron from being able to participate in the art’s creation. This is something all Christians might be able to relate to, even if we’re not artists – the support and feedback from brothers and sisters around us are so important in doing the work God calls us to do. Learn more about the Arabah Project and Jason’s other works at: JasonBouwman.com and Instagram.com/jaybouwman. BoundariesOil on canvas | 24" X 36" | 2023Growing, maturing and healing necessarily involves establishing boundaries. But unlike physical fences, human boundaries need to be communicated and respected to be effective - not least of all by ourselves. “Shaken, pushed around and mishandled but still longing to trust. This is faith too” - Justin McRoberts...

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Interview with an artist

Jordan Feenstra is copying His work

“I’m talking to you. Yes, your faith. Believe it, test it, prove it, show it, share it. Start small, take one step in faith. Your faith is your sharpest tool – don’t forget to use it. All you need to start is faith like a grain of mustard seed.” - JF Jordan Feenstra is back in British Columbia for the second time in her life. Jordan, who was born and raised in “small town” Ontario, first moved to BC as a teen to pursue a graphic design diploma in Vancouver. This move was temporary, however, she returned to the province in her late twenties, along with her husband and young daughter. Jordan describes herself as “a lifelong follower of Jesus, a wife, stay-at-home mom, designer, small business owner and adventurer.” Her favorite place to be? Outside. Her love of the outdoors makes the mountains, forests, and rivers of British Columbia feel like home. Feenstra is also the mind behind “A Thousand Elsewhere,” a boutique design firm offering handcrafted inspirational goods and creative services. Whether it's pen on paper, or paint on the kitchen wall, chalk, paint, markers, or pixels, Jordan has used it. Jordan has been hand lettering and drawing for as long as she can remember. But it was after studying graphic design in college that Feenstra challenged herself with a unique project – to hand letter a Bible verse every day for 5 months straight, and to then share a photo of the work to social media no matter what, mistakes and all. The purpose of the project was for Feenstra to refine her lettering and illustration skills while letting go of her need for perfection (a tendency she was struggling with at the time). The project was also intended to encourage Jordan to spend more time with God. “That project,” she says, “changed my life.” “Jesus, looking at the disciples said, ‘you are the salt of the earth.’ He didn’t say that they should be salty or that they needed to do something in order to become salt. Instead, at the moment of conversion, a believer becomes the salt of the earth.” - JF Feenstra continues to share her experiences through writing and hand lettered artwork on social media and her blog. As a mental health advocate, this includes sharing her experiences with anxiety and postpartum depression. In 2015 Jordan, together with her husband, completed the Life Renewal program – Jordan then founded A Thousand Elsewhere with the vision of helping others fight the same battles she once fought. It is now many years and thousands of creative explorations later and Jordan continues to, in her words, “share imperfect gospel-centric musings and creative meditations while living ‘a thousand elsewhere’ until she can spend a day in His courtyard” (from Ps. 84:10). “I don't consider myself an artist, but a creative,” Jordan says. “I think God is the original Artist, and we're all just copying His work.” She continues: “In my experience, pursuing a life outside of Jesus is in vain so I am poised to live a life that brings glory to Him (the original Creator, my inspiration), and brings others to Him. I am restless for His return and can think of no better way to spend ‘a thousand elsewhere’ than caring for my family, exploring creation and sharing His word in the form of creative meditations, goods and resources with the world around me along the way.” You can view more of Jordan’s art at Instagram.com/AThousandElsewhere, and visit Etsy.com/shop/AThousandElsewhereCa or her website, AThousandElsewhere.ca, to buy her artwork on shirts, hoodies, wall art, toques, greeting cards and more.   If you have a suggestion for an artist you’d like to see profiled, email Jason Bouwman at [email protected]...

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Interview with an artist

Simone Bos’s calming cubes of color

Ahmic Lake Island II30x40”"This painting features a bird’s eye view of the island just outside of Bells Bay on Ahmic Lake in Magnetawan, ON. This particular island finds itself in many of my lake paintings. The walleye fishing near this island is pretty good too." Thank you, dear readers, for all your suggestions of artists to profile in this column. One name that has been shared repeatedly with me is Simone Bos – a landscape painter from Cambridge, Ontario. Simone Bos has been painting seriously since 2017 and has been showing her artwork in local galleries since 2019. She currently works full-time as an artist, a dream she has had for over a decade. Simone admits that making her dream a reality has also meant accepting certain challenges. Working as a full-time artist involves long hours, significant risks and learning new skills required to successfully operate a business. All this “pushes me out of my comfort zone,” says Simone, “but I am growing and learning!” Simone is also grateful for the meaningful help she’s received along the way. Simone’s parents recently gifted her space in an extra garage which she transformed into a beautiful artist studio complete with plenty of natural light. Her new garage-studio is now used as a workspace, a showroom for her artwork and, at times, a classroom. Like many other Canadian artists, including some of those profiled in this column, Simone has been influenced by the Group of Seven and finds her inspiration in the wild Canadian landscape. She is particularly drawn to scenes in and around Ahmic Lake in Magnetawan, Ontario, as well as the local fields, farms, and country roads near her home in rural Cambridge, Ontario. “I paint places I know/love, which helps me to pull the feeling of the place from the photograph references I work from.” Simone uses “layered cubes of color” to evoke emotion. She explains: “the intentional use of brushstrokes as cubes and shapes gives rhythm and interest to the paintings, and allows for a calming, art-making experience.” Simone follows a rather structured process expressing her understanding of the “Master Artist’s” love for beauty and order. “The finished paintings capture the essence of the landscape featured in a unique, energetic, and yet orderly way. I believe that the viewers who connect with my artwork see this and the sense of calm that comes with experiencing a beautiful scene in nature is evoked also.” How Majestic30x40”"The sunsets on Ahmic Lake are always spectacular, but this one was particularly dramatic. A peaceful lake, with heavy clouds scattering the final sun rays. As the song of the same name by Citizens & Saints recognizes, 'how majestic is Your (God’s) name in all the earth.'” Simone has also been exploring art on a deeper level – understanding the structure and source of beauty and asking what it means to “engage with God in a meaningful way through .” A verse from Ecclesiastes is of particular interest to her. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecc. 3:11) Simone believes that all beauty is from God and wants to encourage viewers of her work to reflect on this too. “The more I paint, the more my observational skills grow. I am able to notice more and more beauty in the natural world around me, which points back to a detail oriented, creative God. I am also learning to trust that God is the Lord of my business and has full control over it: over my sales, my opportunities, my successes, and failures. He is teaching me to trust Him.” You can see more of Simone’s beautiful work and connect with the artist on her website SimsArtStudio.com, and you can follow Simone at Instagram.com/SimsArtStudio and Facebook.com/SimsArtStudio. If you have a suggestion for an artist you’d like to see profiled in RP please email Jason Bouwman at [email protected]. In the picture above, Simone is displaying "Beauty Untamed" which she details is: "Old Man’s River Falls is a beautiful waterfall in Magnetawan, ON, near Ahmic Lake. In Autumn this scene is particularly spectacular, with white water rushing over black rocks, all framed by orange maples. I could sit and stare at this view for hours!...

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Interview with an artist

Deb Menken’s “thing” is she has no one thing

Interview with an artist "A New Creation gets its title from 2 Cor. 5:17. In it we see the new growth but behind the scenes is my return to more abstract work and a desire to reveal more of God and my faith in my work and art practice." ***** Deb Menken and her husband Jim live in the town of Mono, Ontario, where she works in her own home studio. “It is a very picturesque area on the edge of the Niagara Escarpment and has a vibrant arts community of which we both have surprisingly become members! I say surprisingly because it is not something that either of us had planned. God works in mysterious ways as they say!” Through her work Deb hopes to glorify God and add beauty and joy to others’ lives. Deb is a curious artist. Her painting process is spontaneous and imaginative and flows intuitively from the one question she’s always asking herself: “What happens if I do this…?” Deb has answered this question in many surprising and delightful ways but always in a way that reflects her love of color and texture. Menken has had a passion for creative arts her whole life but it wasn’t until 2015 that she decided to pursue the dream of learning to paint. "Lapping It Up is my impression of the area around Dorset and Lake of Bays in the Muskokas. The title is a play on words combining the water lapping up on the rocks and the viewer lapping up the beautiful scenery to be found in that area." Deb then spent the next several years experimenting as she searched for her "thing" – that elusive style or subject matter which she could claim as her own. Instead she discovered “having one ‘thing’ is not my thing!” Deb continues to explore the possibilities of what she can make paint do. This means mixing interesting color combinations and then layering color, shape and line on a canvas or panel until it results in something she is happy with. Deb is quick to point out “It’s possible to fiddle with these kinds of pieces forever and end up losing the initial spontaneity!” Her thing, if there is such a thing, is finding joy in the process of creating art, not the subject matter itself.  While she considers herself an abstract artist, she also loves to paint florals and landscapes with varying degrees of abstraction. Menken, who is now considered “mid-career,” wants to move her work in the direction of being inspired by the landscape without portraying it in a representational way. “I want to learn how to immerse myself in a landscape, examine how I respond to it, how it makes me feel and how to capture that feeling with expressive abstract artwork.” Menken’s work has caught the attention of a local arts council. Earlier this year, the Dufferin Arts Council awarded Menken a bursary to help her develop her skills. In 2024 Deb plans to travel to Newfoundland, alone, to spend at least 2 weeks exploring the beauty of the “raw landscape” there. Her goal with this retreat is to learn how to capture the feeling of the rocky maritime landscape in an abstract way and then apply this approach to other landscapes and subjects. True to form, Menken anticipates the painting done in Newfoundland will be mostly experimental in nature. It will be taken back to Deb’s home studio where it will form the basis for the creation of a new body of work. You can follow Deb and connect with her on Facebook and Instagram @debmenkenart. You can view more of her work on her website www.debmenken.com. If you have a suggestion for an artist you’d like to see profiled in RP please email Jason Bouwman at [email protected]. The title picture is of the artist in the Headwaters Gallery at the Alton Mill in Alton, ON and the painting beside her is “Mossy Morning.”...

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Interview with an artist

Hetty Veldkamp’s landscapes began with a birthday
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Interview with an artist

Joanne Stoffels is on a treasure hunt

Kleanza Creek18” x 36"Acrylic on canvasClear, cool, shade and light; Kleanza Creek ne...
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Interview with an artist

Jim Menken transforms tree trunks!

Interview with an artist ***** An 8-foot tall grizzly! When you think ...
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Interview with an artist

Julia Veenstra is expressing the world!

Interview with an artist **** Breakfast at Tiffany's48” X 72” - Acrylic on Ca...
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Book Reviews, Children’s picture books, Interview with an artist

Stephanie Vanderpol has a zoologist in the house

Interview with an artist Stephanie Vanderpol is the author and artist behind RP’s “Come and Explore” children’s pages, and she’s also the author of a new picture book, "Cheetahs Eat Cantaloupe." If this title sounds a bit odd to you, that’s because it’s an example of the various other animal “facts” that you’ll find inside. I had a chance, recently, to ask the author how her book came about. – JD ***** Jon Dykstra: In the opening of “Cheetahs Eat Cantaloupe” you explain that it was “inspired by the comical ‘animal facts’ as stated by my daughter Scarlett.” It sounds like you had a zoological expert in the house. What sorts of animal facts was she sharing? The author and her inspiration Stephanie Vanderpol: Scarlett has always been interested in animals. When she was two, she had a pet spider, a bucket of worms, and a collection of snails that she would play with on the regular. Outside, of course! Between the ages of six and seven she started sharing animal “facts” like in the book, things like “chipmunks stuff their cheeks because they cannot climb when their hands are full.”  The facts were mainly born out of curiosity, sort of her way of answering her own questions of “why does that animal do that?” Sometimes she would write them down and I would find them, or I would overhear her teaching her brother the ways of these animals, or, sometimes, she would outright just tell me. JD: What prompted you to turn it into a book? SV: I had been illustrating my daughter's animal facts and posting them to Instagram at the beginning of COVID thinking that people could use a little bit of joy in their day. A few months in, the winter was looming over me and I knew I needed some sort of project to keep me sane through the winter. I actually got on my knees and asked God to direct my ways, to give me a project that would give Him glory and keep my head above water. He led my heart to the book project. It was initially just for my daughter Scarlett's 8th birthday, one copy, just for her. But as I posted about it, people got excited and by printing date I had a fair amount of pre-orders. I never would have thought! JD: What did Scarlett think of how you illustrated each of her “facts”? SV: Either she would giggle, at which point I knew she liked it, or she'd critique it and tell me what to change. She was very involved in the sketching stage, so it was a cool bonding moment. Maybe I hit the "cool mom" stage with her…though, of course, she never said that out loud. JD: What was involved to turn this from idea to finished book? SV: It took over a year to go from the first sketch until I held the final copy in my hands. During the day I would be doing my regular mom job, folding laundry, making meals, keeping the house clean, and then once my kids were tucked into bed at night, I’d whip out all my art supplies, sit on the couch, open up my folding table and get to work. My husband is a school teacher so it worked out well. He’d be sitting with me, marking tests and prepping for the next day, and I’d be playing with my pencils and watercolors, with baby no. 4 kicking away in my belly. JD: What was the process for a single two-page spread?  SV: Each page had a similar process: Take one of Scarlett’s animal facts and imagine what it could look like. Sketch the image onto paper until it came out right (sometimes this took up to 15 different tries). Run the sketch for approval under the careful eye of Scarlett for laughability, my husband, for common sense and continuity, and my best friend Breanna for accuracy in facial expressions and other artistic critiques. Trace the sketch onto watercolor paper using a lightpad and a waterproof pen. Using my watercolors, paint the image. This was my favorite part! Scan the images into the computer and arrange them and the text in Photoshop, creating the pages as they are in the book. Once all the pages were done, I ordered a proof copy of the book to go through final edits, including text, done by my editor, Julia. After many edits and proof copies, I ended up with the final copy! Snuggle up on the couch and read the final book to my kids! JD: We’ve got your book in the school library down here in Lynden, WA. Where else has it reached? And how can people get a copy? SV: Cheetahs Eat Cantaloupe has made it all across Canada and into the United States, and there’s even a copy in Scotland, too, which is pretty cool. I have a few copies left of the first print run that can be purchased through my website, www.stephanielorinda.com, or on Instagram @stephanielorinda. And if I run out, I’m happy to take pre-orders for the second edition....