Interview with an artist
Trees, rocks, water, sky, wildlife - Sheila Van Delft paints refreshment for the soul
48x36 acrylic on canvas
Near Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island – Sheila finds the forest one of the places where she recharges the best. She is so grateful to live in the country with trees all around her – and the endless inspiration they provide!
The quiet cool of a forest trail brings inspiration to artist Sheila Van Delft. As an introvert, she finds she can recharge by breathing deeply in the midst of nature. And in her work, she brings that feeling to others, through haunting scenes of groves on Vancouver Island, fog-filled vistas of the West Coast Trail, or serene views of a lone eagle surveying his kingdom.
“When I think deeply about why it’s always nature ,” she says,
“I realize that I’m painting my longing for the new earth and fellowship with God. Adam and Eve in Paradise enjoyed perfect nature with God, and the renewed earth will also have landscapes and seascapes, trees, animals, and big skies – all perfected and even more incredibly beautiful than what we enjoy here because of the redeeming work of Jesus. I long for this, and dream of this, and in my own way, must paint it again and again.”
Sheila is blessed to be able to work in art full-time – part-time as an art teacher and the rest of the time in her home studio. A typical day for her might involve: catching up on email requests and admin tasks, painting, taking a break for household tasks, taking the dog for a walk, brainstorming the next twenty paintings, painting some more, reluctantly making dinner, and then painting the rest of the evening because, really, it’s her favorite thing to do.
36x24 acrylic on canvas
The artist’s granddaughter in a field near her home in Ontario
Van Delft has been an artist since she was a child, encouraged by her parents. Later, she studied graphic design, and then even later, as a mature student, she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts. Through it all, she honed her skills, motivated by Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”
“I sometimes have market customers tell me that they feel so at peace when they look at my work, or that they don’t want to leave because it’s all so beautiful. I marvel at this! How can it be that what I do can have this effect? It’s all God’s hand working through my hand.”
One of the things she’s most proud of is her work as a high school teacher. Through it, Sheila nurtures her students’ ability to use their talents to share beauty and truth. Students she never expected have come up to her and admitted she made them care about art, and that brings her a feeling of fulfillment.
“When I try capture emotions like awe, contentment, gratitude, harmony, joy, peace, and wholeness in my paintings, I think others can feel that too. And that’s why I paint, so others can also feel the hopeful anticipation of the better life that is coming. I’m trying to share a bit of Heaven.”
Learn more about Sheila Van Delft's work on her website, where you can also stay up to date about the markets and other events where you can view her work in person. And she shares her work on Instagram and Facebook.
Send Harma-Mae Smit suggestions for artists to profile at [email protected]
News
Saturday Selections – May 30, 2026
When John MacArthur visited a philosophy class
In this clip John MacArthur starts off sounding quite arrogant – he says he sees everything clearly. but he isn't boasting about himself and his intellect. He's boasting about what he – and what we – have been given. And Christians should not be humble about the greatness of our God!
"As a Christian, you and I share this in common: I see things clearly. I see the world clearly. In fact, I often wonder why I'm not on more programs giving the right answer to everything. It's all very clear to me. Everything is clear to me. I understand where the world came from, where it's going. I understand all of that. I understand why things happen the way they happen. I understand life and death and life after death and heaven and hell and morality and immorality. I understand it all. I understand why the world is the way it is. Why people act the way they act. Am I particularly intelligent? No. Am I particularly wise? No. I just have the mind of Christ here in this book."
4 reasons Christians should study evolution (10 minute read)
"As a science teacher in Christian schools, I’ve noticed a predictable progression when students begin studying evolution. They start with a mocking attitude that “evolution is stupid.” But when I present the details accurately, a bewildered hush falls over the class. Quizzical looks are followed by raised hands and vociferous objections. They sound betrayed.
"Finally, as they discover biblical answers from the creation perspective, light bulbs turn on, and their perplexity is replaced with relief. They then are able to communicate their thoughts about origins more coherently and confidently.
"We fall short if we tell Christian youth that the study of origins doesn’t matter or that it’s a side issue. We underestimate evolution’s threat to their faith..."
What gives something value?
As Christians we generally have a negative view of subjectivity – morality certainly isn't subjective. But whether chocolate or vanilla ice cream is best certainly is.
Marx thought that a product's value came from the workers and how much effort was putting into building something. That makes some intuitive sense, because things that take a lot of man-hours to build – like a house – are more expensive than things that take very little human labor, like, say, a candy bar. But products can take a lot of man-hours to produce and still have no value at all – think Google Glass, or that phone Amazon tried to market years back. These are products that had hundreds and maybe thousands of people involved in making them, but no one wanted them. Despite the many man-hours, they weren't worth a dime.
So what makes something valuable is dependent on what people think about it. Bitcoin is an example, valuable because people say it is. And diamonds too.
This is important because it highlights how markets – the free exchange of goods – help us figure out what people will value. And government interference with markets makes it much harder to know what people value. By way of example, a story is told of how the Soviet Union, for efficiency's sake produced right boots in one factory and left boots in another. But then, one day the right boot factory burnt down, forcing the left boot factory to offer pairs of two left boots. And you know what? Demand didn't drop. Because if your choice in a wintery climate is no boots at all, or two left boots, you'll go with two left boots. So, from the Soviet government's perspective, they'd have no feedback telling them that people actually hate their product. "Sales" would seem to show that it is still popular indeed.
The documentary hypothesis – an attack on the books of Moses dismantled
A friend who went to Calvin Seminary was taught there that the books of Moses might not be by Moses, and were instead by 4 others – this was known as the documentary hypothesis or the JEDP theory (each initial standing for one of those four "editors"). I don't know that this registered with him as an attack on the Bible – it might have seemed just trivia at the time. But those behind the theory didn't see the Bible as God's Word. They saw it as a work of men, revised, edited, corrected and reworked. Some years later that friend now doubts what the Bible says about homosexuality and I wonder if his slip into liberalism is connected with what he swallowed about Moses so many years ago – after all, if he believed the Bible was edited then, why couldn't he edit out the parts he doesn't like now?
But the JEDP theory was always wrong, and has become all the more clearly so now. This isn't an article for everyone, but it caught my eye because of my friend, and because this is from the folks behind "The Patterns of Evidence" film series, and relates specifically to their documentary The Moses Controversy.
Math from a Christian worldview?
"Math can be a challenging subject to teach from the Christian worldview. But consider looking at it through the framework of Truth, Hope, Identity and Calling." This three-page resource could be a help to any Christian math teacher you know... and intriguing to anyone who might be math-minded.
What if the Bible was right about sex?
Christians, we need to be bold about the truth God has entrusted to us in His Word. When it comes to sex, as this video shows, it can be as simple as pitching the fruit of the Bible's sexual ethic vs. the fruit of the sexual revolution.
Today's Devotional
May 30 - Your adversary
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” - 1 Peter 5:8
Scripture reading: Zechariah 3:1-10
You have an adversary, one who strives against you: an enemy. One of the main reasons we have anxieties and cares is because of this enemy. The word Satan means adversary, and the word devil means the accuser, >
Today's Manna Podcast
We love because He has first loved us
Serving #1223 of Manna, prepared by C. Bosch, is called "We love because He has first loved us".
