Sisters in Zion, Freshaire Designs: Our Art Gallery

I was looking at the board in the foyer at church on Sunday and a particular flyer caught my attention. An International Art Competition for Youth based on the 2012 Mutual Theme, "Arise and Shine Forth".

The Church History Museum invites the youth of the Church to create works of art that express what the Lord's request "Arise and Shine Forth" means to them. What a wonderful opportunity for our youth!

Online submissions will begin to be accepted January 2, 2012. Now is a great time to get them thinking about the theme and encouraging them to create.

Here are a few ideas:

If there are youth leaders or others within your wards who know how to paint with oils, watercolors, pastels, ink or pencil - find out if they are willing to offer instruction to youth who may be interested in developing the particular skill.
Maybe even set aside a mutual night for art instruction. We did this a couple years ago, in preparation for our YW in Excellence: Color Me Beautiful. The girls were taught how to create a portrait of themselves in pastels. It was a wonderful night. And the artwork was incredible.

photo from lds.org

As for the competition itself, you can find all the following information on the LDS Youth website:

Themes and Dates

Rules and Requirements

Judging and Awards

Your Creative Process

Submit Artwork

Contact Church History Museum

Do you know what I want to do right now? I want to get in my car and drive. Drive into the mountains. Then find a trail, which takes me into a grove of aspen trees. After taking time to listen to the wind whistle through the leaves, and let the fallen leaves crunch beneath my feet, I want to go sit on a big rock. Maybe in a meadow nestled in the middle of the grove. No sounds of cars. No ringing phones. No televisions or radio in the background. Just the simple, beautiful sounds of nature. Then I want to remove a pad of paper and a pencil from my backpack and draw. This is what I want to do right now.
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A solo. This takes me back to Unified Studies. Remember solo time? A time to reflect and create.
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Words can't express how excited I am for autumn. Especially this autumn! So many wonderful things to look forward to.

First and foremost, birthday celebrations. Our household celebrates all of our birthdays in the fall.
The cooler weather. Which translates into longer, more comfortable, conversations on the porch.
The "Dirty Dash". I cannot wait to be reunited with all of my sisters! Not only that, we are going to be joined by cousins and friends. As excited as I am, I am a little nervous (to say the least). I am so far from being ready to run a 5k obstacle course. I just want to go and have a good time. Laugh. And spend time with some of my favorite people. I think Lyndsey explained it best when she said, "If I fall in the first few minutes and throw mud in someones face, I'm good."
BYU football has to be mentioned. We already have our new shirts. Ordered and delivered. Sitting in the closet, patiently waiting for the first game of the season.

INVITATION

In celebration, I have decided to combine a few of my favorite things: autumn, watercolors, and an art gallery. I just pulled out my art supplies!
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I am hoping you (all of you) will join me in creating the first Sisters in Zion Art Gallery posts. If you know a budding artist, invite them to join us. I think this would make for a wonderful Personal Progress 10 hour Project .
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To help inspire you to paint, I gathered a few watercolors inspired by autumn.*