“Always There” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Mixed Media on Canvas, 2010
This piece is about the beauty of God. The more we gaze at Him, the more we will see His unfailing love, provision, passion, and protection. He is always there watching over us, gently guiding us, delighting in us and singing his songs of deliverance over us in the night. When we lock our eyes onto His, we simply become aware of His beauty and passion for us. This piece is tactile; it is tangible; it can be touched. Likewise, you can touch and feel God in a very tactile, tangible way and know He is real. The stitching represents how He stitches each part of us into us. He can take what was broken and make it beautiful by stitching the pieces back together. The buttons look like golden coins, yet when you look closely they have flowers on them, representing His provision and how He cares for even the flowers in the field; they never have to worry and neither do we. He is faithful to bring what we need, when we need it every time. My prayer, as you gaze into this piece, is that the tangible love of Father God, the presence of Holy Spirit and the passion of Jesus Christ would wash over you and into you; that you encounter them in such a profound way that resonates with your spirit. I pray that you would know beyond knowing He is always there for you, always beside you, always inside of you, and His heart beats to walk in intimate relationship with you, always, no matter what.
“Efflorescence” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas, 2010
Efflorescence is the state or a period of flowering, an example or result of growth and development. This painting is the result of a vision where God showed me how dancing before Him in worship causes us, His children, to blossom in freedom. I encourage you to dance in abandon before the King of Kings like David danced. Be aware that as you overcome the fear of man and how you look as you dance, your spirit releases freedom into the atmosphere around you and you affect those around you with your new found freedom. This is a beautiful thing, and I bless your body, your dance and every movement you create to bring the freedom of the Kingdom of Heaven to the earth around you.
“Pearls In His Waves” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Watercolor & India Ink, 2010
While I was focusing my heart on Father God, He showed me that He longs to take the pain from your life and adorn you with pearls for your suffering. In the vision I saw, the pearls were pink representing the innocence of childhood being restored. As you gaze at this image, my prayer is that you will encounter the tangible love of God as He washes over you with His love and takes away the pain in your spirit, soul and body, depositing the pearls of true beauty and wisdom where pain once ruled you. I speak to the walls and chains of pain that have bound you, and say by the blood of Jesus you are broken, and where you once resided the Love of God and the Power of Christ is taking up residence. Jesus is empowering you to be free in who you are, in all that you are. I bless your eyes to be opened to see the blessings that are all around you. I bless you with joy that touches every cell of your being, filling you with strength and hope. I encourage you to mediate on Psalm 42:6-8 as this process is taking place in your heart.
“Letting Go” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Acrylic on Canvas, 2011
This piece is about letting go, learning to worship God in the midst of transition, in the midst of things dying and being dormant. It is about worshiping Him through the fall season of life. The background is composed of two fall paintings of trees, covered in the outcome of worship; freedom and movement. When I learned to let go of the past, not deny that it happened, but truly let go of the hurts and the fruits of the last season, I was open to receive the blessings of freedom and worship. It is in worship that we discover who we are by setting our focus on the King of Kings. When I did that, I was finally able to join in the community of the family of God who were doing the same thing, who were running hard after God, and simultaneously resting in Him. In letting go of all that I had held on to, the things that had previously identified me, I found myself as He sees me. Also, I believe that when we worship the King of Kings the hosts of Heaven come and join us in worship. This is represented by the gold circles and swirls on top of the painting, and how we might not see them from where we stand but if we position ourselves and trust God then we will eventually be able to recognize their presences as well as His.
“The Beautiful Wait” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Acrylic painting, 2012
This painting began with an image of a flower that turned into a figure holding all these gifts and dreams. One of the gifts was a child. I feel like the Lord is saying that He has not forgotten the dreams of your heart and that one day you will be so blessed that you will barely be able to hold the big, beautiful fulfillment of those dreams. The stars are a reminder of the promise, and like Abraham’s promise, while the wait has been long, it will be worth it. It is in the waiting period that the Lord is preparing you to hold all that He is blessing you with. All the promises are “Yes and Amen in Christ.” The stars and the figure are painted a deep red as a reminder that you are covered and protected by the blood of Jesus. In this picture the yellow represents hope, and the orange represents faith. Both of these colors are on the inside of the figure, the dreams and gifts, and the sky holding the stars. One of the dreams has a blue line, I feel like that blue line represents strength. Your strength is the joy of the Lord, so you can legitimately laugh at the opposition and the lies of the enemy because you know that what the Lord has promised you will come to pass. I bless you in the process of waiting and discovering the dreams the Lord has given you!
“Beauty in Death” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Oil on Canvas, 2005.
This piece represent me discovering that there can be beauty in death. In the drooping and dying of this rose, in the graceful tumbling of its petals upon one another, in the continual changing of its colors a piece of my heart healed. My teen years were consumed with grief, in the loss of my brother, my maternal grandparents, and a few other loved ones. This painting came as the Lord was teaching me how to unlock the parts of my heart that I had buried with those losses and how to open myself up to love and feeling again. I had in my childlike understanding buried my emotions with my pain and hidden them deep inside. As the Lord revealed this rose having lived its life for the purpose of bringing joy to the world, vibrantly blooming regardless of who noticed it, who delighted in its scent, or was captivated by its innate beauty, simply because it expressed fully what it was created to be. I knew that to live fully alive meant feeling the rainbow of emotions and not hiding the painful ones but rather learning to see the beauty in the midst of the grief, the joy in the midst of the trauma, the healing in the midst of the brokenness. I learned that there was beauty in death.
“Solitude” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Watercolor, 2007.
This painting came about when I was learning that I was an introvert and how important finding solitude was for me. Living on campus and sharing a room at the time made it difficult to have solidarity but taught me how to find solitude without solidarity. It taught me how to take the briefest of moments by myself to center myself and take refuge in the peace and rest of God so that I could go back out into the world without crumbling from exhaustion. Introverts expend energy simply by being around people, so by simply being surrounded by people I was constantly being depleted of my energy and had to learn how to recharge myself without being a hermit – thankfully I am blessed to have hermit days almost every week now though.
“Release” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Mixed Media on Canvas Board, 2006.
This painting started as a place that I could come to express frustration, sadness and to process any complex emotion I was feeling. I would just come to the studio and paint on this canvas board, with no intention of it becoming anything beautiful, no expectation of sharing it, no judgment for what came out, just simply a safe place to express and release all of what I was feeling. Over time and I think about six painting sessions, it developed this beautiful texture that I fell in love with. I then chose the colors you can see and painted them on, added some spray paint and a beautiful thing emerged from choosing to no longer stuff my emotions down but allowing them to be felt and released without judgment. As a person who feels very deeply and who is very emotional in a world that rarely values emotions and sensitivity allowing these emotions to be felt and released in this painting was a step in my healing process.
“Vibrant Rose” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Acrylic on Masonite, 2005.
This piece came about quickly for a deadline I had procrastinated on so I didn’t spend time planning it out like I would usually do. I had a picture of a rose that I had taken and found inspiration in and paint on my palette from another painting I was working on and I decided to just have fun and be loose and expressive in my colors. To this day it is one of my favorite pieces because of its vibrancy and simplicity. It reminds me that not everything needs to be planned out or thought about before doing it, sometimes spontaneity surprises you with a joy that only it entails.
“Movement in Yellow” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Watercolor, 2007.
This was part of a series I did inspired by the patterns that were created in long exposure photography of the movement of light. The shape of the white line was taken from the pattern created by moving light. I used a masking liquid to preserve the white paper and then painted 15-20 layers of yellow to get the vibrancy that you see before turning the painting on its side and creating the drips of magenta and violet. This piece represents to me the celebration of and the possibility to move through life in a direction that is different from those around you, while maintaining who you are and your peace.
“Shadows in Color” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Acrylic on Masonite, 2007.
Each of these separate square paintings is 18 inches creating a beautiful wall composite- or filling all the walls in a living room as it does in my best friend’s home! I was inspired by the overlapping shadows created by a chandelier as the light cast patterns through a bouquet I had bought to work on sketching. I arranged the flower and sat down to draw them and was captivated by the patterns of shadows on the table. So I grabbed my sketchbook and laid it on the table to trace the shadow lines. I then took these sketches and worked with them eliminating extra lines and simplifying the compositions until I ended up with these nine paintings. Then I chose a color scheme and began to paint them. It was through this process that I began to wonder if the shadows cast in heaven were shades of grey like on earth or if they were full of vibrant colors. I like to imagine that heaven’s shadows are full of color, vibrating with joy.
“View from the Prince of Wales Hotel, Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007.
This began as a plein air painting on my epic road trip, however it was finished in the studio due to intense winds blowing the canvas all about! This mountain scene inspires me because of its magnitude and grandeur. There is something so peaceful to me when I see creation that is so much larger than myself, so much older and more resilient. There is a strength and stability that I find in nature that resonates deep within me a truth about weathering any storm that could come my way.
“Celebration” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Watercolor, 2007
This is another painting inspired by long exposure photography of the movement of light. I took the patterns captured in multiple images and layered them into this painting in color and depth to create a feeling of celebration, momentum and joy.
“Daylights Dusk” by Stacy Marie Hawley, Watercolor 2007.
This painting was partially inspired by the fractured timeline and linear style of Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending A Staircase, No. 2". This beloved tree was outside my studio in college and a photograph of it inspired a drawing that later became this painting and a version in acrylic as well. Often when being taught watercolor you are taught to preserve the texture of the paper so that the pigments can properly sink into the layers of paper. In this piece, however, I had fun creating the textures by scratching into the paper with the end of my paint brush and creating distinct patterns where the pigment settled.