Living With Five Loaves & Two Fish

Hello!  ¡Hola!  I started blogging on July 26, 2011, although I'm not sure anyone remembers, as there were no comments.  LOL!  I blogged regularly, and eventually made blogging friends all around the world.  Between April 2017 and September 2019, my schedule became extremely complicated.  I was making time for my artwork, but I was only blogging sporadically.  Hence, I took a hiatus until August 3, 2025, when I rebranded my Blog.  Therefore, I'm making this a kind of 15th/1st Year Blog Anniversary Post!

    

For my first project this week, I have an art journal page.  I was inspired by the sunflowers in the Inspiration Station Challenge August 2026 - Photo #88.  For this page, I glued ephemera from my stash; sketched out the sunflower with a pencil; outlined it with a permanent marker; painted it with watercolors; and then finished it by hand lettering the sentiment.  I'm also submitting this page to Try It On Tuesday - Make It Colorful and Kreativ-Tanten Challenge #116 Anything Goes.

  

Next, I have an ATC I did inspired by The Paper Players PP797-For the Little Ones, by Jan, Colorful Options August 2026-Lemongrass (BTW, thanks for the July Top 3 Non-Cards!), and Tag-Along (And ATC's) August Challenge- Fashion.  I had SO much fun with this one, as I designed the onesies using a Make It Cutting Die that I won during the 601 Everybody Art Challenge.  I used scraps of paper for the 3 onesies, and illustrated the embellishments on them with Copic fine nib inking pens and colored pencils.  The clothespins are die cut scraps.  I made the base using a KsCraft ATC Die set; and the letters for the "word" beach, using a Sizzix Tim Holtz Alphanumeric Thinlits sets.  I hand lettered the word "wear."

         

The August 2026 theme at Art Journal Journey is The Good Old Summertime, which was chosen by my blogging friend Erika, at BioArtGal.  I immediately thought of my 2 daughters, and how they loved our family trips to the beach during their childhood.  In combination with Inkspirational Challenge #373-Beach Vibes and {Pin}spirational Challenge #340 August Jade and Peach, I illustrated this cartoonish page, using markers and colored pencils.

         

This is a photograph of the top of the credenza behind my desk, at my church office.  You can see a Madonna retablo that a friend gifted me, a piece of chalk art that I did, and my personal coffee maker.  The mug is from Camp Capers, one of our 3 Diocesan church camps.  Three generations in my family have attended that camp.  I added this Psalm verse, because although I do my best to live a Christ like life, I know I'm not perfect.  It's God's grace that keeps me going.  I'm linking this to T Stands for Tuesday, Word Art Wednesday #764/765, and What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 896/116.

Friday Face Off 08/07/2026

Saturday's Critters #660

Art For Fun Friday 3997,  My Sunday Best #493, & Mosaic Monday No. 200

         

These last 3 photographs are just for fun.  The first photograph is a selfie of my family, which I took back in 2011, during a trip to Corpus Christi, Texas.  I started blogging around the time I took this picture.  The second photograph is of Gris, my wife's and my gray tabby cat, who loves to hangout in my home studio/office.  She's a sweet, happy-go-lucky, smart girl.  The last photograph is of a sculpture that I found at the hospital where my Mom was at recently.  I love the artistry, as well as the caption that was found on a sign by it.

In closing, I want to leave you with a summary of my last sermon, based on Matthew 14:13-21:

In this Gospel reading, we hear the disciples say, "we have nothing here but five loaves and two fish."  This highlights their initial doubt about their ability to feed the great crowd.  For us, this doesn't mean that God we'll necessarily give us more "bread and fish" to help others, but that by through him, we can make a difference in the lives of others.  Small offerings, can lead to great outcomes.  Jesus saw people through the eyes of empathy, love, and compassion.  He didn't care if the people were poor, sick, desperate, tired, hungry, sinful, or had anything to offer in return.  Jesus loved unconditionally, and asked nothing in return.  He tasked the disciples with doing the same with the crowds, and tasks us to do the same for others.

Thank you for your visit!  ¡Gracias por su visitation!  Please leave a comment, and I'll be glad to reciprocate, so that we can get to know each other.

Shalom,

Arnoldo+