The Scotland Collection and Waiting

Do you love exploring new places and uncovering all the possibilities they hold? Finding or seeing an amazing vista with your own eyes? Is your camera always ready, as you try and soak in all the beauty around you?

When I have the opportunity to go someplace new (or perhaps a favorite location that I’m revisiting); it is not a sit-back and chill experience. It’s doing research beforehand, on what others have found and shared. And then it’s trying to pack as much as possible into the brief time I have without driving my family crazy.

I’m so grateful for places I’ve been able to see with my own eyes. There are many locations that I’d love to return to. And there are even more places that are on a bucket list of places to visit. I’ve not won the lottery, resources are limited. I watch others travel on social media or YouTube and enjoy getting a glimpse of new locations. I still want to go, and yet it’s a longing that’s currently not being fulfilled.

While I always prefer to see places firsthand and take photos for myself, it does limit what I can paint. One location on the bucket list is Scotland. I’ve not been, and while I wrestled with the longing not yet met, I decided to press forward. To keep dreaming that perhaps someday that trip will happen. To embrace the way I can explore, through what others have shared. I have a source of copyright-free images at my fingertips online. I had made a folder with some of my favorites and decided I was done waiting for someday to happen. I picked a few favorites to paint and started. Rather than wallow in my waiting, it felt like an act of faith in a good God to explore places yet experienced through painting.  Almost a visual prayer to Him who sees not just my needs but also my desires and is a Good Father who knows how to give good gifts. An act that I will remain hopeful in what wonders I might see and experience in my life.

So enjoy with me these paintings. I’ve loved painting them and will probably add to the collection. Keep looking for beauty where you are and dreaming of what else is out there.