12” x 12” illuminated oil paint on canvas close-up of one area of a face is a Favorite Facial Feature Portrait. Brining attention to the beauty of a face, by choosing only one feature is a playful way to engage the viewer. By eliminating the other recognizable features, a whimsicalness is offered to figure out who’s face the feature belongs to.

At first blush, my clients don’t allow themselves to admit they like anything about the way they look. When I gain their trust, and am given permission to show what I see in them, I feel it is a priceless gift.

When I read the Bible, the images play boldly in my mind. As the stories come to life, I see and hear the presence of God. In the moment the paint and the brush touch, something unique is lifted onto the canvas –a flow of life, as I hear and feel another presence influencing the way I paint. What I thought was going to be a painting by myself becomes a collaborative window of vision into another world. Things that were not originally planned to be on the canvas come forward to have their own voice.

On this day, I wondered if the ocean surface was real or if it suddenly became a rolling motion computer graphics program. Sometimes air, wind, water and sunlight come together in a way that captivate the imagination. When the ocean becomes a rolling graphics program, it’s time to snap a photo to share with everyone. I hope you enjoy the play of light I was gifted to be able to share.

My Love Affair With GaudÍ
By Pamela”Rae” Shurilla

I barely knew the man. Barely knew of his love of architecture and all things beautiful. Through observation of nature, the purposeful sublime geometric balance of strength through structure, allows observation, shifting measured concepts into unexpected strength of open spaces.

Understanding his love of God through his work and ultimately his love of man, he blissfully communes with us in play of light – bathing us in extraordinary color.

Colors too many to number, a profound sense of Heaven overwhelms. Peaceful joy. None compare. Seated in the front of the church, Gaudí’s lingering presence expressing The Divine –from my eyes water flows for those whom I love, prayers ascending one by one. Floods of love. I understood all is well within my soul. Prevailing peace, inspired awe ~ awe inspiring peace. Astonishing, almost unsettling peace. It carries on as if I had been in the Heavenly Realms while seated in the center front pews of Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia.

I did not know how he loved me. Loved me so much as to plan for my arrival from a far off time and country. To visit the beautiful bathing of glorious shifting color held within the tallest tree spires of nature inspired truth. Profound truth, otherwise only found in rows of fields with wonder of seasons change. The sun’s caress. Undeniable truth of geometry calculating shape, form and function of the intricate love of God celebrated in this structural wonder called Gaudi’s church.

They say to know a man is to love him – if a man expresses himself, then we are allowed. Allowed in through a secret window of the soul with its colors unimaginable, sensing something more and we are forever changed. Strengthened, understood, lifted up, empowered to do the unthinkable — to create.

Inspired, if I could be one person to make a difference to one, or to millions as he has done.. With God expressing His love for us, for the one, or for the millions with use of color, wind, water, earth and play of light in His creation for us, I sense an eternal caressing of my soul that says to remain brave – even more brave than before – take on that which causes growth. Not then taking advantage or falling asleep – but somewhere in between and on occasion both. I open to the waters of joy flowing to its fullest, letting in the refreshing of life anew to expand my soul and reset my purpose.

This is the stuff of life – to pour out my life, breathe in and bathe in His Glory Divine, from knowing Him. Intimately. By design.

Thank you Gaudí. By design you have born new life, purposeful, intelligent, meaningful, creativity — art-alive, a deep well dwelling within me, now have my purpose and place of being — my importance as art lives through me with the stories it wants to tell. I have found my worth — but it was only through suffering that it was brought forth –yours, mine, for just a little while with friends and angels divine.

Gaudí, it took you, to tell me what and why – I take you with me back to mine, forever changed.

Train trip Barcelona to Madrid 11.07.2018 12:50 pm high-speed rail.

Entering an Autumn forest in central Spain, illuminated leaves of glorious color fill the sky and inspire imagination. Who walked this Royal Forest of Princes just outside of Madrid? Could it be the Architect, Antoni Gaudí could have become inspired to create his church in Barcelona from the same walk that I made here? I thought certainly he must have! The uncanny similarities to the glorious colors of the rainbow during fall in this magical forest held within spires of light called trees, is a celebration. I enjoyed similar awe-inspiring colors of light within the Sagrada Família, Gaudí’s Church in Barcelona, Spain.

Repurposed metal labels have a powerful yet whimsical effect when combined with other colored metals. Custom shaped to fit the wearer, each new design is a one of a kind. When challenged with objects that are a non-traditional flat item to wear as jewelry, I become perplexed as to how to solve the problem of how it is to be presented to best show its beauty and strength. Each object I create has a life of its own and tells me what it wants to have as its frame to shine within.

I enjoy the process of these heavy metal creations made from extruded solid copper rods. With a high-heat torch, I fire the the metal until it glows, then quench in cold water. This anealing process softens the metal so I can hammer away to my heart’s content on heavy steel forms until the thickness, shape, and design is exactly what it needs to be. As this metal submits to the strikes of the hammer’s blow, the process feels as if the metal becomes soft and formable like clay at the exact point between the shaping hammer and steel. A finishing hammer and polishing wheel create the reflection of light, depending on the design. Copper has a wonderful electrifying effect. I have felt more energetic as a result of wearing these special copper pieces.