Welcome to our blog!

We write reflections about our explorations in the arts, creativity, prayer, retreats, and spirituality.

We would love to be in dialog with you. Share your thoughts on these topics or respond to what we have written.


We are also available to lead arts & spirituality workshops and retreats. Visit our website for more details: www.DrawingNearer.com
Blessings, Suzanne & Wanda

Moment by Moment

Moment by Moment
Spiral Mandala, oringinal artwork by Suzanne Halstead

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Earth & Spirit Art Show

Earth & Spirit
March 18 - April 24
Special Openings & Meet the Artists on Fridays March 18 & April 1, 5-9 pm
~~refreshments, live music, book signing~~
Water Gallery is in the Dresher Arcade #5
319 Main Street Lansdale, PA 19446

Pastels by Suzanne Halstead
www.drawingnearer.com
Jewelry by Bette Conway
www.betteconway.com

Art Show & Book Signing April 1st (no fooling!)



Greetings from Drawing Nearer!
We are excited to announce that our newly self-published book
Drawing Nearer: Devotional Workbook of Creative Prayer will be available for sale at the Water Gallery in Lansdale during the exhibition Earth & Spirit March 18 - April 24, 2011. Come visit us on Lansdales's First Friday night April 1st between 5 - 9 pm when we will both be present and signing our books. We would love to see you then!

Also that evening will be refreshments and live music by singer/songwriter Joel Halstead with guest jazz singer Emilia Halstead. In addition there will be live Traditional Irish and Folk Music being played by Bette Conway and other guest musicians throughout the evening. The opening evening of Earth & Spirit is Friday March 18, 5-9 pm when a full evening of Irish and folk music will be performed. Come celebrate with us either or BOTH nights.

The Water Gallery is located in the Dresher Arcade #5, 319 Main Street Lansdale, PA
wwww.watergallerylansdale.com - 215.393.7180

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Happy New Year from Drawing Nearer!
Wanda & I are excited about all the new energy and upcoming adventures on the 2011 horizon.

This original oil pastel, titled Offering of Color, along with 17 others were selected to be showcased at the new Water Gallery in Lansdale, PA March 18 through April 24.

This was the first in a series of 52 oil pastels I did as part of my early morning devotional time while I was up at Mensch Mill Camp & Retreat Center from 2002--2005.


Each of these oil pastels are unique unto themselves and yet themes would appear in the images and the groups of such themes are used in Wanda's and my book, Drawing Nearer: Devotional Workbook of Creative Prayer, where many of these artworks are displayed.

For more information about the oil pastels, Water Gallery and the book please visit our website www.drawingnearer.com

We wish you all the joy and adventure this new year will bring to each of you!
Blessings, Suzanne & Wanda

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Book available in Print!

Wanda & I are pleased to announce that our book is now available in print!

Drawing Nearer: Devotional Workbook of Creative Prayer

You can order it through our website: www.DrawingNearer.com
You can also sign up for our e-newsletter, retreats, workshops and visit the new Drawing Nearer Studio in Pottstown, PA

We wish you all a Happy Advent Season full of prayerful and creative anticipation to the wonders of the Light & Love of Christmas! Blessings, Suzanne & Wanda

Thursday, August 26, 2010

More Pendle Hill



A Healing Retreat


Suzanne and I attended the Creative Spirit retreat at Pendle Hill lead by Melanie Weidner. It was fantastic!!! If you are in the area and she is speaking, don't hesitate - just go. You will be blessed.

At this retreat, we prayed and created and prayed while creating. "Juicy" poetry stimulated our spirits to dig deep and express ourselves with paint, collage, boxes, altered books.... Oh what bliss!!!!

There were 16 of us. We began as strangers and ended with a hug-fest, with promises to see each other next year. When I got home, there was already an email thread connecting us and a round robin project developing between us.

As I write this, a week has past and I am still spiritually high and blissful. The peace that comes after turning monster fears into angel blessings on paper and in the heart is true healing.

On a side note but not connected to our retreat, I came upon an article on how art can aid healing from trauma and the resultant PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). It is from a trusted source and you may be interested in seeing it: http://www.ptsdspirituality.com/2010/08/22/ptsd-spirituality-art-and-craft-can-heal-ptsd-soul-wounds/

It's amazing what God can do with paper, brushes, scraps, and a willing heart.
Blessings on your journey, W

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Drawing Nearer this weekend

Ok - this is going to be chatty - no deep thoughts or inspiring words or even profound imagery. Just me and my thoughts and maybe you reading them. So hear goes.

Ever see on your calendar a few days in a row that are ::gasp:: empty. I mean - nothing written on them - really. Not a single 'have to' or 'should' (well - there are always shoulds). No appointments, no deadlines - just little empty white squares with nothin' in 'um.

For me - this is dangerous. Especially when I see them a month or so in advance. I take a moment to think hard on this amazing reality - really Suzanne? Really blank? If the internal answer, based on external circumstances, comes back "yes" well - that's when my normally controlled and under-active creative energies go - "Oh Yea, Let's Party!"

And that is just what has happened this Memorial Day weekend - yes weekend. All day Friday, Saturday, Sunday AND Monday. Four - count them 4 whole days to....to...?

First thoughts were, "Great, I'll go away, go on an adventure - camping, canoeing, or do the City - art museums, see a show, or go visit friends and family, etc..." After checking in with the loving spouse my initial "go & do" bubble burst - I may have 4 blank days - in a row - but he does not. "Rats" as the beloved Peanuts character, Charlie Brown, used to say.

Besides, God had other plans for these open spaces - in fact, it was the vision that I had (really Divinely inspired) when we first moved into our house 5 years ago. You see the previous owners had a vision of their own that was only partially realized - a large above ground aluminum framed swimming pool with attached deck. We know this because they left behind a flat area dug out of an all slopping yard and a 4' x 21' cider block wall (to hold the hillside back) and all the pieces and parts of this pool meant to be assembled.

Since our children were up and out in their mid-tewnties and we had just finished taking care of an in-ground pool we had at our last house, we weren't to eager to go that route again. Besides, the many pieces and parts came without instructions so it all became scrape metal for income towards the next project - make that projects!

Fast forward to this weekend. We are, God bless my husband, filling this wonderful open days with a vision FULL of outdoor projects: The flat area was calling to be become a labyrinth - a walking pathway in a scared circle for meditation, contemplation, centering prayer and time with the Holy in a lovely tree surrounded, bird song setting. The wall was calling to become a beautiful mural - a place for visual inspiration and creative expression, a focal point to enhance the walker experience. The space begs for a waterfall - soothing sounds that surround you, light sparkling on the water both providing a sense of peace.

As these projects are in the making not only by me but also with the loving assistance of dear friends and family members, a deep longing id fulfilled, awesome creative energies are explored, a sense of accomplishment is felt and a vision is realized. Most importantly, the results of these four days will provide a place for people to come and participate in a drawing nearer experience with God.

So God, please bless all our hands and this place as we offer it back to you. Call all souls who you know need a place of rest and inspiration to come. So be it.
Yahoo!! Suzanne