The colorful wind flowing through the art is a symbol of God's Holy Spirit active in the world... Scroll right to walk through the Gallery... |
"A life journey, full of creative adventures, glorifying growth and wonderful surprises!" This is my definition of Jauntin'... a term I use to express my involvement in life with the freedom and joy I have as a Christian. |
The Friendly Florida Scrub Jay… The dry, sandy scrublands of Central Florida Are the exclusive home of a friendly bird. But, scrublands are easy to clear for construction Resulting in the building of homes for humans And the loss of habitat for the Florida scrub jay. However, the scrub jays are still friendly And trusting of humans… Stand in an isolated scrubland area With a peanut in an out stretched hand. And soon a jay will land in a nearby bush And check you out. Suddenly it will trustingly land on your fingers, Cock its head and look at you, Then gratefully fly away with your offering, Soaring like the wind with the freedom Only birds seem to have… This trusting nature of a scrub jay inspires me… Approaching the hand of a big human Just seems to me to be an allegory Of our trust in God… Of course, God offers us more than Just a peanut! Poem by Robin Jensen, inspired by the friendly, trusting Florida scrub jays in an isolated area of scrubland in the Sun ‘n Lake community near Sebring, Florida.
|
|
|
An Ebenezer in the Sky... As we cope with this broken world, Confronted with the many ironies of life- Starvation, terrorism, wars, accidental death, Loved ones taken away... Believing it will never happen personally, But, it did- Is there any hope? A special sign is suddenly remembered Of God's presence and caring Way back in the Old Testament days. A stone... a stone? The Ebenezer. A stone of help... Samuel as Judge over Israel Selected that very special stone And set it up as a marker To celebrate God's gift of peace After Israel's enemies were defeated. He named it Ebenezer, "The Lord has helped us." The Ebenezer is a reminder Of God's Comfort, Love and Peace When we lose hope and wonder, "Who really cares?" Poem by Robin Jensen inspired by Samuel 7:12
|
|
Sarayu...the
Wind that Refreshes…
Chatoyant colors vibrate Trees reflect the
shimmering colors. Like a refreshing Wind Making everything Clear. Poem by Robin
Jensen, inspired by the
|
|
Jazz to the Power of Three!... The alto sax soared... The piano danced in other dimensions... Melodic sounds broke free From the bounds of gravity. Savage changes in tempo. Layers of overlapping textures. Brilliant colors... ostinato contrasts... Raucous riffs... bizarre licks... The two musicians inspired each other To new heights... outer space... The music reflected their shared goal To push jazz beyond the limits And resolve their life purpose By making good music With God's common Grace... This Jazz to the Power of Three Still resonates today With its joyful affirmation Of the love of life. Poem by Robin Jensen, inspired by the wonderful music created by Art Pepper on alto sax and Milcho Leviev on piano in the late 1970's and early 80's.
|
|
Galaxies over the Coorong... I'm not an astronomer But my most amazing experience Of star gazing in the night sky Was seeing two galaxies, The Magellanic Clouds, With my naked eyes-- On a bicycle tour at that, Along the Coorong in South Australia. They are 179,000 light years away... Now that's seeing! And those relatively small galaxies Are orbiting our galaxy, The Milky Way, no less. I'm still amazed That I could actually see Those faint celestial bodies So very far away in the night sky Without a high powered telescope But still have to wear glasses To read about galaxies... Poem by Robin Jensen, inspired by the viewing of the Magellanic Cloud galaxies at Policemans Point in the Coorong National Park in South Australia along the Southern Ocean. The occasion was a Calvin College Interim bicycle tour from Melbourne to Adelaide.
|
|
Jazz sounds at twilight… Bats are fascinating… Not the baseball type, The unique flying mammal type. Another of God's fantastic and special creatures. Like jazz musicians they fly at twilight And make wild, exciting sounds That help them find food. Echolocation…something like radar… Bouncing cool sounds through the evening air. That's how they locate and try to snare Their favorite dinner item… moths. However, the moths are cool… They have a radar detection system! They can hide or fly evasive maneuvers When they hear a bat in the vicinity. And some moths can even jam a bat's radar With their own jazzy sounds… So they can thwart and evade the bats And fly another day Adding to the cool jazz sounds at twilight… A nightly jam session! Poem by Robin Jensen, inspired by the many unique and fascinating creatures in God's creation.
|
|
Waiting by the River… The Live Oak waits… And contemplates… Along the bustling river bank. The Kingfisher is ready to dive… A fishing line floats through the air Causing vibrating distortions. Fractal patterns burst forth… Creating Mandelbrot Sets… Fantastic repetitions in space. Colors Shout… Textures cry out expletives… Watch out Brown Trout! Poem by Robin Jensen, inspired by the wonderful mysteries of God's creation. Fractal: A geometric pattern that is repeated at every scale. Benoit Mandelbrot, a French mathematician, invented fractals. Mandelbrot Set: A set of complex numbers that has a highly convoluted fractal boundary when plotted.
|
|
Isabella Tiger Moth Dreaming… Walking…trotting… running…going…running… Cold…summer must be over…running…going… After feeding and moulting…feeding and moulting… All summer long…growing…changing…running… Going… traveling…to a special place… But where? Must keep going…run…faster…run…run… Across fields, grass, rocks, sand…harvested land… Across a wide gray desert…large, noisy monsters Roaring by…smoke…acrid odors…Watch Out! A monster rolled close by…run…run fast… Strange, hungry creatures everywhere… Roaring by…run…run… Must find a shelter, a home for the cold time…winter… Hibernation…sleep…dream… Suddenly it's very cold…slowing down…stop… A shelter…curl up…rest…sleep… Hibernation… Dreaming…colors…wings…flying… Yellow…green…puce…magenta…orange…scarlet… Purple! Suddenly it's warm…hot…spring. Awake…hungry… Walking…trotting… running…going… Where…? Metamorphosis…! Cocoon…changing…reforming…transformation… Fulgent colors…wings…flying… Yellow…green…puce…magenta…orange…scarlet… Purple! Poem by Robin Jensen, inspired by the cute woolly bear caterpillars seen on my fall bicycle tours.
|
|
|
Live Oak Sanctuary... Twisting branches reach out... The freedom of creativity and joy. Gnarly trunks provide a solid foundation. The comfort of sanctuary... Shelter for God's creatures. A special place for homeless plants. Moss hangs in ribbons of celebration. A raucous party is in progress. Birds sing songs of praise. Flowers shout out joyful colors. The Live Oak tree... An Evergreen, Becomes a wonderful symbol Of God's Care, Comfort and Grace. Poem by Robin Jensen, inspired by the uninhibited Live Oak trees in Florida and other areas of the South.
|
|
Night Flights… The sky is always dark For an angry jazz musician When God does not resolve… Without any idea of redemption. But hope, like jazz, is always poised to take flight. The rogue tree reaches out into that dark sky With jazz sounds…a double bass riff… A tone like a cathedral bell That speaks of love… And the need for healing. The music reflects the soul of the tree: Savage changes in tempo Layers of overlapping textures Soaring colors Raucous and joyful…a street parade in the sky! The Spirit moves in and through the tree: The music does resolve God And expresses hope and joy With the healing Grace of love That makes everything clear… And resolved… Poem by Robin Jensen inspired by the intriguing jazz compositions by the legendary Charles Mingus. The influence of God's common Grace is symbolized by the joyful wind flowing in and through the tree in the artwork.
|
|
The Joy of Discovery... It started with walks...long walks... Soon becoming hikes... long hikes. Fields... hills... then mountains. Climbing T Hill... Her hill! Exploring new dimensions Under the brilliant Montana sky. Wild flower discoveries... Lady slippers... nodding onions... Deer bounding through the forest. A fawn hiding under a leafy bush. Elk roaming the hills and fields. Butterflies flitting from flower to flower. She enjoyed God's Creation with fulgent eyes And a radiant smile of happiness and joy. Sharing her discoveries with photographs And delicate, colorful paintings And fun, involved stories... Sharing her joy... Tania K. Jensen, October 27,1963- July 29, 2007 Poem by her Dad, Robin Jensen
|
|
The Cedar Waxwing Blues... I just had to draw the artwork of the beautiful Cedar Waxwing as a kind of memorial and apology for its fate in flying into the grille of my Miata MX-5 while I was driving at 55 MPH on a Michigan country road. Along with friend Ed Carrigan, I was returning to Grand Rapids after we had worked at a check point for the National 24 Hour Bicycle Challenge on a Saturday afternoon. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I had the top down on the Miata. As we were talking above the roar of the wind some birds flew by the front of the car. Ed said, “A bird just flew into your grille!” I thought he was joking. The next day I did check the grille, which seems to look like a hungry mouth. And, there was a bird stuck to the radiator! After removing the bird I was able to identify it as a Cedar Waxwing. A beautiful bird... Oh man, I felt chagrined and sorry... I used the bird and additional reference to draw an apologetic, memorial artwork and express the beauty of one of God’s precious creatures. Robin Jensen
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Return to the Home Page... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Return to beginning of Gallery... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Jump to Info on the Artwork... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Send Comments... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The wild flowers in the art by Robin above are from Tania's artwork.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
