JANNA VANDERVEEN
Fiction Author & Artist
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I tried something a little different over the last two weeks – tried to do a messy type of watercolor painting, with more intuitive painting and expressive strokes. It was hard to step back and let loose. I almost threw the painting away, a place I find myself frequently, but I embraced the mess, entered the chaos, and found beauty within. It helped to spur the thoughts of the poem below…. When… Read More
Hope dwells in this gardenWhere all are welcomeAnd none are denied.Its inhabitants baskIn the wonder of every fulfilled hopeAs they remember from where they came. Their jubilant songs of gratitudeInfuse the airLike the sweetest incense,As they revel in the truthThat all are restoredJust as was promised. For having stormed the gates of hell,Their healer took back the keysAnd saved all,Proving with finalityThat not even the grave nor hellCould separate them from his… Read More
You welcome all, In this garden with no walls, Where flowers bloom At your gentlest touch And life thrives At the faintest whisper of your song. You awaken peace In the most fractured hearts, Promising belonging and acceptance With arms spread wide. You knit together broken souls Using words that restore. Your breath is a soft exhale, Water that heals, Quenching the most unbearable thirst. Your fire refines, A final, most powerful… Read More
She never gives up, For her love is relentless. She cradles the world in her heart And awakens transformation with her breath, For her song cannot be unsung And the light of her existence cannot be extinguished. ~ Janna Vanderveen
She enters the shadowlands, Transforming darkness into light And wasteland into beauty, For her love liberates the deep And there is no wound she cannot restore. ~ Janna Vanderveen
She comforts those who grieve and cradles the wounded for she knows that love heals and that every journey deserves to be heard and every story believed. ~ Janna Vanderveen
She wears her love like flower petals, and beauty blossoms in her heart like incense, filling this garden with the heady aroma of her unconstrained joy, and no one can deny their worth. ~ Janna Vanderveen
She waits, her gaze eternal, as she welcomes all, for nothing can destroy her love. ~ Janna Vanderveen
She embraces the universe and cradles the tiniest particles of life with compassion because she knows that this action matters, and that her love will heal the world.
She sings and the birds join in For they recognize her song as love, And they know they belong. ~ Janna Vanderveen
She is generous with love For she was created by love, To be love to the world. In this sanctuary, The lion lies next to the lamb, And there is no death, Because all belong. ~ Janna Vanderveen
She is brave and speaks her truth for she matters and her worth is beyond measure. ~ Janna Vanderveen I have been participating in, studying, and utilizing Internal Family Systems Psychotherapy (Parts Theory) in my life, both personally and as a therapist in my job. While I painted, I contemplated this process of healing which involves identifying, understanding, and interacting with the different parts of ourselves (wounded/exile, protective, firefighter, and core-self parts)… Read More
She is fearless. Her love is a light, Which makes all things flourish. Her home is a sanctuary, A garden filled with life, And no one is turned away. ~ Janna Vanderveen
Watercolor and Pastel Painting | Illuminate. I am continuing to learn new techniques of painting, some whimsical and detailed, others abstract and intuitive. This painting may look more lifelike in comparison to the more illustrative paintings I’ve been painting recently, which might make one think that it was more of a drawing study and more detailed. However, this type of painting embraces the fluidity and uncertainty of watercolors and allows for an… Read More
Watercolor Painting | Broken yet Beautiful. What a gift we have been given, to be a light in a broken world, to surrender to love and compassion, to embrace the opportunity we have been given to choose to lay down our lives for our neighbors when it both does not suit us and is downright uncomfortable, to selflessly put others first for their benefit and not our own, and to surrender to… Read More
“You are no stranger to the scarSo you can have my wounded heartYou weren’t protected from the painSo you can hold me when I breakYou seek me out and find me hereWith a love that knows the taste of tearsSo I will trust in who you areYou’re no strangerNo stranger to the scarYou are no stranger to the stormYou have calmed these winds beforeYour voice still whispers, peace, be stillAnd the waves… Read More
Watercolor Painting | Hidden I am drawn repeatedly to paint women peering through secret gardens, as if they are inviting me to enter their sacred sanctuaries where suffering, striving, competition, and inequality no longer exist. They live there, not because of something they have done, but simply because they “are.” In this haven of light, where love is the water of life, all are welcome and none are denied.
This is the second, in a series of three watercolor thank-you cards, featuring my whimsical princess with her bunny. I love painting sunsets and valleys reflecting the beauty of life all around. I used a combination of artist grade MaimeriBlu and professional grade Winsor Newton watercolor paints on this 5×7 card.
This is the first, in a series of three watercolor thank-you cards, featuring my whimsical princess with her bunny. I love how it turned out. I used a combination of artist grade MaimeriBlu and professional grade Winsor Newton watercolor paints on this 5×7 cards.
I completed this 9″ x 13″ watercolor illustration on 140 lb. watercolor paper using Winsor Newton and Maimeri Blu watercolor paints.
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Sweetheart by Janna Etsy Shop
JANNA VANDERVEEN 