Delve Photography

"Well, Melissa, what can't you do?",  I jokingly inquired. 

Melissa Vanderlinden is the kind of girl that can do just about anything, and not just do it, but do it well.  If I had known her in high school, I'm almost positive we would have been enemies due to envy.  Luckily, I met her in my thirties, and avoided missing out on some serious fun.  She's a real girl, and when I say real girl, I mean she is just exactly that.  She wears her heart on her sleeve, but it is one of the most genuine, authentic, and intricate garments I've ever seen someone wear.  She is sincere, yet frank, and I think that is why I and so many others can completely be ourselves around her and just be real.

Melissa is the owner of Delve Photography, and just when you think that a snap shot couldn't get any better, she showcases another that you could sit and stare at for hours.  This is what makes her a true artist, as if art is organically woven into her very makeup.  You couldn't separate it from her any easier than you could separate a strand from DNA.  In fact, when I asked her how she first became interested in the arts, her response was full of words like, "genetic, organic, and natural". Melissa comes from a family of artists.  She began playing the piano at age 4,  was leading worship at age 16, and wrote and recorded her first album at the age of 19.  Her endless artistic abilities had outsiders and onlookers captivated, but her young impressionability had her skipping through every social and tiptoeing through every tune, only to hurry back to jump through the hoops she hand-made herself. 

She lost a sense of direction, a pre-mature mid-life crisis, at age 25, unsure of who she was, and unable to choose a course.  Her childhood and teen years were full of prepared paths, opportunities and open doors waiting to be seized. Set on cruise-control, she speed past teachers and advisors pointing and waving her on with their giant foam fingers in the right direction.  It wasn't until after Melissa was married and in her mid-twenties that she turned the engine off and got out of the car.  It was on this outer road where the pressures and persuasions dimmed.  The loud humming from the wheels of acclamation and applause gave way to the sound of her own two feet hitting the pavement.  It was here that she discovered photography. 

I was expecting her to answer my question with a long list of classes and courses, possibly an internship or apprenticeship where she learned all about things like aperture and bounce light, and filters and saturation.  To my surprise, she majored in Biblical Archeology and learned everything she knows about photography by perusing blogs and browsing through books.  She admits that photography is a challenge and where she is probably the least comfortable out of all of her many artistic endeavors, but that is exactly the reason she follows it.  She explains, "I like the feeling of drawing something out of someone and capturing their true personality.  I love telling a story through the lens." 

 

Melissa has this natural ability to illuminate the real essence of a subject in a mere click of a button and  occasional flash.  She just keeps it real, because, well, she's a real girl, and "What can't she do?"  

If you would like Melissa to help you tell your story, visit Delve Photography's website or find out what's new via her facebook page!   

Scroll down to view just a sprinkling of Melissa's portfolio, and she is also our fashion photo shoot guru, check out the projects she has collaborated on with lucky ol' me at Dreams of Perfect Design including, Humility 101, Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, and Power Trip.

 
 

 

 

Bedstemor

Bedstemor redefined the word, "redemption", for me. It gives a voice to the crushed, the mundane, the overlooked. I have always known that God redeems, but never did I fully comprehend that he redeems not because he has pity on us or must be charitable because humanity requires him to. He redeems because we are worth the ransom, worthy to be bought back, worth the payment. I saw a bit of myself in every single character of the book, and it was only because Bedstemor was so richly and deeply written. There were many times, that a particular event or feeling was brought to mind that was stuffed somewhere deep in my subconscious. This book had a way of drawing these recollections out and lay them open and raw for God to redeem and recover them. No one's story is too boring, too humdrum, or too uninteresting. Regardless of your story, whether it's closer to Anni's, Mor's, Andrew's, or Far's, it's a "Life Worth Sharing"!

I wrote this review after reading my friend's first novel, Bedstemor, which means grandmother in Danish.  I met with Esther Hawkins for a cup of tea, late one evening, after the kids were tucked into bed.  We chatted about our kindergartners and what the coming week held and then plopped down in cozy armchairs by the warm light of a table lamp to discuss her story, Anni's story. 

"It all started 12 years ago, while I was in England for a visit with my Mum and Dad, all of us piled into the car to take a short weekend getaway trip to a nearby cottage.  On the way back home, my Mum began telling stories of when she was a little girl, growing up on an old coal barge with no electricity or plumbing.  All three of us, her adult children, sat in the back seat, in silence, jaws dropped to the floor.  I thought to myself, I'm 22 years old, why have I never heard these memories before?"    

She pressed her mother to write the stories down so she could share them with her own children someday.  But then life and death happened...Esther married... then became pregnant with her first child...Grandad passed away...and the stories still hadn't met paper yet.  She then had a dream where she waved to her grandfather who was happily gardening and then turned around to see Bedstemor coming down a flight of stairs.  She ran up the steps to meet her in the middle, collapsed into her arms, and began weeping.  She awoke still shaking and sobbing; grieving for her Bedstemor, not for her death, but grieving for the relationship that never was.  "I was 15 years old when Bedstemor died, but I only saw her a total of four times in my life, once when I was just a newborn." 

 
After the dream, she prodded her mother for more stories, so she could gather them up and compile them to give as holiday or birthday gifts.  She began e-mailing her with a question or two and then eagerly anticipated her response.  This went on for about a year, resulting in a few pages of questions and answers that she planned on turning into a historical account for the family. 

In the Summer of 2009, she went back to the mother land for a visit.  And again, late one night, cozied into armchairs, cups of tea in hand, in the warm light that seeped under a lampshade, began a conversation with her Aunt Liz, the youngest of Bedstemor's children.  In that conversation, she acquired a different viewpoint of her grandmother that she knew so little of.  When Esther returned home, she wasn't sure how she would tell Bedstemor's story or how to illustrate who she was. 

 

Over the next several months, Esther continued collecting information about her grandmother's life and began organizing those notes into chronological order.  And then life and death happened... She was pleasantly surprised when she found out she was expecting a third child and profoundly changed when she never heard the sound of her baby's heartbeat. 

While grieving the loss of life, she had a vision of herself opening a book  to read the first line..."I was five when it started...".  She knew then that her humdrum documentation of her grandmother was actually meant to be an inspired novel.  Each time she sat down in front of the computer screen, she asked God to tell her what to write and to show her when to write.  There were times she went an entire month without writing, but when she finally got a chance, she would write up to 12,000 words in just three hours.  What should have taken her three months to accomplish, took a mere nap time.  During these supernaturally charged writing flurries, she would read back through paragraphs and find herself looking up definitions of the words she just typed.  As each chapter took shape, she didn't know what the next  one would hold. 

Her due date of the miscarried child was fast approaching and when it arrived, she was preparing herself for the emptiness to swallow her up.  On that very day, she found out there was a new life growing within her.  Two years later to the date, Esther Hawkins had completed her first novel.  She never imagined it would be the answer to her question, "How can a tragic life that has already ended, be redeemed?" 

If you would like to read the answer to that question for yourself, you can find Bedstemor at Amazon.  You can also follow Esther on Facebook at LifeWorth Sharing  and on Twitter @EstherEHawkins.
 

 

 

 

Felicita Studios

 

"Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, all the time!", shouted my dad while holding up my arms in the air, wrists flopping and waving around.  He use to do that when I was pouting or suffering from a self-conscious moment.  A smile would begin to crack around my mouth and as much as I tried to hold it in, I would eventually burst out in laughter, even if it was solely at myself.

If I could give that memory a name,  I would write Janice Hawkins all over it.  She is a person that exudes joyfulness with  acceptance.  She  delivers encouragement with understanding.  She was the first person I shared the ideas of my blog with, not because we were the closest of friends, but because her name immediately popped into my mind when I was searching for a supportive safe haven.  I knew that she would give me sound solid advice that I could rest my feet on, yet push me to reach out to that inspired  limb dangling over the 100 foot commonplace cliff.

It's only fitting that her business, Felicita Studios, does exactly that.  Fourteen years ago, she was given a dream and a vision for a working art studio.  Felicita means "happiness" and is the beginning of the fulfillment of that vision.  She added Studios because she works with numerous mediums in multiple studios.  Her projects and designs reach into events, weddings, fashion, interiors and more, but she also refers to each item created as a studio in itself.

She explains,    "... a place or point of inspiration in the person wearing, using or giving the item. It may become the source of inspiration for an event, a wedding, an outfit or a room design. Whatever it draws out of you, I hope it creates happiness in your life.
I love to design and create, but my calling is to encourage and help people discover their passion. I want to inspire people to live beautiful lives by awakening and validating the creativity in them.

 

I am easily inspired and I believe there is a lot of healing that God brings in our lives as we lay our hands to artistic endeavors. When people create together, a sense of community is strengthened that crosses generations and life giving connections are made. It is my desire to inspire and challenge myself and others toward excellence in all things."

Janice has always been surrounded by creativity and naturally gravitated towards the arts as a child.  Her talented mother planted the inventive seed and her grandmother, aunts, and a very special high school art teacher nourished and watered it.  By using her artistic abilities as her ministry, God has pruned and shaped her in such a way as to yield fruit with each piece, commission, and service that comes out of Felicita Studios.  She has always prayed before beginning any artwork, but it was a pivotal moment when her prayers changed from, "Lord, help me to design this to the best of my ability", to "Be my hands, be my eyes, Lord, and design this through me to bless those that I am creating this for."   
When she realized she WAS the tool of the Creator,  instead of relying on her ability to use tools to produce an art piece; her art changed from her level of ability to His.  Janice has this crazy inexplicable ability to generate extraordinary things in small amounts of time.  I can't remember how many times I've asked her, "How long did it take you to do this?"  And every time she answers, I'm amazed.  Even in crunch time, in the midst of  frenzied flurries of fabric and ribbon, she tries to remember that her branches are cut back for a reason; so that she may rely on Him more to produce something that reflects Him more.  She tells me, "In art, when someone is critiquing the piece, they can either worship the artist, worship the image, or worship God." One of her greatest desires is that her artwork points up before it points back at herself.  This must be why I feel so comfortable, cheerful, and carefree in her presence.  I know that even if I'm scared to share an idea in fear of rejection or awkwardness, she grabs my spirit by the wrists, and lifts it up, in a smile-inducing song of happiness!

Meander through all of the beautiful pieces Felicita Studios has available to purchase at the website, on facebook, and at the new Etsy page.  If you would like a custom upcycled gown, accessory, painting, event or decor item, just join her at the studio for some brainstorming and a cup of tea.  If all you need is direction and a little creative coaching to help you achieve your dream wedding, event, or favorite space, join a DIY workshop at the location of your choice and invite anyone you want to share in your magical making!