Art Series: 642 Big Things to Draw

Do you have a child who likes to draw but sometimes or often comes and says, Mom, I want to draw something but I don't know what!   Can you tell me what to do draw?

Now...if your child is anything like mine, 99% of the ideas you come up with will be summarily rejected.    I don't know about you but... I FIND THAT IMMENSELY  frustrating.   Probably shouldn't, but it is what is right?   Enter in... this wonderful book of ideas.   642 Big Things to Draw.   So many ideas... if a child can't find something to draw in here, well... do they really want to draw?

Anyways, let me tell you about this book, and I have to tell you books like this are MEANT to be used (unless you are my son who would rather grab an idea and put it on art paper).

This is a fairly big book (9.29 x 10.67) that is filled with pages divided into sections.

Each of those sections has a word or phrase written in it.    With a good amount of space to draw in as well, or if you don't want to be constrained by space, get a art sketch pad and draw there.  It's all good.  Just draw and let your mind relax as you bring forth your creative talents.

Everything in this book is large... from jumbo jets, to a zoo, to a giraffe's neck and Lake Superior.  A bit of everything inbetween.   642 different ideas condensed into 304 pages.   Slapped down into a book where the pages are divided into 1/2's, thirds, quarters in different configurations.  Keep the mind sharp eh?  :)

Once a week or so my son and I will grab a book and draw for 15 minutes.   Sometimes we start new projects, other times we continue to work on projects from the week before.  We use this book and others like this book as our sources of inspiration.   It is amazing how simple words can inspire art.

I LOVE IT.

642 Big Things to Draw

Chronicle Books
9.29 x 10.67
304 pages
Ages: all ages can have fun with this book

Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Affiliate links provided to help you find this great idea starter for doing art.  

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

The Merchants Hissed...Tyre Lamented

Now it is time for Tyre to be lamented.  When I read the words of this lamentation what I hear is Tyre being very full of herself.

       ‘I am perfect in beauty.’
    [4] Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
        your builders made perfect your beauty.
   ....
    [7] Of fine embroidered linen from Egypt
        was your sail,
        serving as your banner;
    blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah
        was your awning.
    [8] The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad
        were your rowers;
    your skilled men, O Tyre, were in you;
        they were your pilots.
    [9] The elders of Gebal and her skilled men were in you,
        caulking your seams;
    all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you
        to barter for your wares.

All these beauty and perfection that comes with loads of peoples from other nations in service to her.  Elishad, Arvad, Sidon, Persia and Lud and so many other places.   All these places working for her and giving her beauty.   Such was Tyre.   Even Judah and Israel traded with her.

So much of Tyre was caught up in the peoples that came to her and her beauty.   The seas were hers.  But all this is to be destroyed.

    [27] Your riches, your wares, your merchandise,
        your mariners and your pilots,
    your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,
        and all your men of war who are in you,
    with all your crew
        that is in your midst,
    sink into the heart of the seas
        on the day of your fall.
 .....
    [31] they make themselves bald for you
        and put sackcloth on their waist,
    and they weep over you in bitterness of soul,
        with bitter mourning.
    [32] In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you
        and lament over you:
    ‘Who is like Tyre,
        like one destroyed in the midst of the sea?
    [33] When your wares came from the seas,
        you satisfied many peoples;
    with your abundant wealth and merchandise
        you enriched the kings of the earth.
    [34] Now you are wrecked by the seas,
        in the depths of the waters;
    your merchandise and all your crew in your midst
        have sunk with you.
    [35] All the inhabitants of the coastlands
        are appalled at you,
    and the hair of their kings bristles with horror;
        their faces are convulsed.
    [36] The merchants among the peoples hiss at you;
        you have come to a dreadful end
        and shall be no more forever.’”

Tyre is mourned. Her ships are lost, her merchandise destroyed, her power over the seas... gone. 
She was part of the lives of so many.
It is time of mourning for all who dealt with her.

Sadness and lamentations.

But we are not told why this happened to Tyre?   Was it her pride and greatness that caused her destruction?   She was of use to so many peoples and nations.  And now she is gone and "shall be no more forever.".

Makes me feel sad.

Why were they destroyed?
The implication is they trusted in their ability to be excellent merchants and travellers of the seas.
That they put their trust in their own beauty, and abilities to trade with so many different people groups above that of anything.   They gave no thought to matters of faith or of the Lord.

Tyre is a warning to us.   We need to see beyond our daily life here.  We need to see to matters of faith as well.
 
Faith matters.   It matters more than our smarts, more than our beauty, more than our ability to turn a clever buck, more than our ability to provide goods and services that others want to have.   Faith matters and we forget that at our peril.