Here is the digital version of our magazine, you can read the original norwegian interview. Then, when you flip one page to the right, you can see the children´s page which is also my handiwork.
The headline reads: "One more year with crayons". |
In the interview, I tell that I had gotten a drawing-diary with a blank page for every day of the year. A friend gave it to me early December. When the new year started in 2012, I had some different idea what I could do if I decided to use the book. I choose to do a sort of "public-diary", and to tell about my work and daily life at Grimerud and at the Café I work on tuesdays. I could have kept the book to myself, but I decided to post all the entries here on this blog.
I speak for myself
The one rule I had with the book, was that I was not going to put my thoughts and philosophies on paper. For every day, it had to be something I had done or experienced, or a conversation I had. I had gotten tired of people talking about ideas without making them happen. Talking about making a difference, without actually making a difference. I was mostly upset with myself, I guess, about exactly this.
I want the church, and my own life to really make a difference where it is. So, I started with myself, and with something I knew I could do.
At the end of the year, I know that I have inspired a good number of people, but how this book "made a real difference" for the people around me, I don´t know.
Artistic development
Drawing one picture per day was a monster-practice for coming up with something to write and something to draw. In the first months the drawings were done with pen and ink only, but from easter-time on I started to color the pictures with watercolor-paint. Later on I have used crayons too. Because I was drawing all the time, I could take the "risk" to experiment with a different style and a different medium on some of the times. The most fun and rewarding thing is when I can combine two days into one picture.
Something I had not expected or thought about when I stared the book, was that I would develop and recognize somewhat of my own writing-style.
The vice of habitual drawing
To make pictures and stories every day was an exciting experience in the beginning, I was discovering new things about the book. I remember looking up into the night as I walked back home from my office and thinking: "I don´t know what I am going to write and draw for the day of tomorrow, but I know that God is going to there". By the end of february, the newness was gone, and I had lost the energy to come up with significant things to write and draw, day after day. It felt like I was slowly and consistently rewiring neurological patterns in my brain. And it hurted.
It wasn´t working, I was not getting enough sleep, and I was spending less time with friends.
The project had forced me into a reverse situation. At times, it felt that my life was about the book, more than the book was about my life. And that´s when I was sure that I was an addict. I have used about two hours for each day, that is a whole month if you add up all the hours. I have to say that I have absolutely enjoyed the majority of the time that wnet into making the book.
When spring came, the picture- and story-making had gotten easier, and there was even a period in the summer that I don´t remember working with the book. It had become a integrated part of my life. Very often it was a drag, and I was looking forward to be done with it.
Indifference is the heart-weed
Many entries in the book, have become dear to me. Even days that had sad or difficult experiences can be "good", because I have lived through them. And I get to relive them again when I read them. The pages in the book that I like the least are the boring ones, and when I had been too busy or tired to live my life and tell about it. The worst is when I didn´t care about the whole thing and "faked the day".
This project has perhaps not drawn me closer to God,
but I have gotten to know myself a lot better,
and I see more of how much I need him for every day.
The interviewer Ragnhild works with YWAM in Skien and has her own blog over at: Ferstad.blogspot.no
I speak for myself
The one rule I had with the book, was that I was not going to put my thoughts and philosophies on paper. For every day, it had to be something I had done or experienced, or a conversation I had. I had gotten tired of people talking about ideas without making them happen. Talking about making a difference, without actually making a difference. I was mostly upset with myself, I guess, about exactly this.
I want the church, and my own life to really make a difference where it is. So, I started with myself, and with something I knew I could do.
At the end of the year, I know that I have inspired a good number of people, but how this book "made a real difference" for the people around me, I don´t know.
Artistic development
Drawing one picture per day was a monster-practice for coming up with something to write and something to draw. In the first months the drawings were done with pen and ink only, but from easter-time on I started to color the pictures with watercolor-paint. Later on I have used crayons too. Because I was drawing all the time, I could take the "risk" to experiment with a different style and a different medium on some of the times. The most fun and rewarding thing is when I can combine two days into one picture.
Something I had not expected or thought about when I stared the book, was that I would develop and recognize somewhat of my own writing-style.
The vice of habitual drawing
To make pictures and stories every day was an exciting experience in the beginning, I was discovering new things about the book. I remember looking up into the night as I walked back home from my office and thinking: "I don´t know what I am going to write and draw for the day of tomorrow, but I know that God is going to there". By the end of february, the newness was gone, and I had lost the energy to come up with significant things to write and draw, day after day. It felt like I was slowly and consistently rewiring neurological patterns in my brain. And it hurted.
It wasn´t working, I was not getting enough sleep, and I was spending less time with friends.
The project had forced me into a reverse situation. At times, it felt that my life was about the book, more than the book was about my life. And that´s when I was sure that I was an addict. I have used about two hours for each day, that is a whole month if you add up all the hours. I have to say that I have absolutely enjoyed the majority of the time that wnet into making the book.
When spring came, the picture- and story-making had gotten easier, and there was even a period in the summer that I don´t remember working with the book. It had become a integrated part of my life. Very often it was a drag, and I was looking forward to be done with it.
Indifference is the heart-weed
Many entries in the book, have become dear to me. Even days that had sad or difficult experiences can be "good", because I have lived through them. And I get to relive them again when I read them. The pages in the book that I like the least are the boring ones, and when I had been too busy or tired to live my life and tell about it. The worst is when I didn´t care about the whole thing and "faked the day".
A social barrier
One of the entries I remember the most is the 20th of January, already then I saw that life was to be share with real people, and not with a book. Sure, everyone has been able to look at my life right here at this blog. But blogs and social media have their limitations, they don´t put you into real contact with people. This is a big contrast from what the bible writes about every christians being part of "the body of christ".
Have I with my generation made myself a digital mediator besides Jesus?
Have I with my generation made myself a digital mediator besides Jesus?
This project has perhaps not drawn me closer to God,
but I have gotten to know myself a lot better,
and I see more of how much I need him for every day.
The interviewer Ragnhild works with YWAM in Skien and has her own blog over at: Ferstad.blogspot.no
For this year, she has an exciting "Live Simply"-resolution that I follow with interest.
It´s cool to see how she has taken one idea, and with her practical creativity, discovered a good number of uses for it.
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