Before and After: From Bland to Grand

~ Sandi Staton

So, I’m not liking my house or my yard much these days. We’re renovating the house and the yard is overcome with weeds and tree roots and moss . . . everything but grass.  And the house needs painting, too. And the front porch. And the deck. Oh, and the back porch? Well . . . we won’t go there. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever by the looks of things. That’s where all our mess is stored till we get finished wrecking the house. And “finished” looks far, far away.

Using PaintShop pro 2019, a few picture tubes and untamed dreaming and imagination, I re-created my back yard. That’s what I love about art. I can change my world to be anything I want it to be.

My before. No stream. No bench. No nothin’
My after. I think I’ll take my coffee and sit there later.

Published by Sandi Staton

So, I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to describe myself to you, and these are the words jumping up and down in my heart: I'm just a simple human being living in a complicated, messed-up world. I speak my mind. I love hard. My feelings run deep. When push comes to shove, I stand my ground. Sometimes I push back. Sometimes I walk away. I've surfed the crashing waves of life that threatened to destroy me only to make me stronger. I bear the scars of emotional rape, sadness, and depression. I've walked the golden streets of churches and religion only to be disappointed time and time again. And as a result, it's taken me seventy-five years to get where I'm sitting today; a sinner saved by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. I fell at the cross. I repented of my sins, and Jesus saved and washed me clean. I still fall flat on my face. I still get dirty as a pig in a mudhole. And Jesus still picks me up, dries my tears, forgives me again and again, and continues walking close beside me. No one has ever loved me like that. And no one ever will.