Preparing for doing Art in the Mission Field

In preparation for mission, each person on my team created a "practice" version of the guided reflection that we were going to do in the mission field using the themes "journey" and "homeland." No one on this team would define oneself as being an artist or even "artsy" so it was a challenge to think reflectively about these two themes and how they could illustrate them on a 10" x 10" piece of art board. The simple steps for reflection include:
1) Choose a color that reminds you of home and either use that to paint the background or as a significant color element in the collaged piece.
2) Identify a symbol that reminds you of home and draw it using "stick figures" just like a child would.
3) Choose a stamped image that reminds you of something from home and imprint that on the page.
4) Identify something about your current location and drawn or imprint an image to illustrate it.
5) Doodle/embellish as desired.
6) Feel free to revisit the piece in coming days and add to it; enhance as desired.

The lizard represents the (unkind) childhood nickname.

 The example to the left illustrates the "home" portion (Columbia) on the left with coffee beans, sunshine, and rain, and the new home (Texas) is on the right. The artist's heart is located in both places: with her parents and brother still in Columbia and her husband and son living in Texas. The triangle with three people below the tree represents the isolation she sometimes feels in Texas because of the great distance for her friends and family in Columbia.

The tiny heart represents a child who died in infancy and is in heaven.

Broken wedding rings; broken hearts.

Crayon with watercolor for the background with simple symbols, mountains, and bright flowers.