When I first felt inspired to start this creativity challenge, I heard the phrase “redeem the time.” Redeeming time is a phrase from the New Testament. Here’s how I used a wait at the Social Security office to discover a message from God in nature.
Normally, if I’m waiting somewhere with nothing to do, I fiddle with my phone, looking at social media or writing something for social media.
Friday (10/12/2018), I needed to go to the Social Security office to get my last name changed with the government… yeah, I finally got around to doing that.
I knew there would be a long wait, so I went prepared. I took my sketchpad and some sharpened pencils/erasers. As I sat there, I decided to start with something simple. I thumbed through the photos on my phone and found one I’d taken of an okra blossom.
The first thing I noticed as I looked at the image was the pentagon in the center of the flower. A simple circle lay inside the center of the pentagon. As I studied further, I noticed that the petals extended off from the points of the pentagon.
The drawing book I got (The Complete Book of Drawing: Essential Skills for Every Artist) suggests learning to draw objects as large as you can. You should fill the entire space on the paper. The author said most beginners want to draw really small, but you’ll learn to draw better if you draw as large as you can. He says it’s easier to see your mistakes and learn to correct them when you draw large.
The first time I drew the petals of the okra blossom, I made them too small in proportion to the size I’d drawn the central pentagon. So I had to erase and redraw them. I’ve noticed that pencil doesn’t erase well. I quickly learned to sketch lighter at first so it’s more erasable. Even though I bought a Moo professional eraser, it doesn’t erase any better than a normal eraser for a #2 pencil. I was hoping the Moo would help me be able to erase the Prismacolor Premier colored pencils I purchased, but it doesn’t work well for them.
One of the people at Hobby Lobby said that the more wax there is in a pencil, the less likely you’ll be able to erase it. He said the Prismacolor pencils are some of the best pencils made and that they might erase better than others. But I haven’t had much luck with the Moo or a regular eraser with the Prismacolor pencils.
At the Social Security office, I only drew with a simple #2 pencil. When I got home, I colored the okra blossom with the Prismacolor pencils. Coloring the petals helped cover up some of the original mis-drawn petals, but not completely since I used a yellow pencil for the petals.
Drawing Lesson Learned: Sketch lightly at first. I prefer drawing with a normal #2 pencil and then going back over the sketch with the colored pencils if I want a color drawing.
Finding God in Nature
I loved discovering the order and geometry in the flower. To see the pentagon at the center and that the petals extended out from the pentagon fascinated me. It’s been said that “All things denote their is a God.” It was wonderful finding God in the okra blossom.
Saturday (10/13/2018), I decided to sketch some dried okra I had lying on the counter. I have been harvesting the seeds from the dried okra, and a couple of the pods had gone white down the long edges of the pod. They’re really quite beautiful. As I sketched them, I noticed a pentagon at the top of the okra pod and that there are five edges to the okra pod.
I realized that God created okra around the number 5. It’s all through the okra blossom and the pods. The great Mathematician of the universe left His signature for me to find. Love it!
The Sketch-A-Doodle
I’m calling the drawing to the right my Okra Sketch-a-Doodle. It’s just a rough sketch of the okra and my discovery of the number 5 inside the okra. It’s part sketch and part doodle. Certainly not a masterpiece, but I had fun drawing it, and even more fun discovering the number in the okra.
Numerology Message of #5
I’m a bit of an amateur numerologist, and I couldn’t help but find fun with the #5 in okra. The number 5 in numerology corresponds with adventure, personal freedom, adventure, curiosity, sensuality, and wit. No wonder I love okra. After all, I did just published a book on personal freedom! 🙂
Another 5 in okra – the 5 point leaf.
