Month: June 2021

One Year Old!

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Today is the day! Mary Grace Writing is officially ONE YEAR OLD!

I am a muddle of disbelief, pride, exhaustion, and determination.

Like for an infant just learning how to walk, and it’s pretty exhilarating and frustrating at the same time. Slowly and surly I am learning how to navigate the literary world. I never expect to be the next ‘great up-and-coming thing’, and that is okay. But I am proving to myself I can do this thing called writing and publishing.

Consistency had been key for me. Three posts a week except for a health brake, has really added up.

The Body Mind and Soul and Empty Footsteps have been my most read posts. over the last 12 months.

He Keeps Me and Empty Footsteps has been my two most listened to recordings.

I think my favorite part of blogging is seeing how far of a reach my writing has had. People from over 70 different countries have found my words through various methods. Watching for new flags to pop up on my views chart is so much fun. I have no way of knowing how any of my work has been received by the many cultures these flags represent, but I hope I brought some positivity in their worlds.

Thank you to all of you, my followers. Year one has just been baby steps, and I have a long way to go before reaching my goals, but I see that as a good thing.

Year Two, what’s next?

Hopefully, a book cover reveal and a chapbook launch happening sooner than later, adding to my publication’s portfolio, and getting to work on my long thought through full-length fiction projects. I have a lot of words to move. I have an amazing God to help me move them.

Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Electric Lights

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Eyes so tightly shut,
dark edges shimmer red.

Electric blotches
painted
in yellow’s glowing thread.

Irises grab light,
horde it within.

Just as eyes close in
peace,
cast it out, a twin.

Blink the shadows off.
Spots upon the wall.

Within the yellow
polka dots,
purple starts to crawl.

Shapes, haunting follow,
whether closed or open wide.

A secret theatre named,
Pains Entertainment Ride.

©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Morning Beach/Art Highlight

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Have you ever walked a beach in the early morning, and seen the pink in a sunrise shimmering off the water? Its quiet moments like that I live for.

When I can’t find them in my own life, I like to paint them into being. Morning Beach is an example of such a moment. I was looking for quiet in the middle of a house gone mad, and here I found it.

Morning Beach is also another example of my early works. It is one of the first pieces of other artists in my social group. It was such a boost to hear their encouraging words. As I was and still am growing into my art.

Originaly painted on canvase papper in acrylic paint.

Prints and other products are available at my Redbubble Shop.

©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Six Word Stories (29)

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Trees are more like people than we often think. They hide so much beneath the ground, just like humans hid part of themselves behind pretending.

Beauty, intricate personalities, strangeness, connectivity, how we and they reach out for each other.

It’s often not until something unwanted, something uncomfortable happens and washes away the dirt, that we get a glimpse of what a person is really like. Sometimes, it’s not pretty. Other times, it reveals amazing things.

Not all buried things are bad or ugly. Even when beautiful there are things that need to STAY burred to grow properly, other things need to be protected for a.

But then, after growth, they need to be pulled up, and out, before we can use them.

I wonder what carrots think when they are harvested?

There is something about the color orange.

It inspires and glows. It’s joy to pull orange things out of the dirt, and pluck them from a branch.

©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef

Photos sourced from Unsplash.com

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Beauty Adrip

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Beauty adrip like,
slowly spun sugar crystals.
Honeysuckle kiss.

©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef

Inspired by the honeysuckle vine my husband bought me this spring for the backyard.

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Prairie Sunset/Art Highlight

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I have never been afraid to show my artwork in all its imperfections. Prairie Sunset is another of my early works inspired by a photograph taken by my friend Jason Shepard. I love being able to look back and see the growth that has happened in my work. I am not ashamed of where I have come from. We are all beginners once.

The absence of fear in showing what I can do in the place and time I currently stand has given people the chance to share in the joy of my art. I love to share it. I love to show you what can be done if just start, try, and keep going.

Originally painted on canvas paper in acrylic paint.

Prairie Sunset prints and other products are available at my Redbubble Shop.

©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Six Word Stories (28)

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Have you ever noticed how beautiful a well made path is? It guides in one of the most unassuming ways.

“Please walk here. Yes, you are free to step away, but the way has already been made ready for you.”

The most beautiful paths enhance their surroundings, letting you explore without destroying.

We use paths every day. Be it metaphorical paths, or physical, we quail when they disappear.

But God has endowed humankind with the gifts of bravery and innovation. Are we willing to trust and take a plunge?

We problem solve, plan, build, create new paths with in the physical world.

Could it be what we create is a reflection of the paths God has already paved?

I hope one day when I get to meet him, I will find out.

©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef

Photos sourced from unsplash.com

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Free

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No one saw me
head to the ground,
feet to the sky,
pretending to fly.
It would have made you cry
hilarity.

A grown woman such as me
behaving as if three.
But just maybe,
you would have joined
the jocularity.
Felt free
to again be three.

Sometimes I take myself too seriously. This is just self reminder that it’s okay, and good to be ridiculously sometimes. Yes, the cover image is of my actual feet. I thought it was cute.

©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Butterfly/Art Highlight

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Today I would like to highlight another work.

I painted this butterfly as a practice piece for a larger painting, for my Mother. One of her favorite things is butterflies. It was a huge test of my abilities as my first painting at home, and not in an art class with an instructor. The original is quite small, and was how I learned my natural ability to paint bugs. I find joy in the tinny details.

I chose to make this early work available at my Redbubble Art Shop for sentimental reasons. My family enjoys access to artwork that is meant for them, and being able to choose what products to have it printed on.

Butterfly, originally painted on canvas paper, with acrylic paints.

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Lava Worm

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Was it a shriek of delight or fear? She didn’t know as it forced its way from her chest to the cavity of her mouth. A little heart pounded the rhythm of it as it bubbled into an audible note.

“Stay back. You can’t catch me.”

The floor moved. The carpet rippling right before her eyes. Its colours swimming and shifted, a living thing.

“Hurry!” the others yelled at her as they bounced up and down in excitement. “Its rising!”

She stood on her pillow, feet sinking into its marshmallow softness.
She danced like a cat.

“Now, May!”

Her body moved before her mind, responding to the call. The marshmallow softness was her downfall. Toes slid, the truth of its betrayal apparent in a second that stretched to an hour in a single heartbeat.

“No.”

White sock stained brown on the bottom touched carpet. Hands held before her broke the fall, and she giggled with gleeful horror as the waves of colour splashed.

“She’s done for.” The pain in Carter’s voice rocked her back to reality. His terror was exaggerated, but real.

Another scream bubbled out as her ankles were grabbed and the friction of carpet on prone stomach threatened a burn.

“I’ve EATEN you May!”

The blanket muffled the voice, rainbow patterns shifting with movement.

“You have to join me.”
“I know, I know.”

Her breathless reply held only a mite of disapproval. Her chest still rose and fell with heavy adrenaline induced gasps. She grasped the offered corner of his blanket, eyes sparking.

“The worm GROWS!”

They yell the words together. The trumpet of doom.

“RUN!”

©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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