Helen Keller

Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan

What inspires you to paint?  How do you learn to listen to that still small voice inside when applying your brushstrokes or pencil marks?  This is a personal matter, but one of great importance.

This week I watched a very old video of one of my favorite people of all time, Helen Keller.  I was moved deeply and related what I saw to my own experience of listening to God with my spirit and translating what I hear from him into words with my brush, palette knife and paint.

The younger students of mine may not know who Helen Keller.  Helen became deaf, blind, and mute as a very young toddler and lost touch with the outside world.  Her teacher, who you will see in the video, was Anne Sullivan.  She found a way to reach young Helen, and the rest is history.

Please enjoy this video.  I encourage you to place your own fingers in the same position in the video and and experience what Helen did.  Think of the intimacy that you would feel if you had to place your fingers on another persons lips, vocal chords, and nose, in order to understand what they were saying.  Think of having that same intimacy with God in all that you do.  - Jill Saur

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