PDF/ eBook Format

Since I first shared Landscape Painting in Pastels as a blog, I've had people ask me to offer it as an PDF they can read or print. Finally it's here for you. Just click on the link below:

Landscape Painting in Pastels PDF

If you want to print the book, open the PDF, right click, choose print and away you go. It's 142 pages. I really hope many of you will find this helpful.

Or you can also go to www.bloxp.com and make a nice little eBook, which you can save in any or all of three different formats. Free. Clean, easy to read, ready to go on your Kindle, if you like. I recommend you add a Table of Contents, and delete all the posts after The End. It's easy and quick.

I humbly apologize to those of you who have already laboriously copied and pasted page after page, and printed them out for yourselves.

I'm afraid the rest of this post is only going to make sense to Christians.

We crazy-seeming Christians have some odd values, but we live in an upside-down world. If knowing you can have the PDF version of the book is all that matters to you, let me just wish you well. I hope you'll enjoy this format. Feel free to print out one copy for yourself, if you want one. Blessings to you...

If you're staying with me, I have to confess something here. I've been reluctant to push the buttons to make this happen because I haven't really been giving this book away with the heart of joy that God wants us Christians to have.

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:6-7)

I have sowed rather sparingly, grudgingly giving this book out of necessity.

I wrote this as my 'retirement income', fully intending to approach publishers and envisioning it as the way I could take care of myself when I retired. If you aren't a Christ follower, the fact that I chose to give it away might not make a lick of sense to you, but those of you who know the Lord probably get it. This isn't a do-it-yourself life, it's a life of dependence on the Lord.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

I was led to believe that the best thing I could do was to find a way to give this book away, freely and completely. If I hadn't been certain that the Lord Jesus was directing me to trust Him in this, I never would have done it. He surely doesn't intend that everyone do this same thing, but He made it clear to me. Maybe you've had this same kind of certainty about something else.

After hesitating for about two years, I capitulated, knowing that when I surrender to His will things always go better for me. Yet, as I said, I gave with a grudging heart.

I know that when I draw near to God, He will always draw near to me (James 4:8), so recently I started digging into the dark corners to find out why I just haven't had much joy. I realized I was obeying Him but not responding to His grace. I wrote "Freely you have received, freely give," but I held back a little.

Jesus has so graciously let me find my way to this issue over the course of six years, but now the Lord wants me to GIVE this book. Fully. And I do.

Today I came to the realization that I could invest cheerfully in giving more by figuring out how to make a PDF file you can access and print. I'm so glad to be able to do this and I hope the format works. Look into www.bloxp.com or any other platform you want to use for making a blog into an eBook.

May the Lord bless you as you use this book. I hope it brings you JOY!

Deborah