I Call You Dancer

Image Copyright Melynda Van Zee 2008

I'd rather paint 5 new pictures than concentrate on writing text about one, but I keep getting asked to put my thoughts/motivations into actual words. Sometimes I want to say..."BUT, if I could SAY it, I wouldn't have to PAINT it." So, I've simply resigned myself to trying and then being brave enough to simply share and tell what God has been teaching me.

This painting is now in the private collection of a local buisness. It is titled “I Call You Dancer”.


I am not a dancer by training. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Coordination was not high on my “gift mix” as a child. I was a klutz, legs constantly full of bruises. My dancing consisted of spinning Ice Capades moves on our basement linoleum floor in the slippers my grandma knitted for me.

Recently, I’ve been taking a deep, hard look at my life, asking myself those age-old questions of “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “What does God want me to do with this one precious life of mine?” I have sifted through my life experiences, titles, labels, and positions I have held. I have wrestled with what that means for my future. In the midst of all this questioning, I was challenged to ask this question…

“Who do You say I am?”

And, so I did. I asked that dangerous question of the One who created me, the 1st Creator, the Creator of all that is truth. He answered, “I call you dancer. I look down and watch the color swirl out from you.”


I will be adding more new pieces of art over the next two weeks-all in preparation for my art show at the Galerie of Pella (Pella, IA) on Tuesday, July 29. I'll post more details soon.