Goodbye and Godspeed Trisha!

It's with mixed emotions that we say goodbye, farewell, etc. to our wonderful, beautiful, talented, hardworking General Manager, our daughter, Trisha. Many of you have come to know Trisha this past year as she has been working with us. She came on board just as we were launching out into the 'deep' so to speak. She walked into an office that looked like a tornado hit it and said "Guys, there's going to have to be some changes here." All we could do was tremble slightly with relief mixed with a little fear. And so it began, the great transformation from slightly organized chaos to the tight ship we needed to be. It's been a year of great joy to work with Trisha. She left a wonderful career in Houston to come and help us out, and now a year later, she is re-entering the corporate world. Thank goodness she is just a phone call away when I am freaking out over Quick Books.

So when you call BurdenStudio now, it will be Cindy or David who answer your call. We look forward to visiting with you and getting to know some of our newer customers.

Bye Trisha!!! We love you!!

New Pieces Available in Worship the Lord Series

Two new additions to the Worship the Lord series are now for sale!

"Lost in Praise"

4.75"H x 3.75"L x 4.5"W

Retail: $40

"Sing praises to God; sing praises; sing praises unto our King; sing praises."

-Psalms 47:6

"Star Struck"

8.75"H x 4"L x 4.5"W

Retail: $60

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork."

- Psalms 19:1

Now Accepting Credit Cards!

We have decided to step back into the world of credit card processing

after taking a short break, and I'm sure some of our

customers are breathing a huge sigh of relief!

We now accept Visa, MC, and Discover.

That's all.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Yesterday Everything Broke

"Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth nor rust destroys, nor thieves break in and steal, for where your treasure is there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6: 19-21

Yesterday everything broke. Well, okay, not everything - these three things in this order:

1. The treadmill

2. The water filter thing that fits on our kitchen faucet

3. The hot air popcorn popper

It rained yesterday! FIVE INCHES! David took our dog, Abe, for a walk. Here's a picture of Abe. It was raining when they went, not that hard, but enough that they were wet when they got back.

Continued on the Daily Burden page - link is to the right....

Worship the Lord - Two New Pieces!

Introducing two works in progress for the Worship the Lord Series....

"The Heavens Declare His Glory"

"The heavens declare the glory of God..."

- Psalm 19:1

This piece is not yet titled but we will annouce the title and accompanying verse once it's decided.

First Annual Gallery Night

Saturday night was our first annual BurdenStudio Gallery Night, and it was a great night of art and fellowship. We were so wrapped up in talking with everyone and taking care of things that we forgot to take pictures of our wonderful guests. We did sneak in a few pictures before the event started, so here are a few samples of what was shown:

If you missed coming out this time, then please consider visiting the gallery during our next event. We would love to have you.

A special thanks to our featured artists, and for those who helped us prepare for the event! We couldn't have done this without your contributions.

From Cindy...

"He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap."

- Ecclesiastes 11:4

"The Lord gave me this scripture this morning from Ecclesiastes. I was really grateful and challenged. Seems everything in business is a challenge these days. I got to thinking about all the stores who buy our sculptures, in faith that they will sell. I takes such faith to do that. I want to say 'thank you' to you all this morning, for not focusing on the wind and the clouds, but going ahead, trusting the Lord, who is our provider. I want you to know that I'm praying for your success, both in your business and in the kingdom.

I forgot our tithe last Sunday. It had been a good week and I was excited to to be able to give more. But when I looked at our bank balance this morning, it had shrunk significantly and I felt that temptation to be a storm watcher, hunker down and 'hold what ya got.' That's when the Lord gave me the scripture from Ecclesiates. Now I'm almost excited to write that check and put it in the offering box. I think I'll drive down to the church today instead of waiting for Sunday.

I hope you are encouraged today to be bold for the Lord, to trust Him because He is so worthy of your trust. We would be CRAZY not to trust Him....really. Blessings y'all...Cindy."

New Addition to Worship The Lord Series

"Sounding the Shofar"

Dimensions: 12.5" x 3.5" x 4", Retail: $65.00

"Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly..." - Joel 2:15

Gallery Night - Saturday, August 28th

We are very excited to annouce our final list of artists who are joining us in our gallery for a night of amzing talent! These artisits are...

Painting: Marcella Donovan, Clayton Jerome, Sammie Sloan
Basket Weaving: Susan Ashley (http://www.txweaver.com/)
Jewelry: Cheryl Ballard (http://www.doxaglobal.com/)
Wood Carving: Pete McCaskill (http://www.petemccaskill.com/)
Photography: David Burden, Kathy Cox
Quilting: Debbie Harry
Sculpture: Cindy Burden

As you can see, we will have something for everyone to enjoy! The night begins at 7pm at 10031 FM 1390, Scurry, TX. Light refreshments will be served, and we would absolutely love to have you and your friends join us!

Clouds

"He is coming with the clouds..." - Revelation 1:7

Original Photography by David Burden

"In the Bible clouds are always connected with God. Clouds are those sorrows or sufferings or providences, within or without our personal lives, which seem to dispute the rule of God. It is by those very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were no clouds, we should have no faith. 'The clouds are but the dust of our Father's feet.' The clouds are a sign that He is there. What a revelation it is to know that the sorrow and bereavement and suffering are the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near without clouds, He does not come in clear shining.....His purpose in the cloud is to simplify our belief until our relationship with Him is exactly that of a child....Is the relationship between myself and God getting simpler that ever it has been?"

- Oswald Chambers, My Upmost For His Highest

Gallery Night at BurdenStudio

We have an exciting annoucement about an upcoming event we are planning. On Saturday, August 28th we will have a Gallery Night at BurdenStudio in Scurry, TX! We are inviting various local artists to come share their work, and we would love to see anyone come out who is interested in seeing some beautiful art and meeting the artists. More details to come, but mark your calendars!

Also, a refreshed list of Cindy's upcoming speaking engagements is now posted under the Calendar of Events link on the sidebar!

In The News

The Kaufman Herald ran a story on our studio this week and we wanted to share it with those of you who don't live in the Kaufman area. Here is the link:

http://www.kaufmanherald.com/articles/2010/07/08/community/doc4c3494fbc0701747805691.txt

Looking Closely

"I was sitting and reading through my journal this morning. Mostly it consists of sciptures that jump out at me as I am doing my Bible reading. This entry is dated October 1, 2009 and I felt that I should share it. So here it is:

'As I look out the patio door at the glory of God's beautiful creation, I am stunned as usual at it. It's only a backyard in Burleson, TX. It's not the Grand Canyon. It's a cement patio with a

swing. There's a building in the backyard, some bushes, plants, pathway, etc. It's commonplace, but quite beautiful. The war, yellow/pink brightness of the early morning sun filters through the screen of leaves at the very back of the yard.

Then for some reason I am drawn to looking through each sqaure of our faux French patio door. There are 30 squares. Each a picture frame. I cover one eye and make a fist with a tiny hole to look through with my other hand. This way I can focus on each frame without seeing the rest of the frames. Carefully I look at each one. I'm amazed at the beauty of each one. Though only part of the picture, each one could be a stand alone painting! Such texture, such color, such stark simplicity, such contract - WOW! I continue to shift from one frame to the next, still looking only through the tiny 'hand-made' viewer.

Then I take my hand down and I am DAZZLED by the whole picture, DAZZLED! I'm excited. This is important. I know it is. God is showing me His glory. Some many times we are told to glorify the Lord. And suddenly I know this is a picture of the church, each one of us beautifully unique, wonderfully and powerfully made, with such depth, color and texture. Each so different, so unique, so individual, so beautiful on our own. We are all stand alone masterpieces of God. But when we come together and are where God has placed us in the body - oh, my goodness, the beauty of it! This what God is saying about unity, about each part of the body is important - about how people will know we are of God because of our love for one another. Amazing!

I just felt led to share this. I know it encouraged me when I read it this morning and I hope it encourages whoever reads it. Let's go out and dazzle the world with the glory of God today!"
- Cindy

New Pieces

Worship The Lord is the new series Cindy is working on under the complete inspiration of what the Lord is showing her. This picture was taken only after a day and a half of sculpting. (No name to this piece yet but we'll keep you posted.)

Cindy is also working on adding pieces to the Joyous Nativity set that came out during Christmas 2009. Here is the first of those additional pieces:

FPW Gallery Visit

On Friday night, the board for the Fellowship of Professional Women came for a private showing of our gallery! They were having their annual retreat at the Cornerstone Lodge in Scurry which is only 5 minutes from us. It was such a treat to see all of them again, and meet a few we hadn't met before.

As you can see, Abraham, our faithful gallery dog, was on the job. Everyone loved him and he remained unruffled as always.

A special thanks to Sharon Hill who made the arrangments for everyone to come!

New Piece....New Line!

"I'm really excited to introduce a new piece called Holy, Holy, Holy. The scripture reference is Revelation 7:11:

And the angels stood before the throne...and they fell on their faces and worshipped the Lord.

I believe the Lord is leading me to do a series of pieces having to do with worship, and I will call it 'Worship The Lord'. All I want to do right now is sculpt them as fast as I can! I already have several images that He has put on my heart. I won't say what they are right now - you'll just have to check back and see them as they appear!" - Cindy

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

- Ephesians 3: 17-19

Original Photography by David Burden

Daily Burden Entry: Cindy's New Art Class

"As I watched these women struggling with the clay I saw determination , the willingness to try something new, humility, frustration, and even a touch of despair. I thought of what they must have been through in their lives that brought them to this place, a shelter for battered women and their children. And I was humbled. What do I know of struggle? Nothing compared to them." - Cindy

Want to read more? Click here for the full story.

Ladies' Bible Study @ The Gallery

This past Thursday, June 3rd, the Thursday Night Ladies' Bible Study group came to our Gallery!! It was such a fun night. We had 29 ladies there, and we borrowed folding charis from the church and had light refreshments. Everybody was given a piece of clay, and Cindy was blessed to share her testimony.

The parking lot was full!

The Gallery was full!

And Abraham, our gallery dog, was on hand to greet our guests.
Lots of shopping, laughing, talking, and sharing.

Thanks to everyone who came. It was such a blessing!

New Stores in May!

We are blessed to have five stores come on board with us during the month of May to carry Women of the Way! If you are ever in their areas then please stop by and visit them!

Divine Gifts
216 North Main
Muenster, TX 76252
940-736-3898

Crossroads Bookstore
601 W Prien Rd
Lake Charles, LA 70601
337-474-7100

St. Alban's Bookstore
911 S Davis
Arlington, TX 76013
817-274-4821

J & H Just For You
1000 E Main St #306
Midlothian, TX 76065
972-775-6902

The Living Stone
18 SE 3rd St
Lees Summit, MO 64063
816-246-9379

You can find a complete list of our retail stores on our website at http://burdenstudio.com.

Adventures in Christ: "On time and on target"

"As we were about to leave, I just mentioned as an aside, "Oh, I'm an artist." This is where things got exciting! Her eyes got HUGE and said "What did you say?? You're an artist??" I nodded yes and she flung open the bottom half of the door and almost drug Pam and I into her office. She repated again with great intensity and increased volume, "YOU'RE AN ARTIST?" Pam started chuckling, which made me laugh (Pam has an very contagious laugh). At this point another woman stepped into the office, and Nora exlamied "LEAH! SHE'S AN ARTIST!" Leah's eyes bugged out as she looked at me and back at Nora. Both their mouths were hanging wide open. Pam and I were laughing pretty hard now, and they started laughing too. I still had no idea what was going on, but I sensed it was pretty cool."

Want to know the rest of Cindy's story (you know you do!!)? Click here: Burden's Blurts

"Sing to God, sing praise to His name,

extol Him who rides on the clouds,

His name is the LORD,

rejoice before Him!"

- Psalms 68:4

Original photography by David Burden

Welcoming Our New Stores!

God has showered on us with 7 new stores in the month of April, and we couldn't be more excited! Please join us in welcoming them to BurdenStudio, and stop by their stores for Women of the Way.

The Closer Walk

http://thecloserwalk.yolasite.com/
316 East Austin Street

Fredericksburg, TX 78624

1-800-997-7827

Calvary's Road Christian Books
http://www.calvarysroadbooks.com/
510 US 281

Marble Falls, TX 78625
830-693-9310

Angel's Garden

http://www.angelsgardengifts.com/
7260 Huron Avenue
Lexington, MI 48450

810-359-2496

The Vintage Poodle

18816 FM 2252 Nacogdoches Road

San Antonio, TX 78266

210-725-7893

Behind the Red Door

409 South Magnolia

Woodville, TX 409-283-6990

409-283-6990

Decor & More

1403 North Plaza Drive

Grandbury, TX 76048
817-578-9426

Waldenwood Gifts

http://www.waldenwoodgifts.com/
504 E. Corsicana Street

Athens, TX 75751
903-675-2561

(All of our retail stores are also listed on our website at http://burdenstudio.com/ or by clicking on the Sculpture Site link on the sidebar.)

Molly - Senior Portraits

It was a windy day, but Molly braved the wind to take some great shots! Molly is a graduating senior at Mabank H.S., and we were excited to have her in our first shoot here in Scurry. Thanks Molly! We used the studio with backdrops, and the rest of the shots were taken at different scenic locations on our property.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Grand Opening

We held our Grand Opening on Saturday, April 17th, and we were blessed with pleasant weather and a good crowd of visitors. Thanks to everyone who came out and joined in with our celebration of the new gallery. If you missed it then please come out and see us! We're open Tuesday - Saturday from 10:00am - 5:00pm or by appointment for consultations, photo shoots, and sculpting classes.

Here are a few pictures from the event...