Drawing Close, Encountering Joy: New Book by Janice E. Kirk

River Arts Alliance member Janice E. Kirk announces her new book: Drawing Close, Encountering Joy: An Artist’s Psalms and Prayers for the Earth (Resource Pub., 2022). Learn more at her website, janiceekirk.com.

From Ft. Rock to Hovenweep, redwoods to the Rockies, ocean to high desert, here is an invitation to connect with the natural world. Psalms and prayers for the earth unfold from early morning dew through daytime hours to the night watch. Delight in the colors of dawn, linger in the fellowship of the forest, savor the solitude, lament the losses, be refreshed by tumbling waters, celebrate the glories of life, and hear the robin singing . . . singing. Draw close, enter into the experience. Encounter the joy and peace of the natural world. Through the eyes of an artist discover nature’s abiding witness to the “wondrous Mystery wrapped in beauty.”

“Here is what we know. Ours is a perilous time of mass instability, with grief and lament at the loss of a beautiful world trailing everywhere. All the more important, then, to discover beauty and nurture wonder for a life of joy, even among the ruins. Janice Kirk does just that with prayers and psalms and sketches in the garb of good poetry. Read slowly in a quiet place and be fed.” —Larry Rassmussen, Author of The Planet You Inherit: Letters to My Grandchildren When Uncertainty’s a Sure Thing

“Janice Kirk sweetly remembers her family trips to the furthest reaches of the West in poems and passages of praise. Hers is a voice of appreciation and invitation that will make you want to find not only such a place as the hidden campsite of Marmot Spring, but also the hidden source of living waters that provide for us a resting place, now and forever.” —Paul J. Willis, Author of Deer at Twilight: Poems from the North Cascades

“. . . Kirk’s choice to intersperse her own drawings along with her writings and Scripture passages offer readers a warm invitation to gaze at images as well as reflect on the text.” —Kirkus Review

Janice Kirk is a member of the River Arts Alliance. To learn more about the benefits of membership, please visit: riverartsalliance.org/membership/.