Psalm 2

Well, I skipped yesterday, figured I had already posted on the Sabbath, so I better skip a day.
Only kidding, not that conservative, just didn't have much too say.
O.K., Psalm 2. Here is a sketch of my original idea.
Oh yeah, when I was in college I heard this preacher, Ern Baxter, give a sermon on this Psalm when I lived in Bowling Green, OH. I had had the idea for this image ever since then, almost 20 years rolling around in my brain. The Psalm tells of how the rulers of the nations, feeling strong and bold in their own strength, gathered together and decided to break the chains they felt God had put on them (Hence the United Nations logo, strong arms and the breaking of the chains). Of course the Psalm goes on to speak of how God will crush them, but I had the imagery I needed for my print. I don't always show everything the Psalm discusses, but what my "vision" was after reading and studying the Psalm. The essence of what I "saw", I suppose, would be a good way to word it. I'm not a theologian, or a Bible expert, but I want to, Dew what I Dew! Hah. Here is the final print version, same size as the all the rest, printed on the same paper with the same Graphic Chemical Ink.


As you can see, I changed a few things from the original sketch, but not much. This image was carved
on Cherry wood, rather than on a linoblock like the
Psalm 1. To try and add some depth to the image, I added the lines going through the United Nations logo, while also creating super highlights and contrast in the arms and hands, making it almost cartoonish, which I liked. So I went ahead and made the "city" look like a cartoon also, furthering the idea that fighting or denying God was laughable.
When the preacher described the way the Greek spoke of God "holding them in derision", he compared it to a little two year old trying to beat up a professional heavyweight boxer, that it was laughable, foolish.
Until of course God had had enough of the foolishness and crushed them. Here is the decorative initial for the Psalm:


I continued on with the buildings in the capital letter, wish you could see this in person, the scanning just does not like gold and messes everything up.
Some one asked me about the calligraphy. Yes, I do all of it myself on the same piece of paper I did the print on and the capital letter on. So not only does the print need to look nice, but I also can't mess up the capital letter, or the Psalm lettering, or the illumination, or the whole thing gets trashed. I do keep copies of all the "templates", so if I ever want to do another one it shouldn't be too hard. Oh yeah, for the first few Psalms, I used a calligraphy pen that I bought at Target for about five bucks. As time went on, I invested in a better calligraphy pen with interchangeable nibs.
Here is the final image: