Psalm 13

Moving along.

This is one of my favorites so far, although I did the carve the print on white oak. Never again, never again. My wrist hurt for two weeks after carving this beast. But I love the way the grain worked with the print, helping to give the impression of actual wood.

This was a very personal image for me, I internally felt it, if you get my drift. I wanted that impression of crying out to the Lord, but from strength, not weakness. That's why I used the image of the tree, strength and fortitude, but out of that still able to cry out in agony to the Lord. Oh yeah, my model was Preston again, and old friend of mine.

Here's the image:



The decorative initial and text were fun.
I think I am finally starting to get the hang of this!
I think that someday I will start to paint these images, with a
brush and tempra paints, but for now just using markers.

I am also beginning to think of the possibility of using
real gold leaf for the illuminations. Right now, I can't afford
it and I also don't know how, but the not knowing how has
never held me back before and it probably won't this time
either.

I am also considering using a "real" calligraphy nib and
black india ink for the text. Psalm 18 is the next Psalm that
has a lot of text, so probably will try on that one, where the letters need to be very small to fit the paper size.

Here is the border:And finally, the complete image:

Psalm 12

O.K., no excuses this time. Other than this; I AM NOT A MACHINE!
It takes time to imagine, design, draw, transfer, draw again, carve, print, calligraphy and illuminate these things. All in my spare time. At lunch, traffic lights that are too long, babysitting my daughter, late into the wee hours, etc.
So, here is Psalm 12.
For my printing friends, this was done on linoleum and mounted on a 12" x 12" piece of MDF board. Almost the entire image was carved with an Xacto knife, just the waste was carved away with a small "U" shaped tool.

The image was printed using Graphic Chemical water based black ink (big props to Graphic Chemical, this is my all time favorite ink ever). Funny, I always use the same cheap 7" Speedball roller. I have more expensive rollers, but I always seem to come back to my handy dandy Speedball brayer.
Oh well, go figure. I suppose the old saying of "Go with what works" is true.

Interesting note, I realized I was going to run out of paper soon, so I thought, I had better re-order before I go broke or lose my day job. Well, after shipping back two orders, I finally figured out that the paper I have been using is Zerkal Book White Vellum 145 gm. I ordered 25 more sheets, should last me for at least a year, I hope.

Now for my other friends, I was really intrigued by the concept of lies and lying and how they effect all areas of our lives. Somehow, I got the impression of a winding snake, weaving in and out of my life and the lives of others. Lies are like that, one person lies about something, who tells another the same lie with a twist, who passes it on to another with their twist, and so on, and so on. Even without additional twisting, lies are insidious and permeating. My original idea included a tongue getting chopped off with some blade or axe, but I am glad I got this idea instead (so is my wife and daughter, they didn't like the tongue idea either). The lie is the winding thingy, weaving in and out of ordered lives, but.... whenever it comes close to the cross, the lie is cut off. Likewise, a day will come when all lying lips will be silenced and the truth will stand alone.

Here is the text and decorative letter:

I had decided that I wanted to start tying things closer together, decorative initial, text and illumination, so I am showing the decorative initial with the text this time
because I wanted to run a line from the dec. initial down to the border and so on.


Scroll on down for the final image in its entirety.

Thanks for your comments and patience. It helps to know when someone spends the time to read and
look at the picture.

I hope you remain well until I post again.