Psalm 15

It all started with a picture.  

I drive by this church a lot and have always loved the architecture, sculptures and stained glass windows.  I even went there on a school trip with my daughter many, many years ago.

Then I came to Psalm 15.

"LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? 

       Who may live on your holy hill?"

and I thought of this image.  Then came the next question: how to best represent the idea in my head.  I wanted something ethereal, other worldly, there but not there...

Here is the final printed image.  I found a few nicks that need repaired, but that can wait until editioning starts.  I used cherry wood, but to my horror, the wood was cut cross grain, with no room to turn the image.  So, i tried a new trick.

I carve the major areas out normally, using a small v tool and a large U gouge.

Then I took a fine point etching tool (we called them pig stickers in college) and carefully scratched out the wood to create the secondary lines.

I think it came out cool looking.  The scratch marks allowed me to show or add an additional level to the image that I could not carve.

I really like how the decorative initial came out, 

not pleased at all with the scan though.  

The color is all messed up.  The purple is a very deep, 

rich color of purple and the burgundy is also much richer, but 

once again I think the scanner 

got confused with the gold leaf and 

picked it's own color.  

One of these days I will figure out Photoshop better and 

I will be able to fix these mistakes, but for now, 

you get the idea at least.

I carried the vine theme on down the page and picked it up 

again for the illumination along the bottom, as seen below.

Here is the final image.  Comments are welcome and appreciated, contacts with publishers or buyers even more welcome.  If you would like to purchase one of these for your very own, let me know.  Prices start at $495.00 each, but I will give a 10% discount to anyone that mentions the blog.