Psalm 27

I have been doing this blog for years now, but is anybody reading it?  I keep thinking of the lyrics to a song, "Is there anybody out there?  Does anyone care?".  So, if you do read this, leave a comment below, please.

 One of the things that annoyed me in my college education and subsequent readings over the years has been the "opinions" of historians and critics on the "meaning" behind paintings and drawings.  How did they really "know" what the artist meant, or was getting at, or what inspired them?  It was all a guess, maybe an intellectual one, maybe not, but it is still a guess. 

So, that being said, this time I would like to focus mainly on the image and TELL you my motive, inspiration, meaning, etc.....

I must have read this psalm over and over again twenty times before it hit me, this image is not going to be about a specific verse or group of verses, but about the ":feeling" I get when I read the whole psalm: safe.

So, what says safe?  After considering many ideas and images, I finally settled on the image you now see, a cleat.  Once that idea took shape, the rest came along easily.  The rope represents ourselves and our lives; twisted, rough, non-uniform, strong and rotting at the same time.  But wrapped around the cleat?  Security, safety, tied, etc.....

As you may have noticed, I like to represent God, or the idea of God, as pure white.

Technical details: lino block, Zerkall Book 145gm, Graphic Chemical Black w/s ink.

Peace out.  If enough people comment, I will come back and explain the decorative initial and illumination. 

Psalm 26

This is one of my most exciting Psalm's to date.  I stretched myself visually and artistically, creating an image I had no idea if I could even carve, let alone print.

There were so many parts of this Psalm I could have focused on, or the Psalm as a whole could have been envisioned and drawn.  But I decided on a verse, and an image, that was a little more obscure.

^{4 "} I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers."

Per my favorite, Merriam-Webster online dictionary,

1: to hide under a false appearance

2: to put on the appearance of : simulate

intransitive verb

: to put on a false appearance : conceal facts, intentions, or feelings under some pretense 

And the shoes, ah the shoes!  In very many countries, cultures and backgrounds, putting shoes on top of something, even throwing shoes, is meant as a sign of disdain and disgust.  So, I decided to place a pair of shoes on top of a selection of books, that in my opinion, propagate dissembling.

 Here is a close up of the print itself.  This was created on linoleum, the total image size being 6.25" x 8", and carved almost exclusively with an x-acto knife.  

My goal, how thin can I carve and print?  The lines came out nicely and I used Graphic Chemical water based black ink for the printing.  But, in my opinion, the linoleum has too much give to create a line as "tight" as I would like, but it still came out quite nicely.




The decorative initial and illumination are also something new for me.  I decided to go with silver rather than gold, and I also decided to go with colored ink rather than paint.  I also decided to go back to just straight calligraphy, without much embellishment.

 









  


And here is the final, complete image!