Psalm 25

It has been far too long, I know.  But I had the visions and desire to design, carve and print more than illuminate, so that is exactly what I did.  Currently I have carved up to Psalm 34 and printed up to Psalm 31.  Now back to some illuminating!
Following is Psalm 25, a joy to design and carve (on cherry wood). Unlike some of my illustrations, this one is not as direct and simple.

I experimented with background using different grades of sandpaper (although at times I will admit to being a little too heavy with the hammer).  I started with 160 grade and worked my way up to 220 grade.  I was intent on making the upper portion brighten than the lower, as if the climb were into heaven itself, but not all the way mind you.

The verse that touched my heart was "Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths."

Since the road of life seems to never be straight or easy,  I instantly envisioned a staircase, not an easy gently sloping one, but a twisty, turning and straight up staircase.  

The Decorative Initial first.

I found the graphic in an old book, then modified it to fit my design.

The colors did not transport over as well as I would like, the red is deeper and the blue not so,
blue.

A careful eye will notice a slight mistake I made 
in the calligraphy, but I won't point it out for you.


 
The illumination was a blast, difficult to paint but fun to design!

 
And the full image, enjoy and comment please!

Psalm 24

Where to begin?  Hmm, how about with the technical stuff?  OK.

Woodblock was pine, paper was Zerkal and ink was Graphic Chemical water based black.

The image was inspired by
verse 7:

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in"  KJV

I also love trying to depict wood and other unique surfaces, so I went with this old wooden door, brass nameplate, cast iron knocker and security keypad image.  I had fun with the door knocker, trying to incorporate the world and open hands into the image.


Here is the illuminated border and capital initial, bot hand painted (btw, each one of the border blocks are around 1.5" x 2").

I know it might look white here, but the vines are actually a light cream color, which was very, very hard to paint!

Next I decided to change the calligraphy a bit, still not perfect but I like the way it looks.  I dropped the numbers and instead started each verse with a capital letter, a semi illuminated capital initial per se.  Here is the final result:

So, here is the final completed image:

Psalm 23

I took a very long time on this Psalm, for many reasons. I figured this would be the one most people

look for first (Google), the most recognizable, the most "universal", the most comforting, the most everything that everyone loves about the Psalms.

I spent a very long time in contemplation also, which verse or verses to illustrate? I had many ideas, many images (someday I may come back to this Psalm again and illustrate those many different versions). But for now, I like the resulting image I have done.

" He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters."

I also went ahead and tried a technique I had not used before, more of a stippling or pecking motion with the carving tool. The image is 6.25" x 8", carved on standard lino block.

I used as my model a young man I know and positioned him at the angle that my minds eye "saw". Can't say exactly why, It just "worked".

The most difficult task in the image was the mental gymnastics, for me at least, of working from a dark to light rather than the other way around. Those of you who are printmakers will understand, those of you who are not, well, here goes: in relief printing, everything is reversed. When carving a line or circle, it is usually easy. When carving out of a field of black already, it gets a little trickier. At least for me it was!

Then of course the next "problem" became: what in the world am I going to use for the decorative initial and illumination? If this is the print they have been waiting for (I know, a little pompous, but hey), then I need to make the illumination just as good, maybe even better.

So, I decided to design something classical and classy, but still had a little flair to it.

Funny thing is, the more I try and make these designs interesting and full of "flair", the harder and harder they get to draw and paint!

Somehow they look much easier when I design them at 500% of the finished size, totally forgetting

that I now need to reduce them down to be decoration and not the artwork itself.

But try painting some of these things!  I am down to a brush with like one hair in it!

So, after much complaining and whining, here is the illumination:

Now you are only seeing it at this size, you should see this baby in real life. It is small and intricate, but God helped me to make it nice for His glory.

Here is the final image, but first, I also had to cut a new chop mark because my old one was looking so crummy!

So, there it is. Love it or hate it, that is up to you. But please, if you like, leave a comment. It does my ego good to see people post on here. Also, I have decided to make these for sale.

$75.00 for the printed image only

$100.00 for a framed one of the image only.

$499.00 for a "full" illuminated and calligraphic image, unframed

Let me know!