Isn't this Asenius?

Athanasius proved to be a rock of intolerance to the Arian position. If he would not move, his enemies would dislodge him from his seat of power by other methods. An absurd smear campaign ensued. Athanasius was even accused of murdering a certain Asenius to obtain his hand for magic. The problem was Asenius was still very much alive and with both hands intact. No matter. the Arian Eusebius had the emperor's ear, and continued to put a bug in it until Athanasius was forced into exile in the west, where he remained until Constantine's death. Out of exile for a short time, but Eusebius and his new best friend Constantius weren't finished yet.


Updated: (click on the picture for a nice large version with reasonable detail) I have finished the painting for the most part, so I cut the fabric down and took this pic. Now I just have to wait a few days for it to dry so I can work on stitching. Not entirely sure what I will do, I am afraid I'll wreck it! I am also abit wary of the gold leaf I intend to apply-I've never worked with it before, and I imagine fabric to be a less than easy ground for it.
I think I will be conservative in embellishment-much more so than I had originally planned. I do hope to give it more definition, as I can't do much more with the paint. This is also about how dark the piece actually is-the fabric continually darkened for weeks after that iron bath!


I have been awake for 25 hours. I woke up far too early and finally transferred the design for Athanasius onto the silk. After coming home from work, I went right back to it. I smell like oil paint, a good feeling. At the moment the piece is too low contrast (the strength of my method is it's subtlety) I don't want it quite that subtle however. I have lightened all of these photos for better readability.

This is the first rendering of the face-I particularly liked the way it looked-less smirky than the drawing. However it was so dark it was almost unreadable in the photo. More layers of light had to be added. It doesn't look as well now though.

This one is the top laying on the floor as I was working it, paintstiks, brushes and my coat surround it. Yes I got home, took my coat off and worked at it! This is also the first time I have used sticks rather than tube oil paint (They were the thing that took months to arrive!). I like the dryness of them as they go onto my brush much more lightly, reducing the need to brush as much off.
I continually took photos to get an appreciation for how it was reading.


This is how it looks right now. He looks a bit more cranky in this picture (less so in life), perhaps he is thinking of the Eusebii (I don't know if that is actually a word...). the coptic textile design has been rendered in gold to the left. the first attempt gave me a much more readable design, but oh well.
There is still much work to do, but I feel better to have finally started work on the actual piece after all these months of stalling. I designed this just before my practicum-almost a year ago! I kind of wish I could leave it dark and low contrast; it looks very cool that way, dark and moody.

I hate writing titles, mine are always lame.

I have just returned from Saskatoon, where I found some nice fabric for my Calvin hat. I didn't have enough of any red fabric for it, and though I considered making it white instead, once I get an idea it has to be done that way or I hate it. So I went looking for red. I found some beautiful scarlet wool that would have been perfect-unfortunately it was 46 dollars per metre of beautiful scarlet wool. So I bought some red corduroy with satin backed crepe to line it.

I decided to make a normal renaissance style bonnet and just add the earflaps. I'll need to do some kind of a band for it to hide the seams, not sure how I'll do that just yet.

The first go at it yielded a hat that is much too large for my head. Given my lack of abilities in math, one can guess that is where I went wrong. However I think I also should have measured higher on my head, as the earflaps would need to be quite high to accommodate the lack of largeness of my noggin.

It did work out nicely, however, even the crepe behaved reasonably well-it just would fit someone with a massive head. Germans would like it, they all have big heads. Maybe that rendition can be my Luther hat.

I bought some red and black silk brocade at the same time and I am tempted to make Calvin hat part deux out of that. Mama thinks that would be wasteful because no matter how I do it, it will be an ugly hat. Bah!

Red Letter Days

As I'm sure we all know, today marks a special time of celebration for young and old alike.
It is certainly a great day to remember-perhaps by studying the 95 theses over again. Or at least you could pick up a Martin Luther is my Homeboy beer stein from Frank Turk's Pawnshop (how apropos is that?).

Happy Reformation Day!

I spent part of it getting tests done at the hospital, blech. The way I felt makes me profusely thankful that we are indeed saved by grace through faith alone-I wouldn't have merited much but the kick in the butt I got.



I think I will make a red Calvin hat if I feel up to it.

Drawring of the Day

Sometimes I wonder how much of a wingnut I seem to to everyone else. Then I realize I am a wingnut and it's only fitting that I appear that way.

I am listening to old recordings of David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (he had the best accent, didn't he).
Anyway, I think he had a wonderful face so here is my drawing of the day: D Martyn Lloyd-Jones, done in a hatchy directional manner. Not really sure why I decided to do that, but I think it turned out nicely regardless. It was done relatively quickly, as I have an affinity for the look that produces.

I used the photo on the cover of the first biography by Iain Murray, which looks 20s-30s. Really Lloyd-Jones' face got more interesting as he got older (gained character of course) and I would have used a later picture, but this younger picture of him is a particular favorite type of photo portrait-good lighting which translates to sketch nicely and three-quarters view is my preferred angle.


I think I would do well on the weird peripheries of Christian blogging, heh (not the heretic country that is, just the tangential ). Anyone else in the blogosphere referencing Lloyd-Jones is going to mention his meticulous expositional preaching and theological output, for better or worse. Only here do you get an exclamation about what a delightful face he had. Told you I was a wingnut.

For the record, I have been set myself a challenge of a drawing a day for a month, mostly mundane things to improve my quick spot drawing. Today I decided to fall back on more familiar territory, hence the portrait.

Back to the dubs

I returned from my trip yesterday. Thanks gwensmom and Mem for proving me right about my widespread readership, hee!

The lodge called me to work today, but I need some time to rest from my vacation first! I was told that if you return from a vacation more tired than when you left, it was a good one. Mine must have been great.

Seriously, I enjoyed myself to the tune of about 300 bucks over budget (I've always been a sucker for supporting my fellow artists and craftspeople). I did get some really unusual items, including some hand maiden yarn, which I was hoping to get my hands on.

Oh and some PEI dirt. Fortunately that was free, as I scrounged it up from the back alley in Charlottetown, heh. I mailed it home to myself. I can't wait to do some textile treatment with it.

I will post pics of all of that stuff when I get the mail-we mailed the majority of it home, so we wouldn't have to haul it around. The postal clerks told us one day an entire bag was full of parcels for the two of us alone.


When I got home and read my emails, I discovered that the QuiltingArts quilts were not being sent home at the end of the month as planned, but are going to be shown one last time in...

wait for it....


*suspence*



HOUSTON.

Those of you who are not part of the quiltiverse are probably thinking yeah so? But if you are part of it I know you get it. :) the international quilt festival in Houston is one of the most prestigious shows in the world, and now I'll be able to brag that I showed at Houston-Ooooo. Nevermind that it's as part of a company display, it's still Houston. I think they were at Chicago too, now that I think about it. Well I feel special anyway. Maybe that will get me off of my rear and make me work at new things.

See ya

I will be gone for the next few weeks on vacation. I know this will break the hearts of all two of you, but rest assured I will miss my regular blog addiction more than anyone in the blogosphere will miss me. :) Of course by the time I get back, it will be about time for my monthly post.

Someday I'll become less of a slacker, but maybe later, at a more convenient time.

You think to escape, but it can not be

Earlier parts of the saga are here. :)

Once Alexander was gone, his authority (and therefore the battle against Arius) would fall to his protege Athanasius. I am sure he had no warning of how much trouble the Arians would be. Then again, I am also sure they were completely unaware that one little man could create such colossal havoc for their evil cause.
Though the Son knew-from eternity past of course.



I FINALLY got a reasonable colour on the noil for Athanasius.
I initially used synthetic dye with acid and it went frickin purple! (I think the shelf life on those particular dyes is about over) a quick tea dye browned it a bit. Then I worked on it with an entire bottle of silk dye-and ran out of that. Last attempt was multiple extractions from walnuts and tea bags (no less than 7) allowed to reduce down into concentrated stock, a long hot soak and finally a post-mordant of iron to react with the tannin (decided against chrome when I changed the layout). It is still a dark medium brown-I would have liked it darker and I may do a second dip with the tannin/iron if I feel so moved. But I don't think I am going to be able to get a really dark shade on that particular fabric. Much of the first dyebath rinsed out.

Athanasius has proven as troublesome to me as he was to Arian heretics. I have been trying to print out the pattern and used a good 50 pieces of paper before I got something approaching the correct size (stupid printer! When I type 20 inches into the size box that means it should print to that size!!) >:(

It also took one heck of a lot of pondering (granted I was listening to apologetics.com on the computer at the time) to come up with a solution to creating a raised form of the coptic textile I am using for the background. I was thinking of carving, molding, lying-the final winner was to syringe it on to paper using gesso. I was surprised that it worked (especially given the heaviness of the silk), though I will have to be careful with the rubbing as the design is only slightly raised.

I am almost afraid to begin work on the actual piece! Perhaps I've already run my stream of crappy luck with this one. What else is going to happen?!

New Links

I've added a few more blogs to my little list which in no way reflects my voracious blog reading habit(Pyromaniacs has blogrolled most of the blogs I like for me-though purgatorio is special so has it's own link :) ).
I know darn well there are other art and craft blogs I had wanted to add and now I've forgotten and lost them. Ah well they'll turn up again.

I am not writing since I am not really doing anything. Not that it matters anyway. Bah.

I did find yet another lovely jacket pattern today, heh. Also after searching high and low for a place that sells Lampe Bergers, I managed to get ahold of one in cosmopolitan Yorkton of all places. It works too! My house does not reek of Sam the Stinkbaum anymore, though he'll soon fix that by his mere stenchy existence. I own the stinkiest dog that ever lived.

Dyeing

I haven't dyed much in months, so I decided to get some of the pots out and work on some of my bag of mohair. I wanted some muted green/blues. They turned out reasonably well, I especially like the blue.


The pinkish stuff is more a silvery grey in life, and the green is a bit deeper. Now I must do something with it!

The silk for Athanasius is proving to be difficult to obtain the correct colour on. I want a dark muted brown (almost black)-not a chocolatey brown though. That is the challenge. Perhaps I'll try black walnut-of course then I'll have to hunt some down, as there are none here. I've never used black walnut before, but it should be a straight forward cooking pot method, which is easy.

I am beginning to feel like I will require the perseverance of Athanasius to get it finished, heheh.

I've got too many projects going at once. Since I also work sporadically now, My general way of doing things, ie whenever the heck I feel like doing it, has been interupted. Gotta get used to that. Well I tell myself I must do something to get the money to buy dye stuff. :)

ETA: I spun up a little bit (one combing's worth) of the mohair with that brown alpaca I am so fond of-it is a rather pleasant muted teal overall.

We Gotta Take This Message...

Back To The Street, hand drawn, digitally coloured.

Though I suppose it is rather cliche (hey I feel I should do the expected for a few of them at least-that keeps everyone guessing) I decided to do a tag-ish style. I have never dabbled in that type of work much (despite being an old skool rap fan) and found it quite enjoyable. Even the digital colouring. I didn't need to do the careful line work for this one, and I wanted the texture without having to actually use spraypaint. :)

Though I didn't do grafitti per se I have always loved doing odd lettering. Such things as this filled the school hours when I was not skipping and kept me from dying of boredom. In fact these were the impetus of this project-I thought I had more of them since I did this constantly and was surprised of how much of it I had lost. I will resurrect some of the old designs, maybe soon as I loved doing this one.

UFO No More

I am trying to clear out some of my longtime WIP's on my days off, one of which was my new curtain. I've had it finished for awhile but had to decide how to attach it and add the lining. I finally got around to doing so, proving it was not a UFO (unfinished object) but rather a WIP (work in progress). Heh!
The difference between the two, BTW, is narrow but vital. One floats around your house haunting you forever (ultimately a UFO should perhaps be called an unfinishable object), whereas the other is eventually completed.

I don't care for the rod I have at all, but I suppose it will do. I need mounting brackets as it's hanging on the old rod for the vertical blind right now. I also need to steam it once I get it up there permanently.

It turned out reasonably well. There are of course things I would do differently if I had it to do over again. Experience is the best teacher after all.

oh happy day
when I threw the plastic slats from the vertical blind away!

Mucha Me

I finally got a free day! (I just finished working 6 shifts in 5 days, figure that out.) I certainly did not expect to be working so often, though I was warned this could happen. Soon the regular staff members will be back from holidays, so I should be getting fewer call-ins.

Also my brother and his son (Aves who is pictured in the footer of this blog), SIL and the hellions were here on the weekend. Those days never count as "days off". :)

Anyway, instead of being particularly productive on things I should be doing, I made a self portrait in the style of Alphonse Mucha:



I deesigned it on a whim, like everything I do. For whatever reason, I thought I'd digitally colour the original sketch. I have learned that I hate digital painting. My hands are killing me (yeah both of them-I drew on the tablet with my left and moused with my right-what do right handed people do!?) and it took forever! Of course my OCD-like tendencies would not allow me to quit when it was half done. This is why I rarely do large scale works.
I'm surprised at how even with the tablet I had a difficult time with line control. You can see this in the drunken look of the heavier lines. Bah. Still it looks kind of nice, if simpler and messier in general than Mucha's own pieces. The flower...thingy turned out weird though, I might go back to it when my hands are feeling better and I get my next day off, whenever that may be.

It's just a matter of time...

Before I get back to work on projects!

I have started a new job at the local regional care home and been working rather regularly (though I am casual). I am trying hard not to make too many mistakes-I feel sorry for the old people who have to put up with me learning. I do make pretty good money at it, plus I am in the health region now so maybe I will be able to get on at the hospital.

I FINALLY received my paintstiks (!!!!) which were ordered back in May and sent to me twice, and now I can start work on Athanasius. It has taken many more months than I expected to assemble the materials for that.

On the CIP front, I have had this one 90% finished for a few weeks (heh), finally got the central logo on there.



A Matter of Time, acrylic, ink and pen

This is one of the Mayan calendars, the Tzolkin (calendar round). I wanted a rounded mandala style for this piece and felt the Mayan would be suitable, as this was a highly advanced ritualistic society which mysteriously devolved and disappeared, almost lost forever in the process. It seemed fitting to use not only a system of measuring time, but the system of a society whose time ran out long before the auspicious 2012 forcasted date. One never does know when one's time is up.



Well, alright, and I think Mayan stuff looks cool. If anyone wants a stela style date, I have been known to make them...:)

A Quarter of the Way!!

Here are numbers 51-53 of the CIP-the solos, encompassing both those from CITAS and Farewell by way of depicting both of Bob's guitars (well guitar and controller) and two Keyboards for John's.



They are ambigrams or inversions. If you turn the sheet upside down they will read the same. This is why they look rather odd. Louie's solo (in the centre) was particularly difficult to invert, and I know it's practically impossible to read too. Ah well. I used pencil crayon for the backgrounds and inks for the lettering. They were designed to reside on a single sheet, the first of the smaller non-ATC pieces done.

I am finally getting to the pieces that are on hold because they need "sheetmates" for lack of a better word. I needed to have most of the pieces designed before they could be rendered so I could figure out how to put them together. I do have about 125 of them designed, and just over the number of the praise albums stumping me. I now officially have more than a quarter of the project finished-if I don't get a move on I won't be finished until 2009. Of course I don't plan on having the project sit at a complete standstill for six months again either.

Useless piece of information: while doing this I got acetone on the computer desk and now there is a lovely bubble in the finish. :-(

An Angora Goatlet

As you can see, I made something with the mohair-a little goat. :) He is needle felted, and I kept the locks to make him somewhat realistic. One of his eyes is bigger than the other but I think he is still pretty cute. This is the second piece I've needlefelted, and I managed to poke myself a number of times-good thing I got a tetanus shot last fall.

I am going to give him to the lady that gave me the mohair-I figure she must like goats since she has one...I also want to make a little bag or box for it, and am thinking I will wet felt that. I am going to dye the fibre for it-and I will probably comb the fibres to prepare them-OooO.

I got myself some mini combs and have been spinning up some of the mohair into a laceweight yarn. I have to admit that though the spinning is enjoyable, it is more a means to an end-I have to do something with all the fibre I am combing. I love combing! I can't explain it. Maybe it goes back to childhood and brushing doll hair, I don't know. It can become very rhythmic and therapeutic anyway. I didn't want to abandon the combing to eat and sleep for the first few days for heaven's sake. I never claimed to be a normal person.

No Doubt

Hey I'm on a roll with CIP-and I even managed to get the foot high grass cut in between. Here is the 49th:



No Doubt, pencil crayon

I have often said this is the most tear-jerky song Petra ever wrote. However the last line of the chorus is one I've often pondered and I think is quite profound in it's simplicity. This particular piece is a representation of that line. I wanted to severely crop the hand so it would look a bit odd and hopefully focus on that little seed.

Oh and the line is: "After all is done we find out all we really need to have is no doubt." I thought of holding on to faith (no doubt) through many years and to the detriment of everything else. At first I wanted to draw a scrap which could look worn and old like it had been held on to through hell, but then I thought I should go to more traditional symbolism of the seed. I still dunno if I should have done that though...well I'm good at second guessing.

With completion of this piece I can now delete the 25 pictures I took of my hand with the macro lens from my camera. That will leave only the piccies of the tiles for Magic Words; since I need spray laquer I can't get to that one yet.

Send Revival...

My dedication to CIP (and dressing and bathing and getting out of bed-you know life in general) is reviving. So I am trying hard right now to crack the 50 mark, and in the last couple of days I've completed four pieces, bringing me to a so-close 47. Yes I know then I'll only have 150 songs left...I seem to have miscounted as I keep turning up with 203-206 depending on which songs I include, rather than the former 211. I don't know if I pulled that number out of my rear end or what.

I am unhappy that I will have to move into abstract expressionist territory with most of the praise songs (that is like 30 songs) as they have no real concepts to work with. PPII in particular is giving me trouble; that I have not completed a single song from that album is pretty telling.
This is one of the ones I did indeed have a concept for, abstract yeah, but still somewhat figurative if you look closely enough. I do hope Bob is not an iconoclast...well I am going to stick with my theory that he is a Lutheran which will make it alright. This was originally a sketch in a journal about total depravity (yes I wrote an illustrated book about depravity-it doesn't look as bad as you might think) of Isaiah's vision, which was quoted in the song.


Send Revival Start With Me, watercolour.

Homeless Few

I used a few techniques on this one. Inks, paints and oils distressed the cardboard. The figure is drawn on bond paper which was then oiled and covered in sepia ink in the back (the back of the drawing is the front of the piece if that makes sense). I painted the colours in inks and chalks with acrylic for the white, and also painted the other side of the piece white to bring the figure to the fore. The piece is applied to the cardboard with matte gel medium.
Though it is predominantly brown, as one can see it does include blue and an orangy-red, as per my scheme. :)
While the line "under the red white and blue" is a specifically American reference, they certainly haven't cornered the market on callousness, so I created a ragged patchwork of various red white and blue flags trying to cover and obscure the problem of inconvenient persons. Of course the cardboard signifies the way we view so many people in our society as disposable.

Counsel of the Holy

Wisdom shouts in the street,
She lifts her voice in the square;
At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings...

Counsel of the Holy, Chalk Pastel.

I was apprehensive about the pastel at first because of it's inherent messyness, but its weakness is also it's strength (blendability) so I went ahead, prepared for a few do-overs. Fortunately it worked out the first time. I didn't blend the outer edges of blue, hoping to suggest the rough texture of a stone wall as Wisdom is meant to be standing at a gate at the "head of the street". I still don't know how well that worked.

I of course also maintained the complementary scheme I have chosen for the album.

My first inclination was to make Wisdom as a nude, and in fact the original sketch she is wearing only the head covering which struck me as funny and therefore not what I wanted to do. I decided to add clothing but maintain the shape of the body, suggesting a sheerness of the dress. Seemed like a good compromise to me. She holds in her hand a lamp (yes that is what it is). It is based on a specific style I have used in the past as illustration for Old Testament concepts, to suggest that wisdom is a revelation of God-as the scripture indeed is.

I've had the hankering to work more lately, so perhaps I'll add to the project more frequently. I always work in fits and starts anyway...and I still don't have any good ideas for those stupid praise songs.

Mohair, Mothere

Upon arising this afternoon (hey I'm up all night when do you think I sleep?) I found a bag of mohair in my house. Just sitting there, waiting for me to see it.

It didn't just magically appear from the fibre fairies-and I find it is good to have alternative connections, as the fairies have proven themselves to be quite unreliable-apparently it does come from a real live local goat. Some people my mom knows were shearing their older angora goat; it's hair is too old to be used for garments, so they have given some of it to me (via mama). I have been given much odder presents than this in the past (i.e. porcupine) so I appreciate it very much.


I've never worked with mohair of any type before, so I have been doing a little internet research. I found that mohair takes dyes quite beautifully which is exciting, especially since it is about time to haul out the dye stuff.
I'm not entirely sure how I will use it, though I do know it needs to be combed or carded to get the plant materials out-it has been scoured apparently. Maybe I will felt it or spin it for non-garment use. It is rather itchy, but the inner crow notices it is also rather shiny and wants to touch it anyway-it has more sheen than I expected at least.


I was looking at pictures of the goats while I was searching and now I want one, they are adorable. I've also heard they can be aggressive; they might keep annoying people out of our yard, including the hellions.

Oh and the shoes I've been waiting for finally came, that is them in the corner of the first pic. Shoes + fibre=happiness.

Athanasius out of exile...for awhile

I haven't had so much to post (as usual) as I am spending too much time lurking at other people's blogs, and not doing anything constructive. I did make a dress last night, first thing I've actually done in a while.

Soon all of my supplies for Athanasius will be here, and I can get to work on that. I bought some lovely silk noil (raw silk) for him-It is nice and heavy, and not as slubby as is normal. I am hoping the paintstiks will work overtop of it.

As I have often said, all the deadliest poisons make the greatest art supplies. To that end, I must get out the evil poisonous chrome so I can mordant and dye the underpiece. Yes I am one of those pernicious miscreants who uses chrome! That level of depravity does indeed exist. A walking testimony against Pelagius, that's what dyers who use chrome are.

Anyway, I don't think I ever posted it, but this was the compromise I came to in the design:



The flow is a bit improved, which I needed to bring the eye back to the trefoil. Plus, I still will be able to have my crop (well after a fashion). The earth will likely not be that dark; photoshop rendered it darker than I liked as it recedes a little too much. The background should also be darker if all goes well and the chrome does not kill me-this time. I already know that is how I will die-it's just a question of when and whether I'll get the latest art project done before it happens.

I don't like the way his face turned out in this rendition and will try to go closer to the original rendering when I do it. I've never used paintstiks before, only unarchival oil paint-I do hope the application goes well on that slubby texture!

I fear I may have gotten a tad ambitious with the idea, so we'll have to see how it decides to turn out.

Augustine and other things

Of all the things that have been eating up my time for the last long while, I only have one left-my final practicum. I simply can't wait until I'm finished with it all, I'm going to take a vacation and do nothing but sleep. :)

I did start up with CIP again, finishing three songs from one of their lesser loved albums, God Fixation. Yes, I am indeed still determined to finish! I got going on the main work of the piece, St Augustine's Pears (and no his face isn't that much darker than his hands; the piece is a little warped):




I recently read the Confessions, (from which I used two quotations at my dad's funeral-mom would not allow me to use Athanasius' wonderfully powerful and polemic On the Incarnation-I told her if she's still around when I die, I TOTALLY want Athanasius read! I think I'll put that in my will, as I don't want anyone making the mistake of declaring death natural or good at mine, and I will haunt anyone who says I have gone home!) anyway, I noticed that many of Bob's songs have kind of an Augustinian bent, so I decided to make this a bit of a centrepiece in terms of time and work spent.

This is an egg tempera work, based on modern coptic iconography (not as creepy as normal iconography). I gessoed the panel, mixed the paint et al myself, so it was rather labour intesive compared to what I normally do. I made some intentional "mistakes" to maintain imperfection in the piece. I think it turned out reasonably, considering that it is the second tempera piece I have completed. Tempera is a crazy behaving medium, no wonder oil became so popular when it was introduced!
I may still fiddle a little bit...

Help Me Up

The last intelligible thing my dad ever said to us. Not a profound or deep soliloquy like in the movies, just simple "help me up." So we raised the head of his bed like he liked it.
He had already said all he needed to say.

Goodbye.

(unhappy face here)

Depression isn't all it's cracked up to be. You know with so many people being depressed and on zoloft these days, you'd think it must be so great. Or at least so cool. Here's a news flash: that's so not true.

Alright, I'm not posting anything because I'm not really doing anything. Personal care. Being driven crazy by well meaning people in denial and yelling at them. But not much else.

I did get a nice surprise though, in the form of my self portrait quilt being published by Quilting Arts (in the spring issue). I'm less psyched about that than I was when I discovered my piece had been chosen to tour. Most of the people I know are more excited than I am about it.
So I thought maybe I'm a little out of sorts over everything that is happening, and that's been the state of my life for the last while. I don't really feel like doing much and I'll just have to wait until I feel better. I work too much on whims and fancies. Ah well, that's what being temperamental is all about.

I did some decos the other day and that improved my mood a little. So once the family is no longer taking over my house like a giant speading fungus of destruction, maybe I will get to work on Athanasius. I have decided how he will look and just need to get around to the actual work. I also am starting work on CIP again, after a fairly long hiatus in the project. I am working on Augustine now. It's slow going, but I still intend to finish.

Sometimes things just take a little longer.

Athanasius Contra Mundum

Anyone who knows me is aware that when the new heavens and earth have come, and I am in the City of God, I am going to make a journey to find two people. The first is Jeremiah; I feel so kindred with him. The second, Athanasius, is just one of my absolute heros.

I decided to make a piece of Athanasius on a bit of a whim, and I thought I might document a piece from the beginning to end here. So yeah I'm still in the sketch stage with this one, working out a conundrum already.
The original idea that came to me was of his face severely cropped in half, with three interlocked circles behind him. I know that is technically bad composition, so I drew the entire face. Everyone who has looked at it so far (that being mama and dad) has liked the full face version; I still want it cropped. Once I decide what I will do, then I can start working on the full version of it.
All two of you who may occasionally view the blog may weigh in if you like; which version is more pleasing to you?

Here is the full sketch (yes the left eye is wonky because I figured since it wasn't going to be in the finished piece, I could be lazy with it) :




This is how it would look cropped like I want (with some things moved to fit):



I *really* want to work a coptic style textile into the background. I am thinking I'll work a fair amount of metallics into it as well, and I just know I will swear alot at it for insisting it must have them.

Dawn of Kitsch

I love the internet! You can find some intriguing people and philosophies that you never would have guessed existed. Yeah there's a lot of junk, but there are some nuggets worthy of consideration there too.

On the creative front, I found the site of Odd Nerdrum to be a very interesting read. Not that I necesarily agree with them, but certainly an unusual theory on 'art'. I'm going to guess they aren't big fans of Kant...

The basic line of thought on what the "kitschpainters" call art is proving to be more prominent than I would have expected as I dig around. I've said it for years, and obviously so have many others; the modern and postmodern eras are pretty much over, and being assailed ever more. I suppose once the modern became the very establishment it meant to topple, doom was assured. We are in a transition period these days, and an uncertain future awaits. I don't think we can predict what changes will come yet, though it is apparent some return to skill will be part of it. Perhaps the 21st century will indeed be the dawn of Kitsch.

Quotable:
Do not allow Art to retain its moral authority over ability.

No more pictures for awhile...

I am cursed when it comes to digital cameras. Mom lost one and I just totalled the second one...in less than six months! They need to start making technology Moore-proof.