This frigid January day finds me working on a number of pieces. I’m rotating them out to let the paint dry and to keep myself engaged. Doing this also gives me time to mentally work through any problems that I run into as I’m painting.
The detail of the ship is for an art festival I’ll be participating in. It’s in Albuquerque in March and I’ll be bringing this and a van load of other paintings to sell, many of which haven’t been completed (or started) yet. I’m having fun with these feathers. I think I’m going to carve up that wood, too.
These last two details are from a pair of constellations I’m working on for my church, and they’re supposed to convey the main themes of the book of Mark. I’m still not sure whether they’re going to work or not, but I think I’m getting close.
My idea is to illustrate the difference between the Messiah the Jews expected and the Messiah that actually came, highlighting those differences through use of imagery and color and line. I used the same star field for both of these paintings, but the oak and the acorn use different stars to make up their constellations – the larger, brighter stars make up the oak, and the smaller, less significant stars make up the acorn. As I said, a work in progress.
On a side note, after I worked up the tree I decided I like painting constellations and so I’m going to do a quick series of them. Not real constellations, of course. Fake ones.