Parker Duofold Big Red was produced from 1921 through the 1940's. 

A fountain pen is a beautiful thing, and the Big Red is one worthy of being pampered and driven.  The owner of a pen he cherishes does not want another to write with it because a stranger's hand can alter and distort the angle of the nib.  When the owner writes with the virgin pen he and the pen share an alchemical energy that is like no other.  How can this personal stroke be described?  The hand and the pen become part of the same flow through a highly creative and intimate type of expression.

If you have ever owned a virgin pen, you know the value of such a flow. 

Episcopal Church & Visual Arts (ECVA) has moved its art blog, Sketchbook, and renamed it Image & Spirit.  In the new format I will be working on the blog with my friends, Brie Dodson and Robin Janning.  This blog was originally created to provide a community spot for artists, and a place to celebrate the liturgical seasons.  Artists will be invited to contribute work, so let us hear from you.

The logo above is from the Image & Spirit header which I designed. 

Episcopal Computer Consulting is a new business with lots of know how.  Founded by an Episcopal priest, David Bateman, EEC offers consulting services to churches for computer record-keeping systems.  I am honored that the company is using my logo, Seek First, created for the ECUSA Image Shop for its on-line presence.  Check it out and see all the services EEC offers.

I plan to submit three self portraits for the ECVA Call "Portraits of the Self", and, oddly, this might be my favorite because it feels more like me than the others.   

It is a tough thing when a self portrait reveals something about yourself that you do not see every day.  I guess it means that when we approach a mirror, we must arrange our expressions to suit what we want to see.  But  unarranged, as we wander through this life, others see what we think we hide.  My eyes startle me, revealing in little digits scattered across space a puzzled soul dying of thirst.  It was not planned, but how appropriately passionate for Good Friday. 

The cross I wear in this image was planned.  The original of the digital painting from which this threshold was made has a pendant, not a cross, around my neck.  But since it is Good Friday, the holiest day of the Christian year, I wear a cross to observe the day.  This may be all that is left of my faith on this great and terrible holy day when Jesus, too, asked God why he had been foresaken.   Closer to home, Mother Teresa, feeling abandoned by God, continued to believe by force of will.  She would understand the gesture and approve.