Looking Glass

Thomas Traherne Said...

"Your enjoyment of the world is never right, till every morning you awake in Heaven; see yourself in your Father's Palace; and look upon the skies and earth, and the air as Celestial Joys:  having such a reverend esteem of all, as if you were among the Angels."

This may be my favorite quotation ever, or least one of my favorites.  I have tried to imagine how to present this thought in art.  Any ideas? 

Take Off Your Shoes (or whatever you like)

This nude study was painted in Photoshop with a mouse.  I have tried using a tablet, but it does not feel as pleasing as use of the mouse - it almost creates one too many barriers between me and the work.   I am still working on this image but decided to post it because it fits the first full day of spring.  Remember being allowed to pull off your shoes and socks and run through the grass on the first warm day of spring?  I do.  In fact, it is one of my fondest memories of childhood.  I realize that posting this nude study is an adult equivalent.  What could be more liberating than to image the warmth of human flesh reflecting in the radiance of light?  

I have always found the human body to be a most entertaining subject.  I remember art school when we first sketched nudes.  Some guys in the class were making jokes until the instructor gave them one of the best lectures I have ever heard about how the artist does not flinch or judge the subject and to do so is just immaturity.  I can't remember it all, but it certainly shut up the clowns.  After everyone got through squirming, we rather forgot an individual human being was posed before us with no clothing on.  The bodies were sometimes lovely and sometimes not so lovely as interesting, but, either way, the shame of nudity departed with the desire to reproduce or express the image.  I knew then that text would be created on computers in years to come, but it never crossed my mind that one day I would be painting digital skin. 

I found a Computer Arts tutorial on painting digital skin, but I have not yet worked with it.  I look forward to seeing the difference the technique used there will make.  The creative capacity of painting digital skin is rather liberating -  like taking off your shoes and feeling the warm grass beneath your cramped winter-worn feet. 

Below is a variation, more cyan, which I believe to be a most complimentary color for most shades of skin.

 

Holy Week/Easter Postcard

This is the postcard I designed for Emmanuel's Holy Week and Easter events.  This image was originally designed in more vibrant colors - dark turquoise and corals - but I changed the color scheme to more pastels for Easter. 

A New Exit Strategy

Comically sad, odd things happen in my church on a regular basis (what we call Dibley Moments named for a flavor similar to the English comedy "Vicar of Dibley").  One of my favorite memories is of a regularly attending new visitor who came dressed in a witch costume for the Sunday closest to Halloween and All Saints, complete with tall, black hat.  Some of the more conservative members pierced their lips, crossed their arms and acted as if Lucifer would appear at any moment to claim possession of the property.  I knew I loved our rector's wife when she smiled and admonished the judgmental to relax, saying she rather liked the flair with which the visitor pulled it off.

But despite all of our small church, small Southern town eccentric behavior I was shocked by a story that appeared in the St. Petersburg Times about a woman who told her friends at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church that she was dying of cancer just to get away from them.  This just beat all (as we say Down South).  

The woman had attended the church for two years and sang in the choir.  She fabricated an illness that  lasted 11 months, including hospice updates and a final report of death from her "sister" who planned to ship her body north for a funeral. 

It looks to me like she would have been home free but for the fact she attended her own memorial service at the church, identifying herself as her sister.   A suspicious choir member contacted the local sheriff who found the woman at home and quite alive.  She reported to the sheriff's department that she had attachment problems rooted in childhood trauma which caused her to fake her death to withdraw from the church.  

I don't know why - call me curious - but there is a "rest of the story" here we aren't getting.  I ponder what it might be as I hum "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover" and wonder why she didn't leave well enough alone and skip the memorial service.   

Remembering Mary Magdalene

In the March 2007 issue of Episcopal Life two of my favorite Episcopal women, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Phoebe Griswold, are interviewd in an article entitled "Faith, feminism and women's work". 

At the conclusion of the interview EL asks:

"Margaret Mead said, 'never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.  Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.'  Was she right?"

GRISWOLD:  "Yes.  I think 12 men did a pretty fabulous job way back then under Jesus - the disciples - and I'd call that a small group of people.  Do I think that this small group of Episcopal women can affect change?  Yeah.  Along with others."

JEFFERTS SCHORI:  "It wasn't just 12 men.  Mary Magdalene started it."

GRISWOLD:  "Thank you!  Thank you, Katharine Jefferts Schori." 

Since I was a Baptist child I have been attached to Mary Magdalene like no other character in the Bible.  No one taught me to venerate this saint; it just accidentally (?) happened.  As I grew older and had similar spiritual experiences to those she had I grew to have a deeper desire to learn from her and seek her intercession.  I have longed to see her respected in the institutional church for the faithful and courageous disciple she was.  I never thought I'd see the day her contribution was acknowledged in the institutional church, but, then again, I never thought I would see a woman head a major denomination. 

Jefferts Schori's and Griswold's affirmation of Mary Magdalene would make me want to be an Episcopalian if I were not already. 

Altar Art

During this season of Lent when we use only greenery on the altar I find myself looking back at photos of flower arrangements from the past few years and remembering the events surrounding the creation of particular arrangements.  This altar art made of camellias and freesia was a joint venture between myself and my friend, Linda.  We enjoy doing things a little differently (to the consternation of those who want things to be predictable and in keeping with the way it has always been done), so we look for unexpected groupings, surprises for God on the altar.   

These camellias came from the side yard of my office, and the terracotta pot (with a grape motif) seemed appropriate for the alter.  We put together the arrangement in the church kitchen and just swooned over the draping beauty of the flowers as they came together.  Even though either of us can do arrangements alone, we enjoy sharing the experience of placing one branch, then another and standing back to survey where another shape or color is needed.  Finally we stand back and say "perfect!" at the same time.  While often we swear the flowers have never been so lovely, some arrangements remain more vivid in our memories.  This is one of those, and it is full of good memories.