A legend told by several Native American tribes goes something like this (both the picture and the words are my own interpretation): When the world was new and no one yet knew their place, God decided to divide Man from the other animals. He set Man on one side of a line and the rest of the animal kingdom on the other. Then he spoke and the line began to crack open. Soon it was a chasm, separating Man from all the rest. At the very last moment, just as the chasm was becoming impossibly wide, Dog made a rebel…
Category: Religion
St. Guinefort the Greyhound. Revisited. This is about 1,000 times better than the version I posted the other day. IMHO, this is another moment of hitting my stride. Only trouble is that “my stride” seems to involve one of the slowest, most blindingly tedious mediums in all artdom: colored pencil. Technically, this is mixed media, but mostly colored pencil, which means mostly hours spent scribbling layer upon layer to build up nuanced color and to fill spaces that a paintbrush could knock out in seconds. Most other artwork I’ve posted has taken two or three hours. This required the better…
It was a rain day on the Great Foundation and Screen Porch Project. No work. Sigh. Boy, the fits and starts of this thing. Supposed to rain tomorrow, too, so we shall see. That at least gave me the chance to get my rusty self back to the art table. I was going to draw a dog-as-pope. … although I thought this hound had more papal majesty. While looking for a good canine pontiff, I — for reasons unknown — found a doggie bantito mixed in with the pope images. Rather liked that guy. I suppose that image is politically…
Ed. note: It appears that the blogosaurus I’ve been trying to work on is simply not going to come together. At least not any time before the heat death of the universe. Because the subject will not leave my mind and because I think I’m onto something even if I can’t express that something without coming across as a total moonbat, I’m going to dump its raw material (and its few completed bits) on you. Perhaps the standard Wise and Insightful Commentariat Discussion will bring the order and sense to it that I could not. Here goes: —– The link…
“Mary: Unfinished.” Acrylic on Gessobord, 8×10″. The picture is unfinished. I still need to rework the dark side of her face. UPDATE 4/7: I’ve now corrected and finished the dark half of her face. But “Mary: Unfinished” is still the title. (Here’s the originally posted version for comparison. The new one is more correct; I find the earlier version more interesting, though.) My original concept was an impoverished, weary, disappointed Mary (yes, perhaps that Mary). The backstory is that a more prosperous, light-hearted friend has tried to cheer her up by loaning her a bright, beaded collar and letting her…
I was feelin’ poorly yesterday. Though I managed to evade the cold that was trying to catch me, body and mind felt slow and stupid. I ended up climbing back into bed and, with eyes too tired for the computer, tried to read the vast heap o’ books that’s been building by the bedside. Inspired by a friend, I’ve gotten into reading about Eastern Orthodox spirituality, which led in turn to Gnostic spirituality. Religion to me is as fascinating as it is opaque, as compelling as it is impossible. But I keep hoping something will eventually make sense, that an…