(He has Risen) & All the Earth Rejoices

Detail
(He has risen) & All the Earth Rejoices

My intention was to have this drawing finished for last Sunday, the Easter Sunday I celebrate but alas I wasn’t able to finish in time.

My drawing board last week, Easter Sunday

Instead, now completed,  it will commemorate Orthodox Easter, a celebration I favor anyway for its solemnity (and general absence of bunnies).  My intention with this drawing was to integrate my Christian faith with the old gods, the Greenmen and earth spirits that I revere in near equal measure. Greenmen of course our hard to resist , I doodle them aimlessly, I have them painted on my walls and on my ceilings,

Artist’s home decoration

and I turn to them time and again (and they seem in to turn to me) . Just the other morning, from one of my numerous monarchial email updates, I received an “invitation” to Charles III upcoming coronation. Its design is  charming, traditional yet bright and optimistic, a cheerful herald to this new Carolean Age ( may it be splendid and hopeful).   The design not only delighted me but inspired with its Greenman theme.

To add further inspiration, walking home from church during Holy Week I noticed for the first time these foliate faced fellows peering down at me. Greenmen it would be then, the perfect symbol of the Earth rejoicing . 

detail Greenman

(He has Risen) & All the Earth Rejoices
2023
Graphite and colored pencil , gouache on illustration board
15 by 30 inches

 

I was further inspired by the earth’s awakening here in Chicago. It is still barren for the most part, but tender shoots are appearing ; the daffodils have been in bloom for some time and the tulips are gathering their courage. It is that period of opposites, fresh blossoms popping from the bones of autumn,  of vivid chartreuse and dull earth- dull, cracked and crazed earth, broken by the vitality just beneath the surface.

If Man is by nature a maker of patterns, he learns that art by Nature herself, I hoped to capture that in this detail.

detail

And that is that. Happy Easter to my Orthodox sister and her family , to my Orthodox friends and in general, happy spring and all that new beginnings offer.

(He has Risen) & All the Earth Rejoices
2023
Graphite and colored pencil , gouache on illustration board
15 by 30 inches

New drawing: Vivisection of the Seraphim

The Vivisection of the Seraphim
2023
color pencil and gouache on toned illustration board
15 by 19 inches

 

Today’s drawing : “Vivisection of the Seraphim “, pencil and gouache on toned illustration board, 15 by 19 inches .

 

 

A friend recently mentioned that she didn’t believe in the existence of the Soul . This set me back a bit , I’ve heard this argument before , heretical from my position , that the soul, not actually something sacred but instead an entanglement of the nervous system. This materialistic perspective nonetheless upset me a great deal, leading me to uncomfortable rumination. Given its Holy Week and reflecting upon the soul appropriate, this image ultimately made its appearance.

The cold , hard science worship of our age with its mechanical “logical” detachment, cannot adequately discern the essence of a soul . For the Trust-the-Science crowd , such close scrutiny of the sacred would be as fruitless and as brutal as dissecting an Angel – you’d be left with little aside from disenchantment and some bloody feathers .

The soul is ineffable , wilting under the demands of the empiricist , but I have faith in it and the fact that you cannot be an artist without one.

 

Speaking of the intangible , the conventional depiction of the Seraphim , here illustrated from the Petite Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry, conveys the fragility of their nature. I attempted to capture that shredded-butterfly-wing tragedy in my drawing.

 

Details of my drawing follows :

Detail, Vivisection of the Seraphim

Detail, Vivisection of the Seraphim

Sending forth warm Passover and Easter greetings.

The Vivisection of the Seraphim
2023
color pencil and gouache on toned illustration board
15 by 19 inches

Plate 41, returning to the Desert of Tears

I find myself wandering creatively , not always a positive place to be in, especially if one feels lost. I feel a bit lost.

In poring over files I stumbled upon a bit of text I hadn’t recognized, yet I felt it perfectly evoked how I create, the random layering of pattern, image, reference . But who wrote it? After a bit of sleuthing through further files I discovered I’d written it. First questioning the state of my memory I was pleased I had saved this snippet. I will have to review it more closely  but I feel upon initial reading  it will easily integrate into a project I’d set aside, Saint Anthony & the Desert of Tears.

The mystery text follows:

Saint Anthony and the Desert of Tears

Once in a land of overripe fruit a fair young man  realized  he had his fill.

This realm of weariness overcame him, his joys soured, the jams curdled, the birds no longer sang; his  morning daemons stayed for tea.

He tossed aside his pretty things. His brocaded grass of green  cope caterpillar velvet plush  a cocoon of  downy miniver; his linen smock that butterfluttered embroidery ever so clever with fleas  centipedes and  mites, his coif that glittered metallic verdure as pompously  as the proud  Junebug, these , his treasures, his jewels, his bedazzlements he tossed aside; hair pantaloons would have to do.

Of delicacies he had no stomach, crepes as light as seraphim breath sat heavy as unctuous fog, gentle honeysuckle dew gathered with fairy care he could not bear; rook tossed spelten loaf would have to do.

His chambers swaddled in diapered  tapestry and  brocaded opal plush,  carpets as tender as mole moss ached his swollen sole and tormented flesh, bone and marrow; he must breath to gulp the word , the desert cave would have to do.

With staff and skull young Anthony set forth sandward.

Farewell fair Egyptland.

Artist as Daemon
Tuscon AZ
Christmas Day, 2017

So I’ve decided to return to my St.Anthony project , illustrating/illuminating St.Athanasius’ account of the third century desert father, Anthony/Antony. I randomly turned to verse 41:

Plate 41
“Life of St.Anthony”,
2023
graphite, colored pencil, gouache on toned paper
12 by 9 inches 

This passage, 41, features a woeful , self pitying Satan confronting a monk  (not clear if it is Anthony ) , bemoaning being misunderstood. It felt a natural place to return .

The passage follows :

41. “And since I have become a fool in detailing these things, receive this also as an aid to your safety and fearlessness; and believe me for I do not lie. Once some one knocked at the door of my cell, and going forth I saw one who seemed of great size and tall. Then when I enquired, “Who are you?” he said, “I am Satan ” Then when I said, “Why are you here?” he answered, “Why do the monks and all other Christians blame me undeservedly? Why do they curse me hourly?” Then I answered, “Wherefore do you trouble them?” He said, “I am not he who troubles them, but they trouble themselves, for I have become weak. Have they not read ,” “The swords of the enemy have come to an end, and you have destroyed the cities?” “I have no longer a place, a weapon, a city. The Christians are spread everywhere, and at length even the desert is filled with monks . Let them take heed to themselves, and let them not curse me undeservedly.” Then I marvelled at the grace of the Lord, and said to him:
“You who art ever a liar and never speakest the truth , this at length, even against your will, you have truly
spoken. For the coming of Christ has made you weak, and He has cast you down and stripped you.”
But he having heard the Saviour’s name, and not being able to bear the burning from it, vanished.”

Now onto other plates.

Plate 41
“Life of St.Anthony”,
2023
graphite, colored pencil, gouache on toned paper
12 by 9 inches

 

 

 

Six Weeks in Nowhereville

Six Weeks in Nowhereville
2023
Graphite, gouache, ink on toned illustration board
15 by 19 inches

 

New work on paper , just off the drawing board. Inspired in part by our bumpy ride from LA to Chicago, the final move of all our worldly goods in a bladder destroying rented truck. From our high perch (which is cool, the big rig-ness  of it all) David, Viola and yours truly drove through some majestic landscapes. However the bleak desert  landscape between LA and Las Vegas has proven the most inspiring .

Forget the imperial mountainscapes frosted in white, the red stone canyons, the luminous sunsets (and rises) , what seeped into my brain (and pencil) were ice cream cone shaped stands, forlorn and abandoned in the sands, galleons left adrift amongst the chaparral , and the countless “Jackrabbit” shacks/homesteads, built with such enthusiasm and abandoned with such a heavy heart. Neon glitz and sham popped up like unwholesome mushrooms we approached Los Vegas.  From my bumpy perch I made short handed doodle-notes which trigger memory and move my pencil along.

Doodle note from our cross country move from LA to Chicago, Summer 2022

Detail: Six Weeks in Nowhereville

Detail :Six Weeks in Nowhereville

The following, an album from that four day trip, late July, early August 2023, I think the quick snapshots convey the nihilistic neon of this fascinating wasteland:

I wasn’t able to capture these peculiar and abandoned ice cream shops, but a google search revealed their history.

From bumpy rental truck to comfy home studio.

Jiminy Muerte

Six Weeks in Nowhereville
2023
Graphite, gouache, ink on toned illustration board
15 by 19 inches

Epiphany 2023

Epiphany
2023
colored pencil, graphite, gouache on toned paper
9 by 12 inches

 

Today’s drawing , just in time for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. Hectic few days and I feared I wouldn’t finish in time . 👑👑👑”To offer gold is to proclaim Christ’s Kingship, to offer incense is to adore his Godhead, and to offer myrrh is to acknowledge his mortality “ Saint Odilo of Cluny. I offer this drawing .

🌟Wishing a joyous Epiphany🌟

Epiphany
2023
colored pencil, graphite, gouache on toned paper
9 by 12 inches

 

Evergreen, Tempus fugit & happy 2023

detail “Evergreen”, 2023

Happy new year, I send out wishes for a year of renewal,optimism and rebirth.

I start the new year with a new drawing that I spontaneously called Evergreen. I had hoped for it to be the last drawing of 2022 but there are so many hours in a day. I finished up moments ago, so happy 2023.

Evergreen
2023
colored pencil, graphite and gouache on toned paper
24 by 18 inches

It is a continued exploration of otherworld, underworlds, pointy forms, death and rebirth, renewal and fir trees ( a friend pointed the fir tree forms out , aware of my fondness for Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Fir Tree ).

Detail “Evergreen”

 

Detail “Evergreen”

 This affinity for renewal isn’t new of course but does add a hint of optimism to my usual obsession over memento mori- the serpent devouring its own tale, a well known allegorical symbol , sprouts new growth .

Another recurrent theme is that of pointed forms, be they vaguely Gothic or conifer.

Detail : “Vein Creator Spiritus”

Even millinery is nearly always pointed:

Detail self portrait

The other day one of my drawings started incorporating this pointed fir tree / hermitage theme which I plan on exploring further.

Mr.Punch’s Leviathan
2022
colored pencil and gouache on toned paper
11 by 8 inches

No great revelations , nothing terribly profound, but a pause before the busying of a new beginning and the ever present reminder of the passage of sand.  At the moment my sweet old lady pug Viola is suffering from some sort of cough, an appointment scheduled but poor creature needs my attention . 

With that,

Happy New Year

💀🌱

detail “Evergreen”, 2023
Tempus fugit

Closing Chapters

 

Resurrection of the Father
2015
watercolor on paper

The last of my drawings for my Popol vuh commission have been satisfied.

I should feel a sense of relief but in truth I feel a sense of disappointment, of hopes once bright , now dimmed a bit. I am not sure where this project, one in which I have invested so much energy into , will go. Perhaps its just the creativity bubble bursting a bit.

What I had understood to be a project slated for publication after I had completed my commission  now seems in limbo. The publisher suggested by the poet  I found to be lacking in creativity and vision  with no apparent back up option-given the publisher was a pay-to-play  publisher was disappointing as well.

But that seems to be the reality. I am now in the position of needing to find a publisher , to pay or to not, willing to publish this heavily illustrated tome. To be honest I feel sick to my stomach but I have put so much into these drawings to just allow them to be stashed away into a folio seems too great a defeat. I also feel ill-equipped and inadequate to the task

So I will begin researching , I dislike feeling  a bit alone in this but from recent exchanges I fear the poet and I now have different intentions for the project. My initial understanding of the collaboration was a shared enthusiasm for Blake, inspiring a  universalist, humanistic approach to this distinctly Maya creation myth, an uplifting  celebration in the Jos. Campbell “Hero with a Thousand Faces” vein. It now seemingly more activist, too anti-Western Christendom in approach than I’d prefer.

 

 

 

There is profound relief in at last being free of the Xibalban Underworld, C.S.Lewis, in describing the creation of his Screwtape Letters  dwelt upon the  difficulty of being immersed in such darkness. The last year or so of trickster demons, their wanton cruelty, the viciousness of unwholesome, perverse gods and the relentless bloody sacrifices has had a similar darkening upon my soul. I’m eager to emerge into the light.

 

That said, the  following are the images for the tacked on poems to our Popol vuh.

Poem Images:

Scepter 1967

Mi Finca

The Owls Return to Xibalba

The Jungle Path to Xibalba

All Their Lord’s Hearts
(terrible photograph)

Stampede

Epilogue, the Daykeeper’s Sermon, Circa 1520
(perhaps my favorite drawing)

Chapter headers, the theme being puppetry and nursery amusements:

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII
(my favorite of the chapter headers )

I am going to take some time away from thinking about this project, but not so much that I can wish it away. Just an opportunity to rekindle inspiration, to aflame motivation. David and I are tentatively planning a trip to Mexico City, with old gods underfoot and new above that just may do the trick.

Resurrection of the Father
2015
watercolor on paper