REDEMPTION, LIGHT OF THE WORLD

This is just finished. I'm entering a show at a local Franciscan retreat and the theme is "Beauty from Ashes". This painting 3' x4'. Not only does the theme fit the beauty that comes from God's plan of salvation into the ashes of our lives, but the materials are redeemed too! This is framed with an old frame that I once used for papermaking years ago. The board is covered with old canvas, much of the paint is leftover from a project at church. Talk about redemption! Saving the lost as well! I started with inks and I am attempting to adapt my new mixed media style to working on canvas. I think my nephew Karl would agree that this is numinous. And perfervid also! That's your vocabulary builder for the day!

FALL 3

FALL 2

This one has a little glare but I think it reflects the glow of the moment!

FALL 1

This is the first in a series of 6x6 landscapes with fall colors as the focus.

ENIGMA VARIATION #14

This is the last one in the series.

ENIGMA VARIATION #13

ENIGMA VARIATION #12

Two more after this, thanks for looking.

ENIGMA VARIATION #11

This one's a little more pastel, obviously!

ENIGMA VARIATION #10

ENIGMA VARIATION #9

This is the first long vertical in the series.

ENIGMA VARIATION #8

Now the variations start going horizontal and vertical.

ENIGMA VARIATION #7

ENIGMA VARIATION #6

ENIGMA VARIATION #5

ENIGMA VARIATION #4

ENIGMA VARIATION #3

ENIGMA VARIATION #2

ENIGMA VARIATION 1

This is the first of a series. I can't take credit for the name. It's taken from music by Edward Elgar written in 1899- I just read that he did 14 variations (Wikipedia says 13). So far there are 14 pieces in my series! I don't even know the music, but I've always been captivated by the title. It seems so descriptive of life itself. We've all got our own variations on the enigmas of life. For some of us, faith seems to help us accept and even embrace the enigmas~ even when the puzzle pieces don't fit. Well, maybe ESPECIALLY when the puzzle pieces don't fit!

ELUSIVE EQUATION 1

This is an extension of a series I called Hidden Arithmetic that I did in 2003. Here's what I wrote about it back then:

The “Hidden Arithmetic” series has an abstract focus on scenes in the Michigan woods. I’m reminded of how God numbers the stars and the hairs on our heads. Psalm 139:16-17 says: “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.” My father recently died at the age of 88 years, 6 months and three days. The mysteries of God’s varying plans for his children and the numbers of ways that he teaches us and blesses enter in as I ponder the ever-changing compositions and arrangements in the woods. Psalm 90:12 says: “Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are: help us to spend them as we should.” It’s arithmetic that’s hidden from us, but we can trust his calculation.

ELUSIVE EQUATION 2