New Notebook

A friend of mine just had a birthday, and I sent this to him as a present. It is one of my favorite pieces I've ever created. The iconography is based in eastern mysticism and the process of enlightenment, which reflects my recent reading about Christianity from a non-western, pre-Enlightenment context.

The front is about the enlightenment process in its eternal context. I chose to depict that as a growing tree spanning a horizon line, illuminated by the rising suns and moons. I painted the tree with a technique that combines deliberate human effort with randomness and chaos. I didn’t premeditate those lines. Instead, I threw ink and then used air to force it up the page. This means that the shape of the tree is determined by repetition and focused energy, where the ink follows its own path along the paper. It took a great deal of meditative practice for me to be able to control the paint by not controlling it.


In addition, trees represent continuity as well as seasonal change. They represent transformation in that they convert earth (dirt) into living, breathing matter with energy from the sun. The tree crosses the horizon line that divides earth and sky, material and spirit. The tree carries light from one opposite to the other, as learning and study does. As people growing into enlightenment, we cross that horizon line, too, moving from material to spirit by constantly reaching in prayer and study.


The sun is the source of energy for all living things, and the moon reflects that energy. I once saw a time-lapse photograph of the rising moon, and I recreated that here. I saw the rise as a marked process. I also put sun and moon in the sky at the same time—both rising, both present—for timelessness and completeness.

The back is a little more abstract, but so are the ideas of energy, connection, process, prayer that I sought to represent. I drew each of these gold circles slowly, because that gold ink is difficult to apply. This kind of repeated motion and concentration has meditative connotations. Circles are powerful spiritual symbols and concentric ones even more so. The rings are stacked inside each other to represent different stages of prayer and the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit, as well as the interconnectedness of people to each other. The centers of the circles represent the different focal points of prayer, and if you feel the back of the book, you can still feel the grooves I made with my own energy in the painting of it--like the physical representations of repeated prayers.

Leaving 2009

It’s an oak, I think, outside my door

It, too, has had enough of this year

In two days, two months late,

Set itself aflame

A phoenix.

Impetuous

Prone to extremes

Withering transitions intolerable

It’s the only one left on the lane

With any green

With any leaves.

There’s no stopping it now

Two more days

Crimson, golden scales

Will launch

Drift

Land like fireworks.

In two more days

For two more months

Standing naked

Shameless

Greater in Spirit and Truth.

Christmas Presents

This year I made most of my gifts for family and friends. Below is a set of paintings Ben commissioned for his sister-in-law(He chose the colors) , and at the very bottom is a jewelry set I made for my sister. I'm really quite proud of these!

Acrylic, 12x12

Detail 1

Detail 2

Necklace, Bracelet, and Earrings, Ribbon Closure
turquoise and silver glass

Christmas Traditions

Each year, my mom buys us a Hallmark ornament to commemorate something important to us from the year, or because the ornament shows one of our favorite things. We are each responsible for hanging our respective set of ornaments on the three. Some ornaments have a lost history, resulting in the occasional fight over ownership. These ornaments, however, have unmistakable owners.

Dad's. Obviously.

Mine, from the year I declared an English Major

Lindsay's, from the year she got Baron--her blond, deranged spaniel

Mine, from my year as captain on the Drumline

Tim's, because the kid carried a blanket until high school (not really.)

Christmas Lovelies

My mom was Real Life's Christmas Decoration task force this year, and it spilled over into her home. She put up three trees and put Martha Stewart to shame with the present wrapping. All of her Christmas festivity was so lovely I couldn't resist taking photos.

Teaching Statement of Purpose

Students,

I am here to encourage you in your search for truth or help you begin it;
To refine your capabilities of discernment and expression;
And to challenge your understanding with good-faith information and arguments
presented in a careful, loving way.

You are here to humble me with your talent, strength, and potential;
To refine my capabilities of discernment and expression;
To challenge my understanding with your honest questions
and diverse life experiences;

And to remind me that teaching is a personal, individual,
relational and sacrificial act for the glory of God.

Advice for the Exam Season