being brave

I’ve studied a lot of art history in my time.  Last year, I was fortunate enough to visit Rome and Florence on an anniversary trip with my husband.  Many times over the trip, I got all choked up thinking that if you’d told my 19-year-old self in Survey of Art that I’d actually see those paintings and places in person, I wouldn’t believe it.

Something that has always sat on the edge of my artist’s consciousness is that it seems to me to try to paint something divine takes either ultimate courage or ultimate arrogance.  I realize that in Renaissance times, the church was the main patron of art and if you were scared to paint your vision of God or Christ, then you weren’t likely to be employed much.  But as I looked up at Michelangelo’s The Creation of Man on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, I wondered if he was ever daunted.  (and did he know that image would form all our ideas about what God looks like?)

Well, a few years ago I took a leap into the divine subject when I sculpted crucifixes for my family.  Over the last several weeks, I have been working on my vision of a Resurrection.

It is a mixed media including collaged printed papers, colored pencil, acrylic paint, and stamps.  It was painted for my church, to use the b/w on the bulletin.

Happy (soon) Easter

Patti