Began in 2021, this painting is about the Hebrew prophet Zechariah, found in the Old Testament of the Bible, particularly the events of chapters 3 and 4 of his book. A limited number of archival reproductions of this painting are available at Baumwerkshop
My good friend Sam Kee wrote a nice essay about my little shepherd print. I marvel at how and what Sam sees in my art. If you want to read it it’s over at the Color of Dust Substack– no pay-wall. While Sam gives me more credit than I deserve, he truly helps me to see what I am, sometimes blindly, about. Every artist should be so fortunate to have friends who are willing to engage their work on such a deep level. Somehow I have more than a handful of them and I’m mighty grateful.
I’ve also released a second edition of this print for sale over at Baumwerkshop.com if you are interested. The stock might be low at the moment but there are more coming.
The painting is back on the easel after a resting since spring. Gilding the letters of the divine and sacred promise to the land at the threshold of the picture was the first order, now I am glazing the purple field behind them, before addressing the errors in the gilding.
All the work is prayer- engaging EVERYTHING through the materials their resistance the colored dust the stillness the distractions the sable bristles the sticky oil the waiting the music in the background looking at Giotto interruptions aching neck lunch the glory the emptiness the inspired seeing fires skunks under the floor cold hands the failures and doubt exaltation pulling off a difficult passage looking at Gerard David the heavens the earth instinct the breathe the blood the sighing lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me.
The Order of the Dung Beetle, 2022 linocut
The Order of the Dung Beetle Sticker
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my good friend Seth Wieck wrote this poem
For Jack
Gavel gather our Order of the Dung Beetle.
Convene the turd rollers who work the earth’s treadle.
Six-footed levers reciprocate their treasures—
outcast,fall off and waste—our disgust, their pleasures
in spheres composed of compost, rumen, and seed germ,
chewed straw rechewed and strewn clear of lofted tails.
Firmpellets on which they dance and feed their lowlyyoung.
Dung Beetle priests atone, make our shit holy.
Today my work will be featured on a segment of a television show called “Artful”, produced by Monument tv. It will air at 8 am MST and then again at 1 pm on the BYU tv channel, and then it will be available for streaming after that on the BYU TV website. While I haven’t yet seen it myself, the other episodes are beautifully and sensitively done, and my experience with the production team was truly delightful and meaningful. I hope that you will have a chance to take a look.
This is a progress update of a painting that I began last year illustrating one of the visions of the old testament prophet, Zechariah. After making a complete grayscale (grisaille) in egg tempera, I have been doing a base color layer in egg tempera with a limited palette, of two earth tones, with a red, yellow, blue, black and white. The final layers of the painting will employ translucent oil glazes.
It has been a long time since I have drawn much with colored pencils- many decades as a matter of fact. But the youngest of my kids love to draw with them and we have been spending time drawing together in the evenings. There are many levels of joy in rediscovering the accessibility and immediacy of colored pencils with my children.
The School of the Transfer of Energy 