Girl With a Blue Cap

This is a little sketch I did from Whistler's "Girl With a Blue Cap". The painting is in the collection of The Art Institute of Chicago.

Spring Birds

Today is the first day of Spring and yet, it is snowing in Naperville! Still, it is a beautiful day of new beginnings!

The Gospel of Luke

I did a series of the four gospels for the show in Pilsen last year. I sold them, but I really wanted to have them for myself! So, I'm reworking them while trying to maintain the same feeling.
I love the imagery in illuminated manuscripts- the brilliant and faded colors, the gold, the flat patterning, the fanciful beasts. I like to think about the monks who made them so patiently and the love and devotion that went into their creation. I've learned that most of the monks were literate, but not all , so it is possible to find mistakes as some copied words that they didn't understand. And to think of who owned these books. Some were owned by wealthy people who possessed them as status symbols. Some were to grace altars, to be read on special occassions. Some were plundered in wars and stripped of their valuable jeweled bindings. I think of the words they contained, written in Latin and how common people who attended the mass might not understand what was being said, but they would be comforted anyway. Thinking about... a knowing that transcends language.

When I made this piece I was also looking for a way to express what Rilke says in his advice to a young poet-to not look for answers. To paraphrase: "Love the questions- as if they were locked rooms and books written in a very foreign language- you wouldn't understand the answers if they were given to you- live into the questions and someday you will find yourself living the answer".
This piece is collaged with bits of newspaper and wax (which was the surface used by Romans to write everyday correspondence) to show the ephemeral nature of words, past and present. The newspaper is Swedish- a very foreign language to me. The image of Luke is taken from the Book of Kells to represent the enduring power of Spirit- which is ineffable.