Jennifer Green Fais
I enjoy the mystery of creating works of art that unfold as I meet my self-imposed constraints on the work. This year, in honor of my 61st birthday, I wanted to make a piece that would be a spiritual quest.
I decided to study then illustrate the sixty-first verse of every book in the Bible that had at last 61 verses. There are 50 books that meet that criteria. For the remaining eleven, I chose the first verse on the top of pages 61, 161, 261, etc. in my childhood Bible, the Revised Standard Version.
First I wrote the text out on a large sheet of paper, then I pondered its meaning. I drew what the verse meant to me on a 2.75” X 4” rectangular piece of stiff paper. (I had a lot of that shape paper in my drawer so that helped set the size of the work.) My constraints did not end there. I then marked on the next rectangle where the drawings on the previous adjoining ones touched. Thus, the new drawing needed not only to express the verse, but also to incorporate the points. This ensured that each drawing would relate to the other.
I arranged the rectangles in a 5 x 12 grid. This symbolized for me the five books of the Hebrew Bible (5) and the number of Hebrew tribes/Jesus' disciples (12). My final verse came from Psalm 61, the first verse which sets the stage for the remaining sixty pieces.
The accompanying texts are included in a notebook. They are arranged five to a page to correspond with each “line” of twelve “lines” in the painting. They are labeled in a graph form: For example, 3.2 means that you should look at line 3, the second rectangle from the left.
I had physically pasted the rectangles together; however, their corners do not meet exactly and I was concerned that my workmanship would detract from the content of the work. So, I created a digital image and spent hours to make all the lines meet exactly where they should. Because it is digital, I am free to color the drawing as many ways as I like. This image is the first of 61 such renditions.
My hope is that you not only enjoy the lyrical connection of lines and the flow of the drawing, but explore the meanings and reflect on their juxtapositions. I am bowled over by the interactions of the elements and know that God's hand has been at work here.
Click here to see the completed work, the accompanying verses and the individual rectangles.
I decided to study then illustrate the sixty-first verse of every book in the Bible that had at last 61 verses. There are 50 books that meet that criteria. For the remaining eleven, I chose the first verse on the top of pages 61, 161, 261, etc. in my childhood Bible, the Revised Standard Version.
First I wrote the text out on a large sheet of paper, then I pondered its meaning. I drew what the verse meant to me on a 2.75” X 4” rectangular piece of stiff paper. (I had a lot of that shape paper in my drawer so that helped set the size of the work.) My constraints did not end there. I then marked on the next rectangle where the drawings on the previous adjoining ones touched. Thus, the new drawing needed not only to express the verse, but also to incorporate the points. This ensured that each drawing would relate to the other.
I arranged the rectangles in a 5 x 12 grid. This symbolized for me the five books of the Hebrew Bible (5) and the number of Hebrew tribes/Jesus' disciples (12). My final verse came from Psalm 61, the first verse which sets the stage for the remaining sixty pieces.
The accompanying texts are included in a notebook. They are arranged five to a page to correspond with each “line” of twelve “lines” in the painting. They are labeled in a graph form: For example, 3.2 means that you should look at line 3, the second rectangle from the left.
I had physically pasted the rectangles together; however, their corners do not meet exactly and I was concerned that my workmanship would detract from the content of the work. So, I created a digital image and spent hours to make all the lines meet exactly where they should. Because it is digital, I am free to color the drawing as many ways as I like. This image is the first of 61 such renditions.
My hope is that you not only enjoy the lyrical connection of lines and the flow of the drawing, but explore the meanings and reflect on their juxtapositions. I am bowled over by the interactions of the elements and know that God's hand has been at work here.
Click here to see the completed work, the accompanying verses and the individual rectangles.
Proudly powered by Weebly