2016 In Full Swing

"Been awhile," he wrote to himself, knowing full well the audience scope of his blog. But that's okay — this whole process of creating paintings can be like talking to one's self for long, long stretches of time.

Just now finishing up a month-long one-man show of my first works at the Michele Tuegel Contemporary gallery in St. Petersburg. Thanks to my many old friends — and new ones that attended out of curiosity — for your moral support and kind company at the show's opening!

Wrapping up my latest painting, "Uroboros and the Serpent Handler" (below) just moments ago; a few touch-ups and a varnish before my next appearance at the Art in the Park event in Brooksville, March 12 and 13. I'll be focused a little more on presentation this go-round. We'll see if that helps to create a viewer's psychological elevation of the works exhibited... Hope to see you there!

About Uroboros and the Serpent Handler

In a dry period of struggling with where to go, what to do, et cetera — all the things one does in the process of second-guessing one's creative self — I was sitting in the dark with coffee early one morning, when an image randomly appeared in my mind's eye: a nude figure (mine) was curled inside a box on a quilt. So I sketched it out, so as to not lose the thought, and immediately commenced conjuring a means to construct a box into which I ultimately crawled into, and, using the camera's self-timer, took a few images.

However... What was THAT all about?

I had no idea why the image seemed so arresting to me, yet meant absolutely nothing! I saw similarities in old masters paintings of the descension of Christ from the cross. As I commenced the painting, I was feeling doubts about a Christ image — especially since I was the model. I read much on the topic of artists throughout art history who modeled images of Christ after themselves. I mean, who is the most-available model to an artist, but himself? Finally after many discussions on the topic, I saw the trepidation of the concept in the eyes of friends and family. But I plodded onward. Finally, after testing a few of the wounds of crucifixion on the image, even I decided, "No way!" And so I investigated a geometric symbol within the square area of the composition, and decided a circle worked best, interweaving itself with the figure.

Uroboros: A circular symbol depicting a snake, or less commonly a dragon, swallowing its tail, as an emblem of wholeness or infinity.

1. 
   

A symbol of Ancient Egypt and India more than 400 years before Christ, the snake worked well for me. Coincidentally, I was reading an interesting website, The Bitter Southerner, whereupon I chanced on a story investigating a serpent-handling church on Sand Mountain in Alabama. In the painting was already an Appalachian quilt made by my Sand Mountain grandmother, Darcus Wade Rusk.

But as I near its completion, I have but one recommendation for other artists before embarking on a representation of a uroboros: Don't! That's a lot of snake scales to render, and there was as much study of Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake markings that went into this as there was general painting of the figure and quilt!

Later! (Likely MUCH later!)