Anthony Ramos has been on my ‘to draw’ list for a long time, and after recently seeing “In the Heights” several times in theaters, I finally got around to making an illustration based on a photo from his instagram feed. See my instagram post. And go see In the Heights. No, sshhh, just go.
See. This. Movie. In. THEATERS. Repeat.
Watch the first 8 minutes — the opening song — of the “In the Heights” below:
Themes swirling around in this mural design:
Tree of Life / Cross on top — the first tree and the last tree — symbolizing the Creator’s covering and blessing over the marriage design of male and female joined as one, (an artsy blessing on my own marriage); this sacred union as offering unto God, the ‘offering flame’ of old Hebrew calligraphy (spelling l’chaim) is a nod to the roots of the Bible and my faith
L’Chaim! To Life! – a declaration of double blessing and abundant life.
I’m not a huge fan of explaining my artwork. I don’t always properly verbalize what basic visuals can. most of the time it’s personal, and I just want to make something aesthetically pleasing.
Anyway….a black and white design was the goal. And several of The Bible Project‘s awesome videos might’ve been on my mind.
More painting on the walls. It’s basically a colourful olive tree and a big ol’ dove – not the official title but yeah….
Stream-of-conscious thoughts behind this painting: burning bush / consuming fire / olive tree / tree of Life / wheat / chaff / noah’s dove / holy spirit / holy rest / shabbat shalom / peace
Yahweh (God) can be a consuming or devouring fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:3; Hebrews 12:29) that separates the wheat from the chaff (examples: Luke 3, Psalm 83, Jeremiah 23); a burning tree or bush that isn’t consumed while on fire, ready to deliver His people (Exodus 3).
God is also a God of peace. Olive trees are connected to peace: peace after a storm, peace amongst nations, between God and the earth, between God and humanity. Olive trees produce olives which produce the oil representative of God’s Spirit in scripture.
And Trees are a big theme throughout the collection of books called the Bible – Hebrew scripture and the New Testament writings. The Tree of Life in the Garden; strength, steadfastness; and representative of people.
All these ideas are mixed up in this tree image. The dove in the corner was a bit of an afterthought, but it’s appropriate to the peace/calm element of the painting.
We got this fun sheep toilet paper holder, and made our bathroom wall into a thematic mural 😀 “Yahweh is my Shepherd….” from Psalm 23.
Started painting on the walls. Some orange California poppies and my totally OSHA-kosher ladder. They still kinda look like hibiscuses to me. Too lazy to fix it ;D
This digital painting timelapse of a ‘fat bebby face’ was made in Procreate app on an iPad with an Apple Pencil.
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MUSIC:
“Wolf Moon” by Unicorn Heads in Youtube Audio Library
“Never Sunny in Philadelphia” by Single Friend in YouTube Audio Library
A fun little animation I made in honour of our home, The Earth, on Earth Day 🙂
I started making sourdough bread in February (2021). After watching Joshua Weissman’s sourdough video, I made the starter in January, then started making the bread in February. At the time I didn’t know that it was an advanced (high hydration) recipe. So without ever working with sourdough before, I was slapping and folding sticky dough, stretching and fermenting, and managed to come out with a decent loaf.
So a couple months later and a billion youtube videos and articles consumed, I’m drowning in open crumb lust, oven spring blah blah, bulk fermentation, hydration, and starter feedings. I’ve become mildly obsessed with making the bread even though I’m not into eating it often. And then I stumbled upon scoring technique and decoration, so that was another distraction. I really need to focus on fermentation and oven spring.
Anyway, here are photos of my first loaves back in February.
Normally I mix up a concoction of almond, coconut, tapioca, and/or arrowroot/cassava flours for gluten-free baking but it’s kind of annoying, and almond flour is sooo 2019. I tried only cassava flour for this small-batch test of 6 smallish muffins. Pretty good result. Feels a little dryer than I’d prefer, and could be a little sweeter. I forgot to set a timer. I’ll try more sugar, another egg yolk, maybe more butter, and I’ll remember to set the timer.