Aemiessence Fine Arts

חשך: תהו ובהו (Darkness: Formless and Void) - Completed February 10th, 2012

2012-02-10T22:21:00.000-08:00

This sculpture is number 1 of 3 in the my series called "חשך" (Darkness) and is based off of the phrase תהו ובהו (formless and void) in Genesis 1. "תהו ובהו" is written on both side walls of the drawing in a mixture of acrylic paint and gel medium, with the name יהוה (the Divine Name of God in the Hebrew Bible generally vocalized as Adonai or HaShem) written in blue on the back wall. The very simple statement that the sculpture makes is "Even in the formless and void places of life, God is still there." The box itself is roughly 13"x9"x7" with the inside being viewed through a 200 degree peephole like you'd find on a person's house's front door. This photo was taken using a Canon 8-15mm f4L fisheye at 8mm to give the exact distorted look that the sculpture has when viewed in person. The sculpture is meant to give the sense of being underwater, with a bit of light coming through the surface of the 'water' from above. For process photos of the sculpture being made, go here.

תהו ובהו Process Photos

2012-02-10T22:16:00.000-08:00

These are process photos of my assemblage sculpture תהו ובהו.

במדבר: Macro Photos

2012-01-29T17:24:00.000-08:00

The following photos are macro shots of my assemblage sculpture במדבר which can be found here.

Trip to IKEA: 1.28.2012

2012-01-28T22:20:00.000-08:00

Greek Wedding Stephana Ink Drawing: Completed 1.22.2012 - 12" x 15" Framed

2012-01-22T13:12:00.000-08:00

Stephana are crowns worn by the bride and groom during part of the service in Greek wedding ceremonies: you can read some basic information about Greek wedding ceremonies including the 'crowning' here.

The four corners of the drawing contain the personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible (יהוה), and the vows and words from the ring ceremony are written on the tops and bottoms of the stephana. The Hebrew in the middle of the drawing (unvocalized in the drawing) is Job 10:12, which reads:

חַיִּים וָחֶסֶד עָשִֹיתָ עִמָּדִי וּפְקֻדָּתְךָ שָׁמְרָה רוּחִי:

Translation: "You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit" (ESV).

The Greek passage on the right is I Peter 4:10 and reads:

ἓκαστος καθὼς ἒλαβεν χάρισμα εἰς ἑαυτοὺς αὐτὸ διακονοῦντες ὡς καλοὶ οἰκονόμοι ποικίλης χάριτος θεοῦ.

Translation: "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:" (ESV)

The text surrounding the stephana is the German text to Robert Reinick's Liebesgarten - Op. 34 No. 1

Process photos of the drawing can be found here.

Process Photos - Greek Wedding Stephana Ink Drawing: Completed 1.22.2012

2012-01-22T13:05:00.000-08:00

Linnea - 18th Months

2012-01-22T12:21:00.000-08:00

BFA Show: נֶפֶשׁ (Life)

2012-01-05T21:12:00.000-08:00

This installation/performance piece was the culmination of my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, wherein I lived in the Carslton Art Gallery at UWSP for just over two weeks.

שבור: Framed 8" x 13" - Completed 12.16.2011

2011-12-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

This drawing is called שבור, which means 'broken,' and is based off of the story of Edgardo Mortara: a Jewish boy who was secretly baptized and the taken from his family by the Catholic Church in 1858. Other than the word שבור itself, there are four other elements to the drawing. First is the drawing of the Vatican in the lower left, with the Roman numerals on the facade replaced by the words "Edgardo M. has been taken." On the right side of the drawing is a mezuzah, here representing Judaism and also the fact that Edgardo reportedly requested one while he was on the carriage being taken away from his parents (he was reportedly instead given a medallian of the Virgin Mary). In the bottom center is a figure who is supposed to represent Edgardo - he was six years old when taken away from his family. The fourth main element of the drawing is the blue writing, which symbolizes the water of baptism, and the water of tears shed by Edgardo's family, friends, and even the police who took him away. The composition of the blue is meant to be a two-direction sweeping motion: both from the Vatican over to Edgardo representing the baptism from the chuch, and then from Edgardo to the church symbolizing the forced pull into the church. The writing in blue is all slight variants of the basic baptismal formula: "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The other element in the drawing is very minor: the black writing next to and above Egardo, which is simply the word 'broken' repeated as filler around the focusing of the blue. For a brief overview of the story of Edgardo click here - or you can read the excellent book by David Kertzer. For photos of the drawing process click here.

שבור - Process Photos

2011-12-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

I regret that I tried darkening the letters in the way that I did with the thick lines in the middle of the letters - the only way I could 'correct' it is by completely filling in the characters. Lesson learned.

חשך: במדבר (Darkness: In the Wilderness) - Completed November 23rd, 2011

2011-12-09T21:21:00.000-08:00

This sculpture is number 2 of 3 in the my series called "חשך" (Darkness) and is based off of the title of the Hebrew name of the Biblical book of Numbers, במדבר (pronounced ba-midbar) - which literally means "In the Wilderness." "במדבר" is written on both side walls of the drawing in gesso covered with oil paint, with the name יהוה (the Divine Name of God in the Hebrew Bible generally vocalized as Adonai or HaShem) written in red on the back wall. The very simple statement that the sculpture makes is "Even in the darkest wilderness, God is still there." The box itself is roughly 13"x9"x7" with the inside being viewed through a 200 degree peephole like you'd find on a person's house's front door. This photo was taken using a Canon 8-15mm f4L fisheye at 8mm to give the exact distorted look that the sculpture has when viewed in person. Click here to see process photos for the sculpture, and here to see macro shots.

במדבר - Process Photos

2011-12-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

These are the process photos of my assemblage sculpture במדבר

Materials used in this assemblage include wood, metal, LEDs, fiber optics, gesso, oil paint, acrylic paint, crochet thread, ink, paper, solder, and hair. This last photo is slightly over-exposed so that it's easier to see the details which are harder to see in the actual lighting of the sculpture when viewed in person.

Flame: Gas Welded Sculpture

2011-12-09T20:26:00.000-08:00

World Trade Center 8-15mm f4 Fisheye - set to 15mm: 12.4.2011

2011-12-04T00:47:00.000-08:00

World Trade Center 8-15mm f4 Fisheye - set to 8mm: 12.4.2011

2011-12-04T00:43:00.000-08:00

WTC Light Paintings 12.4.2011

2011-12-04T00:35:00.000-08:00

Portrait: Ashley - 11.5.2011

2011-11-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

Portrait: Sophia - 10.24.2011

2011-10-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

Occupy Wall Street - Zuccotti Park: New York, NY - October 13th, 2011

2011-10-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

Whatever one may think of the Occupy Wall Street movement it's become a major happening in many cities across the US and abroad. Lower Manhattan is where the movement started. These photos were taken the night before the protestors were told they would have to leave the park for cleaning (which they ended up not having to do).

Park Slope Rally: 9.14.2011

2011-09-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

In response to multiple recent rapes and rape attempts in Park Slope (Brooklyn) and the surrounding neighbhorhoods, Safe Slope, a "Brooklyn-based group providing services and resources to help empower and protect the communities of South Slope/Greenwood Heights/Windsor Terrace/Park Slope," organized a "Take Back The Streets" Rally which happened September 14th, 2011 from 8-10pm. The rally/march began at the Prospect Ave Subway Station on the R line, marched along 4th and then 5th Ave, and then rallied in Detective Joseph Mayrose Park on 17th Street between 6th and 7th Aves. Below are some photos of the march/rally, along with some links to videos that I shot during the event.

Beginning of the March

Manhattan: Evacuated Zone A - August 27th, 2011

2011-08-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

Eagle Bluff Lighthouse - Penninsula State Park - Door County, WI - 8.20.2011

2011-08-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

Smallpox Hospital (Renwick Ruin): Roosevelt Island, New York City - August 17, 2011

2011-08-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

Roosevelt Island, 8.16.2011

2011-08-17T08:20:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn Museum 8.14.2011

2011-08-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

Manhattan Henge: July 12th, 2011 - 42nd Street, Manhattan

2011-07-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

Pinhole Self Portrait

2011-07-09T08:06:00.001-07:00

The self-portrait below was created by punching a small hole in the body cap of my small Rebel XTi and using it as a pinhole camera. I used a small maglight to light myself during the exposure (20 seconds) and then processed the image in Lightroom. The coverage using the 'cap pinhole' doesn't even fully cover the 1.6x crop sensor, so I wouldn't even bother trying it on my 5DII, but I think it could produce a lot of interesting images on any 1.6x camera (Canon xxD series, Rebel series, 7D) and would be even sized on 1.5x cameras (Nikon DX).

Out the Back Window: 7.4.2011

2011-07-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

4th of July Fireworks: Hudson River (as taken from Brooklyn)

2011-07-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

Light Painting Studies: 11.12.2010

2011-05-03T23:12:00.000-07:00

These shots are all light painting studies: working with using the space better (all three dimensions) in order to create a stronger composition that in past light paintings. None of these are final images, but projects that I would like to spend more time on.

Light Painting: 12.5.2008

2011-05-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

I had help with these photos, taken in 2008. About 18of us all had different types of lights that we used during the long exposure - the first two are really more works in progress than anything (too much clutter in the background) but I think that the third one functions as a finished work: yet if I were to shoot it now I would change the color balance significantly. These photos were taken on the west border of Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

Light Juggling 10.28.2007

2011-05-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

I hope to do more work on this series in the future. In this photo I'm juggling (only three) light changing juggling balls and moving side to side in the room. It's hard to create decent composition when juggling around a dark room but I think there's some great potential here. This photo is over three years old as of the date of this posting.

World Trade Center Site: May 2nd, 2011 - Approx. 1:50 - 2:30am

2011-05-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

The below photographs are from the World Trade Center Site in Manattan which I took between roughly 1:50am and 2:30am, hours after President Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden. The ethics of this will be debated for centuries, conspiracy theorists are already eating it up as one more reason the government's out to get us, and where there's a crowd for whatever reason the people turn into a crowd and act as crowds do (not very intelligently). These photos are about none of that. I did not go to WTC to celebrate; I went to watch history - history to whatever end. Of the 227 photos that I took, the four below best captured for me the feeling of the night.

תהו ובהו: Framed: 8" x 27" - Completed 4.27.2011

2011-04-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

This drawing is based off of the phrase תהו ובהו (generally translated as 'formless and void') found in Genesis 1:2 of the Hebrew Bible. For a clip of the drawing in progress, go here.

Daily Photos: Manhattan View from Hoboken, NJ - 4.19.2011

2011-04-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

The Brooklyn Bridge: March 19th, 2011 (Bridge Under Repair)

2011-03-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

ויקרא: Framed: 8" x 13" - Completed 3.17.2011

2011-03-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

The drawing is about the altar in the Torah and the types of offerings offered on it to השם (i.e. "The Name" - this in place of the Tetragrammaton, God's proper name in the Tanakh). The Hebrew words in and above the altar in the flames name the six types of offerings discussed early in the book of Leviticus (Hebrew - ויקרא) including the following: עולה, מנחה, מנחה תמיד, חטאת, אשם, and זבח השלמים.

After I had done the Initial altar drawing and had started on the text in the altar I made an interesting mistake: I dropped a blob of ink right near the center of the panel on the right. That gave me two options: either I could scratch it out and leave a rough spot in the drawing, or I could go with it and see what happened. I decided to go with it, and I'm glad that I did. I created the drop on the other side as well, and then started drawing lines out to the drops. After only drawing three lines on each side total, I realized that the drawing had taken a very 'feminine' shape: the lines and ink blots had started looking like ovaries and fallopian tubes, which placed the altar where the uterus is in the female reproductive system.

Even though I had not initially planned on it, the parallels between the altar in the reproductive system made so much sense to me that I took the drawing in that direction full force. I next drew what would be equivelant to the top of the birth canal under the front corner of the altar, and then blotted red ink along the top walls of the altar drawing, which I then slammed down on the table to make the ink run and give it the appearance of blood: both blood poured out on the altar, and blood [poured out] through childbirth as I routed the red ink down the birth canal as well.

As both altar and the reproductive system are givers of life through pain and sacrifice I believe that a drawing which merges them into one is most appropriate: and I find the imagery powerful - this is my favorite of my ink drawings to date.

עמנו אל: Framed: 8" x 13" - Completed 3.4.2011

2011-03-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

עמנו אל ('Immanu-El) means "God with us." The smaller writing in blue above עמנו אל is Isaiah 7:14 - "Assuredly, my Lord will give you a sign of His own accord! Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. Let her name him" (then the large word 'Immanu El finishes the verse) (NJPS). Behind and below the words עמנו אל is the phrase תהו ובהו (tōhū-vabōhū) which is the 'formless and void' state of the earth mentioned in Genesis 1:2. By juxtaposing עמנו אל and תהו ובהו together my message is that God is will us even when we're experiencing the formless and void times of our lives. This drawing was done as a gift for my wonderful wife.

שמות: Framed: 8" x 18" - Completed 2.27.2011

2011-02-27T15:07:00.000-08:00

שמות is the name of the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible. The drawing addresses both the proper name of God in the Tanakh (large characters and in small characters on the third panel from the right) and the Tabernacle in the wildnerness as descibed in Exodus 15:22ff (note the outline of the Tabernacle's divisions in thin blue text).

Psalm 88:15 - 8" x 40" - Completed 2.11.2011

2011-02-11T22:38:00.000-08:00

The primary text in this ink drawing is Psalm 88:15 - "Why, O Lord, do You reject me, do You hide Your face from me?" (NJPS). The drawing is composed of ten 3.5" x 5.25" that were initially held together with linen tape during the creation of the drawing (photo below).

Brooklyn Snow: January 25th and 26th, 2011

2011-01-27T20:21:00.000-08:00

Portrait: Stacy - 12.21.2010

2010-12-22T18:04:00.000-08:00

Fire on 5th Ave. and 17th Street, Park Slope: Brooklyn - 11.12.2010

2010-12-09T16:01:00.000-08:00

From the Brooklyner: November 2010

2010-12-09T15:14:00.000-08:00

Lower Manhattan: WTC, St. Paul's Chapel, Trinity Church, Wall Street, National Museum of the American Indian, Battery Park: 12.4.2010

2010-12-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Wedding: Joe and Nidhi - August, 2010

2010-10-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

Baby Finn, Just Shy of Two Weeks Old: September 30th, 2010

2010-10-01T16:45:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn and Manhattan Lightning - September 22nd, 2010 Approx 9-9:30pm

2010-09-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

Oddly the first place that I saw lightning tonight was reflected in the cereal bowl next to me, but I ran right up to the roof to see if I could catch any of the deep blue lightning that was lighting up the sky. Out of the hundreds of shots that I took tonight, the three below are the ones that really came through. These were all shot with a Canon G11 inside of Canon's waterproof housing for the camera. Due to the pouring rain that I was standing in, you'll see some out of focus blobs on the photos: those are rain droplets on the lens of the waterproof housing. The colors in these photos are not altered other than adding some saturation in-camera. The exposures were so bright that to give them more clarity I took the exposure levels all the way down in Lightroom which gives them a much deeper and quite frankly more accurate feel. I find the first two shots remarkably interesting due to what I'm calling "Lightning blobs" in the middle of the bursts. The third shot is the one that I'm the most proud of though. Of all the literally thousands of photos that I've taken from our rooftop this is my clear favorite: I was actually able to capture lightning striking the Empire State Building's lightning rod - enjoy!

Brooklyn Storm - September 16th, 2010: Park Slope and Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

2010-09-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

9/11 9th Anniversary Tribute In Lights

2010-09-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

Photos taken from rooftop in Brooklyn with Canon 5D Mark II w/17-40mm f4L

Daily Photos: Chicago, August 14th, 2010

2010-08-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

Out the Back Window: Weekend of July 30th - August 1st (all images shot with Canon 5D and Canon 14mm f2.8L)

2010-08-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

I owned a Canon 5D and a Canon 14mm f2.8L ultrawide prime for one weekend: the 5D (bought used) had some malfunctions and the sensor was horribly dirty so I returned it - but I was able to to grab the shots below before taking it back to the store (notice the sensor dust on the last photo).

Daily Photos - Brooklyn Storm, July 23rd, 2010

2010-07-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

Daily Photos: July 17th, 2010

2010-07-17T21:15:00.000-07:00

Life #3 First Showing - Roots Cafe - Park Slope, Brooklyn

2010-07-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

The first place that I've displayed Life #3 is at Roots Cafe in Brooklyn - the show ran throughout the month of June, 2010.

A Few Flowers - South Hadley, MA: July 2nd, 2010

2010-07-04T15:29:00.000-07:00

Daily Photos: 6.29.2010 - Gowanas/Park Slope, Brooklyn

2010-06-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Williamsburg: June 5th, 2010

2010-06-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

Daily Photos: Sunset Park, Brooklyn: May 25th, 2010

2010-05-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges: May 5th, 2010

2010-05-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

Daily Photos: May 10th, 2010

2010-05-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

Daily Photos: May 9th, 2010

2010-05-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

Published Photos: Strollerderby: The Mother of All Parenting Blogs

2010-05-11T16:31:00.000-07:00

HERO Camera: Trip to the Art Store - April 17th, 2010

2010-04-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

Bike trip with HERO Camera to Dick Blick in Manhattan from Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Name Drawing: Sophia - Pen and Ink: 10.1" x 5.2" Completed 4.20.2010

2010-04-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

Now that I've finished the massive Life #3 drawing, I wanted to begin to start making smaller triptychs - and I thought it would be interesting to start with a Name drawing. Much like the Life drawings the drawing is really about a single word and the details that make up what that word means - it's just that with the Name drawings (this is my first) the drawing is more about an individual person, not a collective whole.

You can see that the drawings are mounted with a slight rhombus shape to them: that's because each individual piece of paper has that slight shape to it: they're not perfectly square. Also as with Life #3, the drawings were joined during the drawing process and cut apart after the drawing was done. Here's what the drawing looked like before being cut and mounted:

The Greek text that runs across the top of the drawing is I Corinthians 13:12:
"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

The Greek text running across the lower center of the drawing is Romans 8:26:
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."

The Hebrew text in the top right is Job 12:13:
"With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding."

The Hebrew text in the bottom right is Proverbs 9:10:
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight."

Published Photos: ColoradoDaily.com, April 2010

2010-04-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Life #3 - Pen and Ink: 66" x 30" - Completed April 6th, 2010

2010-04-09T21:45:00.001-07:00

Click Here for Explanation of Work
Click Here for Thoughts on the Drawing Process as a Whole
Click Here for Explanation of the Drawing Process of Work

Life #3 - Explanation of Work

2010-04-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

STATEMENT
For what became a very complex project which was well over a solid year in the making, the statement of the drawing is very simple:

There is a royalty to Life: yet the path of Life to redemption contains an intricate web of pain, suffering, and experience.

The color blue in the drawing is meant to represent Royalty, Beauty, and Goodness and serves very much in the 'silver lining' sense as there's not much of it in the drawing. Other than surrounding the large letters of "Life" that make up the center of the drawing the only other blue is the blue writing that surrounds the very last sentence of the drawing - a passage from Revelation 22: "And they shall see his Face..." To read across the drawing in blue the message is simply: "Life - and they shall see his Face." In this sense the red and all other details in the drawing are meant to fade into the background of this over-arching yet very simple message.

The red symbolizes the ever-present oppositions in our lives that sprinkle pain and hurt on us every day: even the very best of days. As much as we may not like it, a large part of lived experience is negative - hardships, fears, anxieties, depressions, angst, hatred, etc. Life must engage all of these things directly, but it cannot become so ensnared in them that Life itself is lost: our lives must rise above and work through those hurts and pains by the power of Jesus Christ working through the Holy Spirit to bring us into communion with the Father.

The black in the drawing is the neutral color: some positive things are written in black and some negative. The white is generally neutral as well, partaking in both positive and negative themes of the drawing

SCRIPTURE
There are six sections of scripture in the drawing: two from the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament, Tanakh) and four from the New Testament. I will list the scripture reference, followed by the location in the drawing in parentheses, and then the verse(s) themselves (all in English) below the reference (these will be listed in the order that I put them in the drawing).

Numbers 6:24-26 (Hebrew text at the top left of Drawing #2):
"The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."

Matthew 6:25-34 (English text in black surrounding the cube on the far left lower part of the drawing)
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Ezekiel 37:5 (Large Hebrew Text beginning in the far upper right part of drawing #3)
"Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live."

John 11:25 (English text in black surrounding the cube on the far right lower part of the drawing)
"Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…" (the same verse is repeated several times to even out this cube with the cube on the left side of the drawing)

Revelation 22:1-3 (Greek text next to the large tree on the left of drawing #3)
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him."

Revelation 22:4a (English text at the very bottom right of drawing #3, surrounded in blue text)
"And they shall see his Face…"

SYMBOLISM/DRAWINGS WITHIN THE DRAWING/OTHER TEXT
At the foreground of the drawing is the large word "Life" but the real intricacy of the drawing is in the surrounding details. I will list here some of the detail elements of the drawing as well as specific locations that are drawn. It would be impossible to cover everything, but I will give a good sampling.

The largest single element in the drawing other than the word Life is the corridor that compositionally makes up most of the middle drawing. The tunnel that this is drawn after is a tunnel that links what used to be the Bear Stearn's building on Madison Ave in Manhattan to Grand Central Terminal (often incorrectly called Grand Central Station). I found the tunnel itself to be visually interesting, but the reason that the location was important to me is because when my wife and I first got together she was working at Bear and I was working at Li-Lac Chocolates which has a location at Grand Central. In this sense the tunnel serves more as a bit of nostalgia for me for when we first got together and when I first moved to New York - a period in my life that be a defining time for me for the rest of my life.

At the center (or really end) of the corridor is the Hebrew word YHWH which is the personal name for God in the Hebrew Bible. My statement here makes every attempt to be as clear as possible - being with God is the center, focus, and goal of the drawing. YHWH is also repeated within the cubes on either side of the drawing: I meant for this to be a unifying element of the three drawings as well as giving nod to the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The cube in drawing #1 (on the left) was drawn to represent my cubicle at work and how ever there I want to try and serve God in every way possible (which I often fail at). The cube on drawing number #3 (on the right) is there simply as a unifying element for the drawing.

The Alpha and the Omega on the far right of drawing #3 references Revelation 1:8 and 22:13 where Jesus refers to himself as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Also on the far right side just under the alpha and omega is the Hebrew word 'elohim which is the general word for 'God' or 'Divine Being' in Hebrew and then right below that is just a single yod - referring to Matthew 18 when Jesus says that not one yod ('jot' AV) will disappear from the Law until all is accomplished.

There are also many "drawings within the drawings" that don't serve so much as symbols as they are simply locational drawings or drawings of important items. Many of these drawings within the drawing center on buildings and structures that are a part of lower Manhattan, specifically the World Trade Center and World Financial Center areas as this was the area that I worked in during the time that I was working on the drawing. There were so many different things going on in the areas - specifically the rebuilding of the World Trade Center - that when I'd get home I'd often want to draw what I'd seen during the day: both from views out of the World Financial Center and things that I'd see on my walk to and from work.

Drawings (and partial drawings) within the drawing include: a scene from besides the Thames River in London (bottom of Drawing #1), a view from our brownstone at the time of the drawing in Brooklyn (top of Drawing #3), the Barclay-Vesey Building, the brownstone we lived in at the time of the drawing, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State building (twice), the new Goldman-Sachs building, and St. Paul's Chapel.

The hand in the bottom middle of Drawing #2 is supposed to be a gesture of desperation or of someone grappling with something, but nothing specific is in mind. The phrase 'Everything Burns' is partially obscured by the hand. The words written along the left side of Drawing #2 in large text are Fear, Passion, and Sorrow.

The smallest text (of which there is more than anything else in this drawing) I simply call 'filler text' - the tiny, mostly illegible writing that 'fills in' much of the drawing. I love text-based drawing and don't mean to say 'filler text' in a negative sense: in most cases it's my favorite part of the drawing. The filler texts are made up of personal thoughts, personal fears, personal struggles, repetitive sequences of words, song lyrics (often from whatever I was listening to as I worked on the drawing), personal desires, personal dreams, and rants. None of these texts are really meant to be read - in fact reading it all would be impossible because I put letters where 'filler' is needed, not in sequences of sentences and/or words. Very little of the drawing is meant to be read: the very first part of the first drawing was what I wrote in the far upper left corner: "It's not meant to be read..." In this way the filler text composes the real fabric of life experience: the consistent background that's often ignored in the big picture of life.

Life #3 - Thoughts

2010-04-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

Although the triptych Life #3 is technically the third in my series of "Life" drawings, it really stands quite a bit apart from the other two. Life #1, as seen at the very bottom of the Life Series started as nothing more than a doodle and eventually turned into a basically a religious commentary. Certainly real elements of my own life were involved in the drawing, but as the drawing went on my personal thoughts and experiences became less and less important and I didn't feel much personal connection to the drawing even though I liked the end result.

Life #2 (second entry from the bottom) was never finished, although it had much more of a personal basis than did Life #1. Much of the 'fill text' (small text in-between the pictorial elements of the drawing that is really not meant to be read) is simply my personal journal that I was required to do for my Spiritual and Personal Formation class at Bethel Seminary - since we didn't have to hand it in I mixed it right into the drawing. Despite the fact that I did some personal investment in the drawing I lost interest in it and it's still sitting in storage back in Wisconsin - I have no plans to finish it.

[More content to be added soon]

Life #3 - Explanation of Process

2010-04-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

Right from the beginning Life #3 was different - although it started as a mistake. I was actually planning on doing a diptych but accidentally bought three sheets of paper when I thought I was buying two. Upon realizing my mistake I immediately decided that I liked the idea of triptych better anyway due to it's obvious symbolism of the Trinity and went with it: now I can't imagine what the drawing would have been like if it was only a diptych and am frightfully happy that I grabbed one more sheet than originally planned.

The drawing medium for Life #3 is pen and ink on watercolor paper. The primary brand of pen that I use for these drawings is Speedball and other closely related brands of pen nib which are all interchangeable. These are all metal pen nibs that need to be dipped in ink: there is no reservoir tube inside of the pen - every time a given nib runs out of ink it must be re-dipped in to the ink bottle. This sounds like more of a pain than it really becomes: in fact the need to continually dip the pens in ink gives far more control than regular pens because you can more easily dictate how heavy you want the ink to come out on the paper. Of course having such free ink on the nibs can also make for easy messes too: if I have a lot of ink on the nip and bump my elbow addicentally it can send a splashing gob of ink down onto the paper in a place that I don't want it: this happened dozens of times over the year plus that I was working on the drawing.

This is a farily complete sampling of all the nibs that I used for the drawing, from the smallest to the largest. The quarter is simply for size comparison (I do a pretty horrible job of cleaning my pen nibs: I need to work on that).

Early on the drawing this was the nib that I used the most by far, particularly for the filler text.

I discovered this nib at Pearl Paint on Canal St. in Manhattan and it quickly became the nib that I used the most: replacing the previous nib which after a while I found to be too unstable. I felt much more in control with this one, and it felt stronger in general. I also find this nib to be difficult to find, so after I finished Life #3 I went and bought 18 more of them (fortunately they're also really cheap - only $.29 each).

This is a 1/4 inch ink brush, and one of my favorite nibs (although I probably used it the least overall). This is good for thick, heavy lines: for example, the outline of the text tree in drawing #2 and #3 and the heavy radiating lines on the left side of the tunnel that dominates drawing #2. I would also use this to get blobs of ink on the drawing in key spots, and then I would pick the the drawing and while holding it verticle to the table I'd hit the drawing down to make the ink run down and across the paper.

Flat nibs work the best for creating flowing lines because of the change in thickness as the pen's direction is changed around the paper: a lot of my simple pattern work was done with flat nibs of various sizes (this was the largest): the gold-coloured top of the nib creates a reservoir for the ink. The flat nibs also work best for the Hebrew text.

This round-headed tip (the part that's bent up is round) work perfectly for rounded text - this is the nib that I used for the Greek text in drawing #3.

Very little of this drawing was planned: almost none of it in fact as exemeplified by it's very beginning by the buying of three sheets of paper instead of two and just going with it. I only knew two things when I started the drawing: 1. It would have the word 'Life' in large letters across the middle, and 2. It would have lots of text and other drawings within that large word to make the the whole of the drawing. From there on out I drew and wrote about whatever was interesting to me on that particular day and time that I was working on it. From time to time I'd take notes and place the around the drawing to remind myself of elements that I'd like to include, and still other details and sub-drawings were the results of total mistakes like dropped blops of ink which I would then need to cover up somehow. There are parts of the drawing that I absolutely hate, and there are other parts of the drawing that I can't stop staring at.

I think that the most noticable thing about the drawing as a whole is that the further right you go (it was created from left to right) the darker and heavier the drawing gets: the filler text is drawn much more densely, and there is a lot more heavier line work. Other than the word 'Life' itself, the first truly heavy lines were the top-most radiating lines coming out of the center of drawing #2 on top. It's funny looking back because when I fist drew those heavy lines - particularly the one on the right - I felt like it was too out of line with the rest of the drawing: now I think they're perfect.

My favorite part about doing this kind of drawing is the repetative patterns: making the repeated line patterns that dominate quite a number of spots on the drawing was very therapeutic. Also, as odd as this may sound I really enjoy holding the pens themselves - I feel like in a way I'm stepping back into a different time where things were more elegant and computers hadn't even dawned on the horizon. There were four main types of pen holder that I used while working on the drawing. I started by primarily using the black pen holder on the far right (see photo) and then the small brown holder on the left for the smallest of details. As the drawing progressed more I used an older version of the black holder second from the left (which had cork near the nib) but that eventually wore out and I threw it away. Getting in to the third drawing I went back to mostly using the far holder: it's much more solid. Then with only a couple weeks left I switched entirely over to the blue holder. It has the same strength and shape as the black on, but the blue material has a sort of velvet texture to it which made it much more comfortable than the hard overly-smooth plastic. If I could create my own pen holder I'd probably like it to be made out of some sort of metal and a lot heavier.

The main physical limitation in drawing with these materials is that especially with the small text and texture, my hands really took a beating: both from joint pain and pain from the pressure of the pens being squeezed between my fingers which would often hurt for days after a multi-hour drawing session. But in contrast to photography where I often feel too removed from the subject matter and the process (I sorely miss working with film in a darkroom), when I work with the pens and inks I feel like a genuine part of the work. Taking a photo is a much quicker process and so I think that my personal satisfaction with my photography is often left lacking these days. To step back and look at a single piece who's process has lasted well over a year gives me a much deeper sense of accomplishment in trying to say something with my artwork.

Life Drawing #3 - Macro and Detail Shots

2010-04-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

It's hard to really show the scale of the drawing with just a regular photo so I've included this one below. I'm just shy of 6' tall: my feet are flat on the floor in this photo, but I had to really crane my neck to look over the top of the drawing.

Detail and Macro Shots:

I was able to get this hyper-fine slice of depth-of-field in the next three photos by using a Canon 17-40mm f4L ultrawide lens with the camera set on the drawing.

Life Drawing #3 Overview - 3.31.2010

2010-03-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

The end is finally approaching. Once I'm done I'm planning on going over the whole drawing again to do some darkening and re-rendering to try and unify the work more before splitting it back into its respective three pieces.

Life Drawing #3 - Detail Photos: February 15th, 2010

2010-02-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

My life series drawings are largely about the details: I love working in Speedball and similar ink-dipping pens because of the incredibly fine detail that is possible to attain. Since most of the complex detail is lost in the overview shots of my Life #3 Drawing, I wanted to do a post that shows some of the detail that goes into these drawings. I'll start out with a small grouping of photos taken with my Canon XTi w/ 100mm f2.8 Macro lens.

Life #3 (66" x 30") In Progress - Overview Shot: February 15th, 2010

2010-02-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

I reached a huge milestone in this drawing yesterday by completing the second drawing in the triptych. I've had my hand on the second drawing for nearly as long as I've been working on the drawing. The Aaronic Blessing, in Hebrew in the upper left hand corner of drawing #2 was drawn/written in very early on in the work. I added the Hebrew text and the English text around it in April of 2009, only three months after starting the drawing and before I started the scene of the Thames in London on the bottom of Drawing #1. This is the first overview shot that I've done with the now completed drawing #2 - I will post some details soon. It's intentionally difficult to see where the drawing borders are: the first drawing ends right in the middle of the large black and red candle between the large 'L' and 'i' of the world 'Life,' and the second drawing ends right about in the middel of the large 'e': if you look at the top of the drawing you can see the break in the heavy red ink.

Life #3 (66" x 30") In Progress - Overview Shot: February 4th, 2010

2010-02-04T18:05:00.000-08:00

Life #3 Progress: 1.18.10

2010-01-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

This is a recent 'overall' shot of the three drawings.

Daily Photos: January 17th, 2010

2010-01-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

Queensboro Plaza: Long Island City, Queens

Photography: Rain Photos - G11 in Waterproof Housing, 1.17.10

2010-01-18T11:32:00.001-08:00

I recently purchased Canon's WP-DC34 waterproof housing for my Canon G11: mostly because I wanted to be able to take photos at night in the rain and get all the streetlights, headlights, and business sign lights reflecting off of the wet roads and sidewalks. This is from my first round of rain photos: the dots of color that you see in the photos are water droplets on the case in front of where the lens looks through. I think that in some of the instances it makes the photos look like something by Cézanne (particularly the last one) - in the future I'd like to try and work more with water on the lens cover and see what I can do.

Life #3 Progress: Macro and Ultrawide Shots, 1.8.10

2010-01-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

Daily Photos: December 14th/15th, 2009

2009-12-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

Updated Canon G11 review

2009-12-02T21:09:00.000-08:00

In an earlier review I compared Canon's S90 with the G11, both excellent cameras. Having spent a bit more time now with the G11 I wanted to add a few more comments (I returned the S90 and so will say no more about it).

The G11 is helping me to love photography once again. My heart and soul in photography since early on in college has been 4x5 film (as in 4x5 inches), ever since I got my hands on a cheap Crown Graphic large format camera. Nothing - and I mean nothing - surpasses the pristine quality that can be brought out of a large format negative (i.e., real film large format). 4x5 is amazing enough, to say nothing of 5x7 (a much less popular format) and 8x10 transparencies (the largest that I've shot is 5x7 - I have an Ansco 5x7 wooden view camera which I've not used nearly enough). But for anyone who's shot 4x5, you know that carrying even a light 4x5 setup around is a complete nightmare: everything is big and bulky and it's rarely possible to really shoot handheld (although not impossible with a Crown Graphic or similar camera). Because of all this, I really don't just feel like carrying my 4x5 with me at all times. The G11 allows me to do that.

Granted, the G11's sensor is tiny in comparison to a 4x5 negative: it's about the size of a fingernail. It's ridiculous for me to even mention the G11 and a 4x5 in one breath, but with the small sensor comes a very small camera that I can keep with me at all times. And for the miniscule size of the sensor, the camera takes amazing images.

I love night time photography, and this camera has allowed me to do it much more quickly and painlessly than before. Digitally, I've been shooting a Canon Rebel XTi with Canon's 17-40mm f4L (I refuse to buy EF-S lenses because I still have a Canon EOS 35mm camera and eventually plan on upgrading to a full-frame camera). This isn't a huge DSLR setup by any means, but for night photography I need to carry my mid-sized tripod to hold it steady which is just a little too heavy and awkward to comfortably carry around Brooklyn and Manhattan (where I normally shoot). With the G11 I can drop the camera onto a very small, very lightweight tripod that weighs about half a pound. The camera, plus the shutter release, plus the small tripod weighs what feels like nothing: it's extremely easy to run around with. And with the vari-angle LCD I can keep the camera low to the ground (which is an angle that I like better) yet still see the LCD from a standing position - this would be impossible on the S90 (or my EOS for that matter).

The only complaint that I have about the G11 is that in Manual mode it can only go to a 15 second shutter speed: I wish that it had a bulb setting and can't understand why it doesn't. The camera also only goes up to f8, but that's no big deal as with the tiny sensor anything smaller would just cause a lot of diffraction. I listed three things that the G11 has/can do that the S90 can't, and from the past nights of shooting two of those three things (vari-angle LCD and remote shutter release) have been making photography enjoyable again for me. Enjoy the shots as I add more - look for the G11 label on the menu...

Daily Photos: December 2nd, 2009

2009-12-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

Daily Photos: December 1st, 2009

2009-12-01T20:18:00.000-08:00

Daily Photos: November 30th, 2009

2009-11-30T20:00:00.000-08:00

Daily Photos: November 29th, 2009

2009-11-30T19:56:00.000-08:00

Canon S90 vs. Canon G11: A Matter of Personal Preference

2009-11-29T19:47:00.001-08:00

As mentioned in some of my other postings, I've been trying to find a 'carry everywhere' camera to always keep on my person so that I don't miss the amazing things that make up the events of everyday life (like tomorrow when I actually get to get off the R train at Cortland Street, something I haven't been able to do for years due to construction). I wanted something that was (1) Small and (2) Had the ability for full manual controls for shutter speed and aperture. The two cameras that fit this bill very well were Canon's S90 and G11 - Canon's top of the line point and shoots in their respective series (S and G). But which one?

The two major things that the cameras have in common (in addition to the above mentioned manual controls) are:

1. The same image sensor (same size, etc)
2. The same image processor

Anyone who's written a comparison of the cameras will point this out quickly - because normally 'which camera' would come down to these one of these two issues. In addition to these things, there are dozens of other features that both cameras share: this makes it very difficult to decide "which camera?" Having owned both of them (but ultimately deciding to go with the G11 and returning the S90) I would like to make a short list of positive/negatives which I think could be deciding factors when trying to choose between these two excellent cameras. Instead of listing both positive and negative points by each camera, I'll simply point out the positives of each that the other model does not share - I hope that this is helpful in your decision! (I shot both of the images below, but actually took my time with the G11 shot - this should not take away from how beautiful the S90 camera is - it's a work of art).

S90: Advantages

- Very compact: quite a bit smaller than the G11, it would easily fit in pockets and cases that the G11 never could. If you're into Pelican cases like I am, you can fit the S90 in the Pelican Micro Case 1010 with room to spare.

- More efficient controls: the ring around the lens is amazing and an excellent idea. Especially when in manual mode, this makes setting aperture and shutter speed a snap (it's more awkward on the G11 - you have to use the small back dial and then toggle between aperture and shutter speed with a seperate button which can get to be messy when you're trying to shoot quickly).

- The f2.0 lens: a full stop faster than the G11's 2.8 lens. This is a LOT of light, and especially important when you want to take photos in low-light situations.

G11: Advantages

- Hot shoe: but on a compact? Some people will say "it's pointless to use an external flash on a compact camera - the whole point is to be compact!" That's a valid critique, but at the same time there are times that it's nice to be able to throw a flash on a compact if you really need one. I own the 430EX and the 580EX II (both compatible) but I picked up the newish 270EX with the G11 (pictured below) and it works fantastically with the camera without adding a lot of weight. Both the camera and the flash fit perfectly into the Pelican 1060 case side by side but with enough room to stay padded with the foam insert. And hey - if I want to throw the nearly-twice-as-big-as-the-camera-itself 580EX II on the G11 I can do it! Yet I can also do without it - the camera is versitile this way in a way that the S90 is not.

- Vari-Angle LCD: which at first I found annoying. The screen adds just enough bulk to the camera that it does not fit in smaller cases that it otherwise would. When I first got the camera I was really rather annoyed by it in fact - not only because of the bulk but because it was actually smaller than the LCD on the S90. I had to read another review to realize that it was a much better thing than I realized - because it allows you to hold the camera at all sorts of different levels and angles while still allowing you to see what you're shooting. I really enjoy doing photography with the camera low to the ground (I have an angled viewfinder for my DSLR) and so this works perfectly for what I need. As others have pointed out, the Vari-Angledness of the LCD allows you to flip it while in storage so that it's even more protected.

- Remote Shutter Release: you can use one! I love doing night photography and that the G11 allows me to use a cable release really seals the deal on the S90 vs. G11 for me personally (granted on the S90 you can always use the 2 second self-timer). Good news too if you use a Canon Rebel DSLR - it's the same cable release.

I made the photo below to highlight all three of what I would see as clear advantages of the G11 over the S90 for my use. Others will see the three advantages of the S90 as more important and they should go in that direction - they're both amazing cameras that will take incredible photos in skilled hands - enjoy! (Note: the G11 comes with a neck strap which I find annoying - I never carry a camera around my neck. The strap below is a Nikon (gasp!) strap that I attached onto one of the G11's strap lugs so that it's secure when I'm holding it.)

Daily Photos: November 28th, 2009

2009-11-28T14:25:00.000-08:00

Daily Photos: November 27th, 2009

2009-11-28T13:29:00.001-08:00

I've switched over to a new 'Daily Photos' camera (although I will continue to also use the HERO camera for it's fisheye lens) - a Canon G11. Although I know that it has the exact same sensor and processor as the S90 (which I returned very quickly after purchase) I like how the G11 feels much better, and I also prefer to have the option to attach an external flash, even if it is the rather small Canon 270EX which I carry with the camera. Since I just purchased the camera I haven't done a whole lot with it yet, but from the shots that I've taken I've been very impressed...

Daily Photos: November 20, 2009

2009-11-22T20:42:00.000-08:00

Hero Camera: Williamsburg Bridge - September 26th, 2009

2009-11-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

Bike ride from Park Slope, Brooklyn up through Prospect Heights, Bed-Stuy, Williamsburg, et. al, and over the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan.

Daily Photos: November 16th, 2009

2009-11-16T16:26:00.000-08:00

Daily Photos: November 11th, 2009

2009-11-14T23:14:00.000-08:00

Daily Photos: November 5th, 2009

2009-11-14T23:12:00.000-08:00

Daily Photos: October 30th, 2009

2009-11-14T23:05:00.001-08:00

Daily Photos: Making New Use of the HERO Camera - Round 1: October 29th, 2009

2009-11-14T23:03:00.000-08:00

Having returned my beautiful Canon S90 to Calumet, I was trying to think of another solution to my desire to have a camera on me at all times without lugging around my DSLR. Then it struck me: why not use a camera that I already own? I decided to start carrying my HERO bike helmet camera around with me for my 'Daily Photography' - it's very small but can actually produce a very nice image. All subsequent posts in this series will simply have a title with the date - enjoy!

Daily Photos Introduction - the Canon S90 "Failure"

2009-11-14T22:44:00.000-08:00

Recently I've really wanted to start a more continuous flow of photographs from simple daily life. One of the reasons for this is that there's been several legit photography books and blogs/websites published lately that have been exclusively iPhone photos, or on another website all Motorola cell phone photos. I find the colors on my BlackBerry's phone to be intolerably dull, so I wanted some other small camera that I could easily have on my person at all times. I read some raving reviews of the Canon S90 before it was even released, and decided to go for it. Unfortunately it sold out from B&H the day that it came into stock, but I was able to get one at Calumet Photo near the Flatiron building early the next morning - it was already their last one. I carried it around for a day or to but decided to take it back...

The camera itself was amazing: it felt great, was obviously built very well, had all the functionality of a full DSLR as far a control, and it was all black: I felt like I couldn't lose.

Unfortunately, once I looked at the actual image quality I decided to return the camera. Honestly there was nothing wrong with the images - in fact the image quality was excellent (for a compact camera this one has a large sensor, but it's still only about 1/4th the size of a full-frame DSLR). There was just a feel about them though that didn't quite sit right with me: it wasn't the look I was going for - that's why I knew I had to take it back (even though I'd still HIGHLY recommend it as a compact point-and-shoot).

Still, the photos from my (brief) S90 were the first of my 'Daily Photos' photos, so I wanted to include them - here are some of my favorites...