Creative effort today was getting a Large chunk of pig into smaller chunks and into an already-stuffed little freezer. God does everyday miracles and special miracles. This was the latter. Then the fat needs to be rendered into lard. Pies, anyone? And the bones cooked for broth. And places found for everything. Nobody can say homemaking doesn't require creative energy and ingenuity.
Drawing Lesson
This was learning to work the opposite from normal: after collecting still life objects, we darkened the page and used our erasers as rendering implements to bring light to the page and reveal the objects. This is a good exercise to help one focus on tone and value instead of lines.
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| Charcoal is easier (and messier), but we used pencil. |
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| Erasers bring out some shapes. |
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| Some of the background was lightened, too, to show shapes of shadows. |
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| To finish, additional additive lines darkened or adjusted some areas. This was just a quick demonstration sketch, but if you look up "reductive drawing" you can find some gorgeous works with strong tones. |
Blessings on your weekend and Transfiguration Sunday.
Thank you, Sarah Y., for all your comments. Looking forward to seeing your works again on Tuesdays.
Did someone go hunting? From where did the pig come? We have a whole butchered pig every year but I still haven't rendered the lard from the last one (it's in the freezer).
ReplyDeleteRegarding the (terribly amateur) violet plate and tile in the background- they were made with the same "millefiori" technique you are using with the polymer clays. I made a "loaf" with the rods of color to build that flower motif and then sliced the loaf. That explains the lack of precision in shapes and detail, right? I got a lot of slices from that loaf and made a lot of mostly handbuilt pieces with them. I think you may have the only surviving remnants there.
Regarding the drawing- it seems like one would need a pointed eraser tool for better control and precision?
And lastly- I've noticed the change in church calendar with WELS. Our Transfiguration was last Sunday. Why did WELS change the calendar? What was wrong with the ages old one?
Thanks, Pam, for your comments.
ReplyDeleteThe pork was actually an offer from our local grocery store: buy more, pay less. There seems to be an over abundance of pork being raised by farmers presently.
I know you always say you don't like your early work (I don't like mine either), but I do like the two pieces with violets from you, and I am glad they survive. And precision is not the key, or even important, factor in them being pleasing works. They do what they are supposed to do: evoke violet-ness.
I would agree that having a pointed eraser for precision erasing in reductive drawing would be helpful, but in the group we had such was not available, so we made do with what was on hand.
Regarding Transfiguration Sunday, what did you observe this week if you had transfiguration last week? In the oldTLH (and all the regular liturgical orders of other denominations, not including Catholic) the last Sunday after Epiphany (meaning the Sunday before Ash Wednesday) calls for the observance of the Transfiguration. (Unless the use of the "-gesima Sundays" shortens the Epiphany season, but then you would have had Transfiguration three weeks ago, I think.)
Following is an outline of common practice (not just Lutheran) from some site:
Transfiguration Sunday: Why Do We Celebrate It Before Lent?
The background of this question lies in the differing practices of Christians in North America. Many denominations schedule the observance of the Transfiguration on the Sunday before Lent. There are three different times when the Transfiguration is commemorated and celebrated:
Roman Catholics celebrate the Transfiguration on the second Sunday of Lent.
Most other denominations following a liturgical calendar, including those that follow The Revised Common Lectionary, celebrate it on the last Sunday after the Epiphany (the Sunday before Ash Wednesday).
On the calendar of "Holy Days," liturgical churches observe the Transfiguration on August 6.
Why does the celebration of the Transfiguration take place just before Lent in denominations that follow The Revised Common Lectionary?
The Book of Common Prayer collect for the Last Sunday after the Epiphany suggests why the Transfiguration of Our Lord is celebrated when it is:
O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
We celebrate the revelation of Christ's glory "before the passion" so that we may "be strengthened to bear our cross and be changed into his likeness." The focus of the Lenten season is renewed discipline in walking in the way of the cross and rediscovery of the baptismal renunciation of evil and sin and our daily adherence to Christ. At Easter, which reveals the fullness of Christ’s glory (foreshadowed in the Transfiguration), Christians give themselves anew to the gospel at the Easter Vigil where they share the dying and rising of Christ.
In the biblical context, the synoptic gospels narrate the Transfiguration as a bridge between Jesus' public ministry and his passion. From the time of the Transfiguration, Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem and the cross.
I guess the difference is the use of the "-gesima" Sunday's, yesterday being Quinquagesima (with a reading of 1 Cor. 13 appropriate for the secular calendar too!) I have WELS friends on Facebook and have noticed other church calendar differences throughout the year which is why I mention it. Without finding the specific changes, I've just noticed that our calendar and their calendar are off each other by two or three weeks. This seems like a change from the old LH. Eliminating the -gesima Sundays is one. I was wrong about our marking of Transfiguration, it was on Jan. 21- such a shortened season this year.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed the missing - gesima Sundays, but we have to sort of work around our Pastor's readings, so we mostly follow the new reading pericope, except when it leaves out things like Epiphany Day and Ascension Day and such.
ReplyDeleteI hear there is much ado on social media (I haven't seen it personally) about the juncture of the "Hallmark Holidays" with the Christian ones of Ash Wednesday and Easter, on Valentines and April Fools, respectively. And who will have the last laugh....
I haven't seen anything on social media but we have talked about it at church. I think Easter will win out anyway because there is no actual "observance" of April Fools Day. As for this Wednesday, how many people actually observe Ash Wednesday by going to church? Not many. So Valentines Day will get more attention.
DeleteAnd so to my original question- why is there a new pericope? Why does it leave out those things?
DeleteThey are probably two ships passing in a fog: Social media will blab as it does, secular people will buy chocolates in red boxes, and fools will play pranks, while others will go to work with ashes on their foreheads, attend sunrise services, and make church breakfasts, with neither group much aware of the convergence of the days, except for the five minutes of Twitter attention span.
ReplyDeleteBut don't churches there usually have Ash Wednesday services? Start of mid-week Lenten services, right?
ReplyDeleteYes, the Lutherans do. And the Catholics their all day masses. But I don't know of any others. Do the churches in Switzerland hold Ash Wednesday services? And are they well attended?
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ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment on my comments! XD That drawing looks like fun! Maybe I will try one sometime. It is not particularly high in importance on my to-do list, however, I regret to say.
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