Grounded in comforting sunshine, weighed down with the heavy metal poisoning of a toxic world. Yet here the wind of the Spirit whispers, breathing through simple white blooms, “so even springs beauty from taint of toxin by the hand of our good God,” and away wafts the crumbled heart-lead as does the reborn caterpillar.
These flowers which grow wild in my area during spring are called Prairie Bishop’s weed. I have no idea why a plant poisonous to livestock would be given the title of a cleric… If I think too much about it it gets a bit creepy. And yet, if I think more positively, I can see where a pastor with much on his heart that is difficult to bear might find encouragement in contemplating the fact of beauty resulting even from toxicity through faith and the action of our good Creator–he’s just that mighty!
Of Interest To Artists
If you’d like a tip about choosing a color palette, keep reading!
I enjoy the process of making my own pastel surfaces and using inktense blocks to underpaint. Lately I’ve been challenging myself to give a little more effort in my underpaintings so that I have a better map once I begin with the pastel itself.
This is gesso and pumice on matboard. I apply it in one direction, then again in another and that gives a texture similar to canvas.
Inktense is one of my favorite underpainting techniques. I have collected all the colors, and they can be mixed to get whatever color you’d like.
Here’s a tip: I often get help with choosing a palette for a painting that has otherwise boring color (in this case green and white) by searching ‘color schemes’ or ‘color combinations’ in my browser. A quick screen shot allows me to take it to the studio and choose my pastels knowing without a doubt the colors will work together.
Here’s the one I chose for this painting.
