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This week’s snowicane has apparently failed to make it far enough inland to really impact southern Ontario. But who needs white snow anyway? I’ve got plenty of white plasticine, white seashells, white coral, white rice, and white paper to keep me occupied.

I suppose this comes on the heels of another desaturated image. I’m beginning to find my productive groove back. Maybe this one-dimensional graphic style is what I’ll pursue for a while. It seems to jive with my ambiance these days. Anyway, taking the colour out of a work allows you to focus your eyes on its other lively attributes… I guess that here the life is in the texture.

I derive satisfaction from how the varying subtleties of bold and blustery (shadows of clay) are in epic conversation with wispy and whimsical (flowing rice) in this arrangement. Like you and I, these materials have context-specific personality.

I’m also excited about IAM Encounter in New York next week. Roadtripping with Scott and Keith.

Peace.

H

This is a self portrait of sorts. Lately I’ve been completely in the web development zone, and not at all in the art zone. And so I feel dangerously (and perhaps literally) disjointed. Either I’m in over my head, or I’ve lost my head altogether, and so that is the reason for today’s wire sketch. I missed Francine’s birthday, earlier this week, and so she got to keep the sculpture as a kind of consolation prize. You have to redeem these moments I guess. The rest of the afternoon, I hung out on James Street North, where my artist friends encouraged me to stay on as an artist (and also as a web developer). I’m grateful for the encouragement, and for all the putting-up-with that people endure in spite of my being behind schedule on just about everything. I think things will get better soon. Just gotta learn to juggle more efficiently, or perhaps to find my head back, hopefully with the capacity for vision still intact. In either case, I crave additional focus and direction for my crazy-running-around-in-circles. Principled living without wisdom is nearly impossible. Has anyone seen my head anywhere?

I’ve been inspired by zazzle stickers. I decided to do a few of my own. There may be more of these on the way. If you’ve got an idea for one, (i.e. a brand/slogan combo that would work) please let me know!

I’ve been inspired by zazzle stickers. I decided to do a few of my own. There may be more of these on the way. If you’ve got an idea for one, (i.e. a brand/slogan combo that would work) please let me know!

According to Google, “every Man’s god is”…
1. his highest ideal
2. what he attaches the most importance to
3. what he serves and loves best
4. a reflex of himself
5. but an enlarged edition of himself
6. Gold
7. exactly what he thinks it is
8. just his own perception of what God really is
9. as that man (Goethe)

Reflecting on this, I recalled a photo, which I took in July 2007 at the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. What remains apparent for me in this image is both the contrast and the similarity between the two religions: capitalism and catholicism.

In this reflection, I also recalled a talk by Karen Armstrong which I viewed on TED in September 2008. My notes on the talk included this: “every man’s god is his own creature, and in praising it he praises himself.”

These things are humbling. In the face of this postmodern mess, it’s at least somewhat counter-cultural to yet uphold the Reformation’s ideal “Soli Deo Gloria”. In doing so, it of course remains easy to claim just a little bit of that glory for oneself… whether it’s intellectual prowess, or some other gift of grace that we claim as our own.

To move forward, though, let’s recall that if there is brilliance in us, it’s because we reflect it, and not because we invented it. We ultimately remain creatures, even as we become (lowercase) creators.

Peace.

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On this Christmas evening,

I want to reach out and connect with all the special people in my life who mean or have meant something unique to me.
Wherever you are…
Whenever we may have last spoken…
Whatever colour you’re wearing today…

I’ve been reflecting, this year, on redemption, and what it means to take something broken, and to heal it. To find meaning in the mud, and nuance in the neglected. This artwork, "Lo how a Rose" is made of dead flowers, revived; smashed lightbulbs, re-arranged, and simple material forms, with life breathed into them.

May you all find it in you to redeem the fractured things around you, as God did in causing Jesus, the tender shoot, to sprout from the broken stump, and in offering the world forgiveness, in redeeming us.

May you sing and pray and rejoice with the ones that you love. In this season of advent, I extend to you Peace. Shalom. Shanti.

Best,

Harold

Apparently you can now get competing quotes for an eternal relationship. I wonder if they offer free shipping?

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Dream with me in warmer grey and white beneath this dreary misery.
Discover nuance in November: drab among months, unless your eyes really listen.

Choose perception when driving by ditches flocked with fuzzy cat-tails and grey grass.
Compare in code the colours #ccc and #ddd.

Value variance within a narrow range of hinted tints.
Play with luminance on a scale of visual semi-tones.

Rely on other options than the treble/bass dichotomy of poorly executed pop.
Restrict your eyes to the eleventh melody’s percussive palette.

Take it as a treat when seasonal snafoo veils its inner whisper.
Flaunt – as do the mist and frost – a subtler side of you.

Whisper of the whirls that were and whorls that will be.
Anticipate with drowning leaves, a thick, white, flowing sea.

Think.
Reflect.

November.

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Forever etched into my consciousness is a rhyme I heard as a child on a record called “Pudding and Pie”. The nursery rhyme, not unlike “Jack and Jill” or “Rockabye Baby” has its brutal, even violent moments. I don’t know how many other kids have been scarred by “Ladybird, Ladybird”, but the lyrics go something like this:
–
Ladybird, ladybird fly away home,
Your house is on fire
your children will burn,
All except one,
Her name is Ann,
She hid under the frying pan.
–
I hope you’ll agree that my autumnal take on the ladybug is somewhat more playful.

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Perhaps more interesting than the question "Which way is up?" is the Paradox of the Trinity. It’s probably one of my favourite doctrines, ever! For a fresh take on how God’s character is intrinsically relational, (and an insightful take on wisdom as relationship-building) I recommend Wise Relationships, a sermon by Tim Keller. Thanks to my friend David Winkel for suggesting it!