Commissioning a Collage From Abby Sernoff

I have been thinking about celebrating this piece of art for too long, but hey here I am finally doing it. Maybe it was finally commissioning a new piece of art (a gift to myself for a big birthday) that finally got me into the studio to get an image of this jazz tree.

Abby managed to get music, botany, birds and orange into this piece of work. Nothing like hitting many of my interests and showing she made it for me. Check out the post she wrote about the piece and Abby explained how it was somewhat a collaboration between us and while you are at it, you can see her other great art on etsy.

 

Joy emerges

This is the story of a stained glass, it may have started long before I start the story, but most stories do. Tomato seedlings emerging at work were in my head when I headed to Telford, PA a few weeks ago for my Lenten retreat. Reflecting on Isaiah, the image of God holding me in the same manner as when I hold a seedling in the palm of my hand as I move it to a larger less crowded home. Then given some tools to play with, I made these prints....



since the previous week retreats had inspired stained glass (here and here) I imagined making a stained glass that spelled out JOY, but I didn't. The next week in Telford I was directed to do a collage, so being a good student.....




Then I was told to use my scraps to make a collage. The other man in our group had three pieces to work with, but I had plenty and it was a hoot. I loved the result more than my original...



A friend, and co-leader of the retreat, asked me to turn it upside down. A voice rang out, "I see a J." Others agreed, now I had two weeks to get JOY done. Yesterday, with 15 minutes to spare, I took this photo of the result before I headed out to my last Lenten retreat in Telford.....



I took it out of the box and hung it in a window and practiced taking compliments, and thanked them for inspiring me. The piece made it home and has been hanging in a window, which is just to my left. It did make a journey upstairs last night, and with the lights out in my studio, JOY shines out.