With Ash Wednesday just around the corner, it seems a good time to do a spot of housekeeping here at The Painted Prayerbook. I have a few artful offerings for Lent that I want to let you know about, along with some related news.
ORIGINAL ART: The artwork above is a series of charcoals that I did a few years ago for Peter Storey’s book Listening at Golgotha. Peter is a former bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and served as the chaplain to Nelson Mandela during his years in prison. In this book, Peter offers a powerful series of reflections on the Seven Last Words of Jesus. The original artwork is available for sale (as an intact series), beautifully matted and framed. Great for a church, chapel, or other space for devotion/worship, especially during Lent and Holy Week. For more information, visit The Seven Last Words Series. [Update: I am delighted to share that the series is now permanently installed at Duke Divinity School.]
ART PRINTS: All of the images from The Seven Last Words Series are available as prints; check out the Art Prints page on my website. Prints of The Lenten Series (illustrations from my book Garden of Hollows) are also available on my site, along with plenty of other images. You can also now order prints at janrichardsonimages.com (including prints of all the artwork on this blog); go to any image and click “Prints & Products.”
A LITERARY LENT: Published through my small press, Garden of Hollows: Entering the Mysteries of Lent & Easter offers artwork and reflections on the sacred texts and themes of the coming season. You can read excerpts and order at Wanton Gospeller Press.
IMAGES ONLINE: The site Jan Richardson Images makes all my artwork easily accessible for use in worship, education, and related settings. You’ll find lots of images for Lent and Easter as well as the rest of the year.
eNEWSLETTER: I send out an occasional e-newsletter. It includes a seasonal reflection, artwork, information about current offerings and upcoming events, and whatever else strikes my creative fancy. I would be delighted to include you in my mailing list if you haven’t already subscribed. You can sign up here.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: I’m looking forward to heading to Virginia to offer some events next week (if the weather is willing!) and will head to Washington State and Nevada later this year. If you’re in the vicinity, please come join us! More info at Upcoming Events.
GRATITUDE: Deep thanks to you for visiting The Painted Prayerbook and for the sustenance and companionship you provide along the way. Your comments, emails, prayers, and presence are manna on my path. Know that you are present in my prayers, and I wish you a most blessed Lenten season.
February 12, 2010 at 1:15 PM |
Dear Jan:
I am preparing to finish a two year Iowa-based Spiritual Dirction program called Spirations. Our seventh (of eight) modlules was about “Light and Dark,” and your book, Night Visions was our principal text for the quarter. Unfortunately I was unable to read the text easily because of the smaller print (I have macular degeneration). I did order Sacred Journies and am using this as my daily devotional for now.
We returned from our seventh retreat the week you arrived in Minnesota. That’s when I went to your website and realized I’d just missed you. UTS is my alma mater; it’s where I grew into myself and earned my M.Dov. degree.
Each of our eight retreats (the last one is in April) begins with an integrative–a project of any kind that depicts what we learned during our previous quarter’s work. I, an artist by no means, made two banners. The bottom banner contained three large candles with stars and the sun atop them. Over the lower banner, I placed a dark piece of felt. I cut out small shapes in the upper banner and kept them open with small velcro circles. I told my colleagues: “Most of the time we only get to see a little light here and a little light there.” I demonstrated by opening the little shapes on the top banner. Then I took the top banner off the lower banner (also attached with a strip of velcro) and said, “This is what we see in an epiphany.” Now they saw the lower banner whch revealed the candles, stars and sun, all made with yellow and bright orange quilt fabrics. Last week I showed it to my little congregation in Farmington MN. (We live in Richfiield). They liked it too.
If your site is The Painted Prayerbook, then my site is the Crayola Prayerbook. Not as alliterative, but the truth.
Deep bows to you and yours.
Terry Roos