I like accomplishing two things at once. It’s efficient. Two birds, one stone. And when a personal project connects to a creative projects, that’s even better.

Growing up, my family was half Catholic and half Lutheran. My family wasn’t overtly religious, but faith was an important part of our lives. I knew a lot of Bible stories, but I hadn’t actually read much of the actual Bible. Admittedly, even now I still kinda zone out halfway through the readings during mass. But I have wanted to read it for a while. My biggest obstacles, though, were my lengthy list of books to read and the fact that I’m a slow reader. A few months ago, I finally sat down with an old leather bound edition and started at the beginning with the Book of Genesis.

One of the things that struck me right away was the language of the edition I had chosen. I find a lot of modern things to be far to clean-cut and boring. I much prefer the elegance of older and (sometimes) archaic things. So when I chose which Bible edition to read, I went with the older, leather bound, gilt-edged edition and not the paperback edition with contemporary discussion topics included in the margins I received when I was elementary or middle school. Personal preferences aside, I think this worked out very well. Because the language used in the edition I was reading brought such beautiful and striking images to my mind. Few of these images were overtly religious, but I was entranced by all of them. These images stuck with me and I began to feel compelled to put them down on paper.

Which brings us to the Genesis Series. Inspired by lines and passages from the Book of Genesis, each painting in this series is a reflection and meditation on the story and themes presented in the Book. Spiritual overtones are present in the paintings, but it is not the sole focus. Inspiration and reflection are the more predominant focuses of the work.

The first three paintings for this series have been completed and are posted here on my website.
     1:2 The Face of the Waters
     1:5 The Evening and the Morning
     1:6 In the Midst of the Waters

Until next time.
 - Ari