Day Five

Day Five

For the painting 'Day Five', I decided to try a completely different style. I have always liked the Arts and Crafts period, and the Art Nouveau period, and so I decided to try my hand at representing a current take on that model. I tried to respect the concept of using earth tones, while at the same time using my preferred brighter versions of the colors. I love the stylized natural elements and the framing one often sees in artwork from these periods, so I tried to use similar techniques. 

This painting served a few purposes for me. First, trying a new-to-me style; next, meeting a need for a bird themed painting; and also, communicating a couple of things about a passage in Genesis. 

Day Five was the day GOD created birds and fish. I wanted to use structure, design, and beauty to communicate those aspects of HIS work. I also wanted the painting to be clearly done by an artist - not a photograph caught by chance - to represent the intentional nature of GOD's creation. Then I wanted it to be clearly done 'by hand' - a work where one can see the hand of the maker. This not only represents the personal nature of GOD's creation, but also the ideal of the Arts and Crafts movement. There are elements that are represented in groups of five, reiterating the title. 

Gen 1:20-23 NASB Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

11" x 14" acrylic on watercolor paper

1/2 " white border