A Book of Revelations, Design for pp. 1-2

6/1/2022

During the Italian Renaissance, two schools of thought came about to describe the ideation and creation of paintings. One was named 'disegno' and was associated with the Florentine way while the other was 'colore' and was associated with the Venetian way. The former emphasized planning, order, logic, drawing, linework, and composition. On the other hand, the latter focused on movement, emotion, freeform design, and dramatic light and color. The former could be seen as masculine, and the latter, feminine.

After thinking about this, I decided that it would be interesting to make one side of the book, the attack against Catholicism, be represented by this orderly and linework-heavy method while the rebuttal would be represented by the emotional and painterly method.

In case you missed it, click here to learn about my prior post in the Book of Revelations series, which details my research for these artworks.

Design Juxtaposition

You can see in the pictures below that the paintings on the left page vs right page contrast heavily with each other (as always, feel free to click on the images to make them bigger).

At this point, you may be wondering why I covered up the right page. I did this because I wanted viewers to glance over the page and only see "Patriarchy," and therefore see a confirmation of their own beliefs. However, it was only when they'd reach out to uncover the right side that they would discover contradictory information. It wouldn't just be handed to them- they would have to initiate and perform some work. They had a choice to either be content with what they already understood, or put forth effort to learn about another way of thinking.

-Disegno/Masculine/Left Page-

Because I knew from the onset that this project would be a book, when I thought about artwork that was characterized by linework, details, and planning, the Book of Kells came immediately to mind. How the monks created such fine details is beyond me. Some of the delicate spirals are so small, historians thought that they couldn't have been created by a paintbrush. Some speculate that flat clock springs were dipped in ink and pressed on the page. Regardless of how they were achieved, the designs are incredible. I wanted to mimic them and I thought that the most renowned page from the Book of Kells was the Chi Rho page. I thought it would be the perfect fit to do a play on words with the word "patriarchy" so here is the preliminary sketch I made:

Symbolism

Animals play a large part in the symbolism of the Book of Kells so I inserted some into my design. I wanted them to represent stereotypical male traits that, when used imprudently, can become toxic.
Strength, whether physical or metaphorical, is a keystone of masculinity. When turned toxic though, it can be used against others. Two animals that echo this idea of brute strength are the bull and alligator. Therefore, in the heart of the letter 'P,' I drew the faces of those animals.

An angel appears as the dot over the 'i' and two dragons encircle each other on the right. There's no toxic masculine traits with the angel- I included because they are everywhere in the Book of Kells so I couldn't not include one.
In terms of the dragons though, they are seen as "the devouring monster who angrily destroys his victims." pg 16 in the Signs and Symbols in Christian Art by George Ferguson, which is a book I HIGHLY recommend. I have referenced it for almost every artwork I have ever made.

Ah, one of my favorite parts of this piece. Of all the aspects of Catholicism that people cite to prove that the Church is a patriarchy, the most common one is that the 12 Apostles were all men. I wanted to pay tribute to this by drawing them alongside the spine of the 'p'.

Of course, painting the 12 Apostles meant that I would have to draw Judas as well. In icons, it is very rare to see a face in profile because it implies that someone is hiding something. Thought it was pretty appropriate for Judas' character so I used that in his design.

The upside down dog that is touching the top of the letters "AR" was just an insanely cool coincidence. I was doodling everywhere else and as I closed in on that spot, I turned the page and BAM it hit me that the negative space looked like a dog. So I just outlined it, drew some eyes and other details, and called it a day. Dogs normally have virtuous connotations so let's say that this one can symbolize when it's normal virtues of loyalty and alertness turn to arrogance and laziness.

Drawing Woes

As many artists do, I like to get my drawings started on paper that is easy to work with so that I can get major placement down and have an idea of where I want everything to go. I need to work through various concepts and compositions before I decide on the final rendering. Once the composition is locked in, I add in the detail work. I only transfer it to the good, expensive paper once everything is finalized. Because I work like this, I have a drawing mock up that I can file away and reuse.
With this piece, I started drawing on printer paper (since the dimensions were something I liked) and everything fell into place quite easily. I ended up continuing to flesh out the detail work until it was finished. However, I wasn't thinking about how I would need to transfer the insane amount of detail work I created to the expensive watercolor paper. For those who aren't familiar, you can sandwich carbon paper in between a drawing and the paper it needs to be transferred to. Then, all you need to do is trace over your linework and the carbon paper will transfer it. Pretty much how a checkbook works. It's not that difficult of a process, but it is mind-numbingly boring. For every hour that I spent drawing, it was an extra hour to trace. Plus, you can't get fine lines transferred with carbon paper. If your little ball-point-transfer-burnisher-tool doesn't have a fine tip, the lines it creates will be too thick. But if the ball-point-transfer-burnisher-tool does has a fine tip, and you press too hard in order for the carbon to transfer, it could rip through your paper. This only becomes more difficult if you are transferring to textured paper.
Because my drawing was very delicate (creating it went well but I was really working the paper and I knew that if I went over all of my linework with the ball-point-transfer-burnisher-tool, it would potentially damage the paper). I therefore scanned the drawing and printed it out. I used the copy to draw over with the ball-point-transfer-burnisher-tool and it worked great. I couldn't transfer the smallest details though so I had to focus on the larger shapes. Once the main pieces were transferred, I used a pencil to draw the fine lines directly on the watercolor paper. The whole process took ages.
Here is what the transferred drawings looked like (it's next to impossible to tell, but the blue lines are from the carbon paper while the gray lines are the ones I hand drew):

I taped the paper to a piece of wood to keep the paper taut. When using watercolors, the paper will wrinkle from the moisture but as long as it's taped down, it will shrink as it dries and therefore flatten out.

-Colore/Feminine/Right Page-

As I mentioned in my post about the research that went into this piece, the rebuttal to the patriarchy complaint would be a quote by Edith Stein aka St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. It read, "Each woman who lives in the light of eternity can fulfill her vocation, no matter if it is in marriage, in a religious order, or in a worldly profession." Because this page dealt with the feminine design approach, I looked into artworks made my female artists and that's when I learned about artworks made by nuns. An amazing research help was the book Nuns as Artists: The Visual Culture of a Medieval Convent by Jeffrey F. Hamburger. He thoroughly analyzes artworks which were created by an anonymous nun from the Benedictine convent of St. Walburg in Germany. They are dated around the 1500s and are incredible insights into the devotional life of those nuns during that time period. The paintings were created as prayer aides and they spoke to the cloistered nuns on a personal level, in a more individual way than the illuminated manuscripts and woven tapestries that they would've been familiar with. The style of these paintings can be described as quaint, childlike, and simplistic, but as windows into the devotional life of these medieval nuns, their beauty is deeper than that. As Hamburger writes, "As images made by and for nuns, the drawings from St. Walburg invite interpretation as autonomous expressions of female spirituality." (pg 181) They could insert themselves in devotional scenes and see themselves as active participants in their faith, which is a powerful thing. In addition, the act of painting was worship, and also aided in worship.

Inspiration

Click on the images to see a slideshow.

My Version

Folk vs Academic Art

And it needs to be noted that there is a trend within the art community (and outside of it) that values academic art over folk art. The definition of folk art is very subjective but artwork can be contained under its umbrella if the artist was self-taught or if the artwork is utilitarian/less refined/made in countries outside of Europe. And if it falls under that umbrella, it is seen as lesser than 'fine art.' But this belief completely erases unique viewpoints that folk art contains. For every individual thought that a human experiences, there is an art style that helps to illustrate it. Therefore it is impossible that one way of designing art could be better than another. To pay tribute to this beautiful style of the St. Walburg images, I made each rebuttal painting inspired by them.

Symbolism in Mini-Paintings

Setting

The man is a priest and stands on the altar, celebrating the Mass. On the other hand, the woman can be seen as a teacher in a classroom, presenting in a business meeting, or even cooking in a kitchen. While men celebrating the Mass make the area a meeting place between heaven and earth and make present Christ, women can do the same while in their daily lives. "Priests as fathers feed the flock under their care, but the whole Church as mother is entrusted with the spiritual upbringing of her children." AoWitCC pg 150 That can easily be achieved by educating the future generation in the classroom, but also by being an example of a fair employee in the workplace, or spending hours in the kitchen to feed their family (when all they want to do is be elsewhere). They can be active examples of Christian life wherever they find themselves.

Body Language

The body language is the same the for man and woman but they have different intents. The priest's outstretched arms with open hands is called the 'orans' position. It is a symbol of the priest acting in persona Christi and therefore it is reserved for them to use during Mass. The woman's outstretched arms echo a teaching posture.

Color

I chose green because the Signs and Symbols in Christian Art says that it is "the color of vegetation and of spring, and therefore symbolizes the triumph of spring over winter, or of life over death." It is also a symbol of hopeful waiting. I thought it would be a good tie in with the idea of new life being created once men and women realize their distinct roles and fulfill them.

Tree

The tree has a variety of symbolism in Christian art but I chose it for three reasons:

It is a symbol of the interconnectedness of men and women and how fruitful it can be once both sexes understand their roles and act within them.
It ties back to the Garden of Eden where in the Old Testament, the fruit of a tree was the catalyst of division between the sexes. It symbolized pride. However, in the New Testament, Jesus was nailed to a cross and died for us, the ultimate sign of humility and sacrifice. It is only with these two aspects that the sexes can be reunited.
Plants are a major design detail in the St. Walburg images and I wanted to keep a consistent look in my paintings.

Art Creation Slideshow

It was only after I assembled this slideshow that I realized I don't have any pictures of how I developed the design for the right page. Because it was relatively simple and I was able to draw/paint it quickly, there wasn't much to document. Hope you enjoy the process photos of the left page being created. :)