Saturday, January 29, 2011

Creation of Adam

OK... So I said I'd be posting a portrait a week. And hopefully I'll finish the piece I'm working on by tomorrow. 


So there you are, rolling your eyes, saying to yourself,"He's slacking already!" But before you jump too quickly, the reason I'm late with this week's portrait is that I've been given an invitation to hang and sell my work in a gallery here in Connecticut. Other than my thesis presentation, I've never had a gallery show. I'll be posting more details about it later. Here's a link to the gallery.


In lieu of a new portrait, allow me to share an image I created for a book cover. The challenge was to portray God seeing Himself in His own creation. While taking a drive to get some coffee, clear my head, and find some inspiration, the thought occurred to me that Genesis tells us Adam was created in God's image, and that he was fashioned from the dust of the ground. I bought my coffee (priorities!) and headed off to the nearest Home Depot to buy a couple bags of potting soil.


Layering the floor of my studio with cardboard and newspaper, I emptied the bags, moistened the soil and began to sculpt.





I photographed the final sculpture and began to play in Photoshop. The final portrait below illustrates the creation story with the shoulder being formed out of the ground, the face taking shape and then turning to flesh after God breathed His Spirit into him. 


I hope you find this portrait inspiring. And I promise to have my next image up soon.

6 comments:

Mollie B. said...

Yes! What a cool idea. I like how the flesh warms it up. Thanks for showing the process!

Rachel Vaichus said...

Incredible!

Ken & Lois said...

If this is your idea of "slacking?" I can't imagine what next week will bring! :-) k&l

Dawn Aldrich said...

Ed, this is definately inspiring. When I get the "go ahead" on publishing my next book, I will be hiring you for the cover work.

Carolanne McCormick said...

Ed... you are so talented! I love dropping in on your site to see the latest and greatest. Keep them coming!!

Olu Agwai said...

amazing!! I'm going to use this as a piece of my dada photomontage art project.