For to Such Belongs the Kingdom of God

 "And He took them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands upon them."

Nebuchadnezzar

There's quite a bit of vanity at play for one such as I to post his little doodles. So, to rein in my vanity, all I need do is recall William Blake's monotype on the same subject as this piece. It's one of those images that once seen is never forgotten. But then, that can be said about almost all of Mr. Blake's oeuvre. 

In His Arms

Yet another failed attempt at illustrating the 10th chapter, verses 13 through 16 of the Gospel according to Mark. Ah well... maybe someday.

"And they were bringing children to Him, that He might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it He was indignant, and said the them, 'Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.' And He took them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands upon them."

You May as Well Know, Timothy

This drawing was done twenty years ago. That amount of elapsed time amazes me. It certainly does not seem that long ago that I drew this. As is obvious, part of the idea of this picture has to do with the remorseless passing of time. Death steals upon the saint and the sinner, the doer and the idler. It is impartial and universal, so all one can do is try to make the noblest use of whatever time one is blessed to have in this life. I know it's been some time since I posted anything new, or since I've even had anything new to post. It's not that I've been oh-so-busy as that I've been oh-so-lazy. But now this drawing, done so many heartbeats ago, brings home that I might well be in the last mile of my journey here, and that if I want to try to produce anything worthwhile, then I better start right away. So, it is now my ambition to start producing new work... starting maybe tomorrow.

Herodias

Here is an image created in 2005. There's a small and uninteresting story about the origin of this piece and it's odd that I should remember it so vividly. I was in the attic one afternoon when the receding sunlight, playing upon a wall, made a transitory and haunting image of a woman's face in profile. I tried copying that face before it disappeared and later used that copy as a guide for the face of Herodias. The painting may not be much to look at, especially in reproduction since I'm so terrible at photographing my works, and even though I can't take credit for it since all I did was copy old Sol's artistic effort, I have to confess that even after all these years I still like the effect of that profile.