Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Drawing #14 - Serpent Wisdom

I've just read the latest in the series of Ohio Amish mysteries by P. L. Gaus. Its title is Harmless as Doves and it begins with the following:

     Behold, I send you forth as
     sheep in the midst of wolves:
     be ye therefore wise as serpents
     and harmless as doves.
          Matthew 10:16
Which is important in the course of the book.

You may be well versed in this bit of scripture, but encountered at the beginning of a mystery story it was quite different in context. "Wise as serpents" seems rather mysterious in fact. I kept thinking about it and that became the thought behind my latest mental landscape. I've also done the first application of ink with a pen and a wonderful acrylic ink that helped me achieve better areas of dark than the Sharpie pen. Hidden in the design is my bit of text:

     sheep among wolves
     wise as serpents
     harmless as doves
     imagine


3 comments:

  1. I will have to check out that book, if it inspired this FANTASTIC drawing! Jean! I am in AWE! This is FABULOUS! And a tad bit spooky! But I love it! Great Job!

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  2. This is fabulous. Excellent use of white space! The book series sounds really interesting.

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  3. Familiar with the verse but never thought of finding it at the beginning of a mystery book. Does sound like an interesting book which led to this interesting design!

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