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Not Yet Dead: Meditations on Regeneration

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Last night I started reading God is not Yet Dead by V. Gardavsky, a book I was introduced to within the pages of Run with the Horses by Eugene Peterson. Why is a book about a prophet, referencing a book written by an atheist, demanding my attention? It summarizes my 2017 experience, caught in the clash between two systems of thought and belief.

These books, and a bowl of shriveled beets on my kitchen counter, give me perspective.

shriveled beets regenerate life

In 2017, I suffered through the petty meme-induced, twitter-fed, mud brawl of culture that has become the dominant news-feed of American society, as did we all.  What is this landscape that we have created, where animosity and shaming the “other” have become mainstream on all fronts?

Why does my discovery of beet leaves in a bowl of decay give me hope? Because, like Gardavsky, I must look to an answer to the decayed civil landscape by ‘digging down to the roots.’ What looks ugly and wrinkled in a state of decomposition, like the uncivil state of Western Civilization, remains the source of life even so. Beet roots of latent, mold-covered energy are not yet dead; a mid-winter shimmer of burgundy and chartreuse life springs forth from it’s shriveled mass.

not yet dead beet

A resident pattern of regeneration testifies to Life. On this we can all agree.

How the pattern became resident has been the matter of debate since human-measured Time began. Was the pattern created or accidental? If created, then the hope of Life originates and remains in it’s created Source and all men are created equal, with blind-folded Justice consulting an absolute Morality outside ourselves, often called God. If accidental, then the hope of Life has evolved and our trust must be in the evolutionary system and Ourselves as its accidental, yet sagacious spawn. Justice is determined by ever evolving moral conduct as determined by genius-leaders at the top of the evolutionary matrix. These are the twin roots of our info-wars.

As an artist who mingles between these two camps in a cultural estuary of fresh water and salt, I must guard against becoming reactionary, and instead point to the pattern of regeneration found in each system. It is my job to help create a generative culture of green-leaved connection. This mandate I have gained by reading another book, Culture Care by Makuto Fujimora. More reflections on that later.

A resident pattern of regeneration testifies to Life. It is my job to help create this generative culture through my work.

Daily Art :: What Job did in my mind’s eye

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I have been reading The Artisan Soul over the last several months, and have developed a conviction that I should create more sketches from my imagination when I make daily art. I’ve always admired artists who can do this well, but rarely take what feels like a leap of faith myself, sticking to creating art from what I see in front of me in life.

Recently, I have taken in the Dream Worlds show at the Canton Museum of Art, and this quote became a key to open the door:

“Often Imaginative Realists are asked to create fantastical works that don’t exist in the real world. “How do they create these works?” you may ask. One crucial role is the development of fundamental art skills and observing from life. What we see in the natural world [we] use as a starting point to develop [our] ideas further …” – Aaron Miller

I am halfway to Imaginative Realism when I succeed in creating art from life observations! I am creating daily art this year to continue to develop those fundamental skills; to give myself an imaginative vocabulary.

From Imagination to Image

This morning I acted on what I saw in my imagination when my husband and I read the book of Job, chapters 1 and 2, after dinner last night. Job has just received bad news four times over: the loss of his cattle, the loss of his sheep, the loss of his camels along with several servants, then … the loss of his ten adult children. How does he respond to these four calamities?

“Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped.” – Job 1:20

In my minds eye, I saw a bald man huddled on the ground.

Job 1:20 Illustration by Lynda Rimke

My process is grounded in life observation.

When attempting to draw the human figure, I start with a rough skeleton in 4H pencil to express the emotion of the pose. I pay attention to the proportions of the structures using the size of the head for reference and taking into account any foreshortening:

  • The ribcage is 2 heads long and the pelvis about 1 head high.
  • The clavicles (collar bones) are 1 head long each.
  • The humorous (upper arm bone) is 2 heads long and the ulna and radius (forearm bones) are 1 1/2 heads, or 2 if you include the hand.
  • The hand is 3/4 head and can cover the face.
  • The femur (upper leg bone) is 2 heads long and the tibia (lower leg bone) is also 2 heads if you include the bottom of the foot.

I then added arm muscles with 5B pencil to give the near arm form: the deltoid is somewhat heart shaped from above, and the bicep lies under it. I outlined the torso, thigh and calf of the near leg and drew a rough hand and feet to express extreme grief.

Job tore his mantle, which in ancient times was the outer garment worn by men of wealth or status. (Cook) This meant he was probably still wearing a tunic of sorts underneath, and I have taken liberty to dress him in punjabi-style tunic and pants.

The final sketch is in charcoal pencil. To express the intensity of the scene I created a heavy cast shadow.

My daily art sketch of Job took about an hour to develop. I spent about a half hour compositing the process in Photoshop, another hour writing my post in a text editor, and a half hour posting.

Why I am inspired to work for this image

Job is one of my favorite books which has been a source of comfort to me during my life’s losses and trials. I admire how he kept his integrity, and willed himself to not blame God when things went terribly wrong in his life. That he could continue to worship and honor God as his Source (El Shaddai) after getting hit with horrible news is pretty amazing. I hope this image inspires others to hang on to God and not let calamity destroy that precious faith connection to the Source of all Life.