Carpenter's Prayer

I  created this work to demonstrate to my students in the recent
extended studies course “Letterforms Inspired by the St. John's
Bible” the very noble letterforms at the beginning of several of the
gospels called Incipit.

I first encountered this text many years ago when I was teaching a
weekend workshop in gilding in Georgia. At the dinner on Saturday
evening a gentleman in the class was asked to say a blessing before
the meal. Big mistake, or at least it seemed so to most. The person
who was asked had quite obviously overindulged himself in a
number of excesses. Unbelievably,
to all present this beautiful benediction came from out of him.
Shocked silence in the room. Later I asked him to jot it down for
me. Over the years I have done it in many ways and media.

The version you see before you is a combination of sacred letter
forms and gilding in a way that I hope reflects the spirit of the text.
The prayer and the manner in which it came to me still has
resonance for me to this day.

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Beautiful video of works from "26 Seeds..." through the years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SoNBEt_RKQ
active link for course information: www.reggieezell.

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Beautiful video of works from "26 Seeds..." through the years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SoNBEt_RKQ