V'Ahavtah....and you shall love....

One painted expression of the Sh'ma, was not going to be enough.  When I took a closer look at the paragraphs following the opening lines, I realized that there was so much more to delve into, both visually and with words.

The first paragraph "and you shall love..." commands us to love G-d and instructs us in specific ways.
Thinking of this paragraph, I immediately chanted the first two trope marks that determine how the first word is sung.  It seemed only fitting to start a painting the same way.  As an aside, I am a Torah chanting geek. The rhythms, groupings and patterns delight my brain and challenge me in similar ways as do the design elements when I paint.
In black, (in right to left order), there is a right angle in the lower right corner and double dots in the upper left. Once the trope were laid in with bold brush strokes, a natural flow between the two formed. I was thinking of a tallit, the traditional prayer shawl, that helps us create a sacred space for prayer.  The flowing lines allude to this garment and its fringe.
I have an affinity for copper. I even live in the copper state! I didn't understand, at the time, but all of the metallic colors in my paintings would come to symbolize the heavenly realm. These words of Torah originated in this realm. Silvers, coppers, golds and bronzes were going to show up in  every painting in this Judaic series.

Complementary colors are opposites on the color wheel and create a natural balance for the viewer when used together.  On a painter's color wheel, the opposite of copper (orange) is blue. Traditionally, blue is a color used for all things Jewish. It was a delightful realization to blend these two colors with their symbolic values together.

The pattern along the bottom is the diagram for tefillin, the phylacteries worn to bind's one's arm. One of the names of G-d is Shaddai and it is embodied in the wrappings, represented by the letter shin, the first letter of the name. Shaddai is also used on the parchment inside a mezuzah case, upon which these words are written and mounted on the doorposts of our homes, as commanded in this first paragraph.

I am far from finished with my need to express the Sh'ma and it's paragraphs, but it was time to respond to the call of other prayers that begged for attention...

Sh'ma Yisrael

It was appropriate that the first painting in this series be the Sh'ma.  Afterall, they are the first 6 words taught to children, often before formal Jewish education begins.  It was no coincidence that the identifying words of our faith would herald the beginning of the Judaic series. Neither was it an accident, as described in my first post, that 12 drips, representing Jacob's sons be a message
for me to move ahead with Judaic work.

As the painting unfolded, my mind turned to 4 pivotal words: Adonai, Eloheynu, Adonai, Echad  (Lord, Our G-d, Lord, One).
With ink bottle in hand, I formed 4 corresponding circles in the center of the canvas.
The cantillation marks that denote how to chant these biblical words were painted across the top of the canvas and a strong, red vertical, anchoring the composition, sliced through the composition.

Color was added in a symbolic fashion as well. As with this first painting, the color red would come to represent G-d. Metallic shades of silvers or coppers would symbolize the heavenly realm.
Being the first of the series, I wanted to utilize a primary color palette of yellow, blue and red.
Once I settled on blue, my mind turned to the mysterious techeilet  blue, mentioned in Torah to be used to dye a thread of the Tzitzit.  All of the concentric circles that formed the bull's eye pattern became shades of blue. The single shaft of red anchors the design as G-d anchors our lives.

The complete series can be found here:JUDAIC SERIES
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