It's interesting to work with these familiar stories. While cutting, fusing and stitching my mind wanders around the story. What can I assume about the world back then? What does the sky look like from Mesopotamia or north Africa? Should I include dinosaurs? I decided to put a cat into the land animals scene, even though cats aren't mentioned in the Bible. At least the text cites "the monsters of the deep," so I guess aquatic dinosaurs might be OK. What skin tone should I give to the first humans? I thought about making them blue and purple to sidestep any racial connotations, but didn't want them to be mistaken for avatars or smurfs. Consulted with two of my theologically astute sources and was introduced to "the scandal of the incarnation"--the idea that you can't avoid recognizable human differences if depicting someone in human form; "to be human is to be particular". You have to choose--male/female, young/old, red/white/brown/black, smooth or hairy, etc. So I did. Thanks, Margot and Gee Gee; I'm better educated now.
And God resting on a four-poster bed, even with his back to us (not wise to see his face, remember) comes up against the graven images prohibiition. What would resting look like, anyway? There are good reasons for sticking to abstract or geometric styles! How did Michaelangelo get into depicting his humanistic God? No, not claiming a comparison to Michaelangelo, just wondering about his process. As my sister Gee Gee noted, this is an excuse to break out all the glitzy trims and beads and metallic stuff, so I'll look forward to that. Once it's finished and photographed, I'll put it on the website. Right now, it's time for some lunch.