In one week, I was able to squeeze four paintings out of one sonnet by Malcolm Guite – that’s a new record for me! I am finding that the way this man strings words together inspires me to new lengths, heights and depths.
Malcolm Guite is a lecturer and chaplain at Girton College in Cambridge, UK. He is a friend of my boss, Steve Bell who has published several of Guite’s sonnets on his Facebook page. The particular sonnet that my paintings are based on is called Trinity Sunday.
Beyond, Beside and Within
The sonnet was very meaningful to me personally, and had been on my mind and in my sketchbook for several days. One evening this week, I was starting a painting using a woman’s face and hands. My intention was to do an abstract and “see” where the painting led me. Mid-way, I knew the name of the painting – Beyond, Beside and Within – which is in the last line of the sonnet. The painting was finished in an unprecedented 2 1/2 hours.
On Saturday, I did another unusual thing – working on three paintings at the same time.
Triune Poet One
Triune Poet One is really two paintings. The first “failed attempt” to paint the concept of trinity is underneath the finished layer.
For Triune Poet Two and Three I collaged scraps of paper with the written words of the sonnet, and on number Three, I experimented with some gold flakes for effect.
Triune Poet Two
Triune Poet Three