NKELE — A Painting in Progress
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Part 1: "Nkele" Means "Welcome In"
Wrestling the Image ... "Nkele"
A painting in progress — and a prayer.
This piece is named for the Nigerian Christians who are hunted and killed for their faith in North Africa. I shudder when I think of them. I pray when I paint.
NKELE has been taking shape quietly this year — sketched out in the margins of other work, including illustrations for Tracy Weldon's beautiful children's book Do You See What I See? It is a large canvas, and it is asking a lot of me. I don't expect it finished until next winter. Some things take as long as they need to.
The question I keep returning to is this: How do I make a painting that is a prayer for them?
What you see below are the raw beginnings of answering that question — Alla prima sessions, early energy, the first marks of something I hope becomes worthy of what it carries.
This is Part 1. The wrestling continues.