Job Falls on His Face

JANUARY 2, 2017 – I have been reading The Artisan Soul over the last several months, and have developed a conviction that I should create more art from my imagination. I’ve always admired artists who can do this well, but rarely take what feels like a leap of faith myself, sticking to creating art from what I see in front of me in life.

Recently, I have taken in the Dream Worlds show at the Canton Museum of Art, and this quote became a key to open the door:

“Often Imaginative Realists are asked to create fantastical works that don’t exist in the real world. “How do they create these works?” you may ask. One crucial role is the development of fundamental art skills and observing from life. What we see in the natural world [we] use as a starting point to develop [our] ideas further …” - Aaron Miller

I am halfway there when I succeed in creating art from life observations. I am drawing every day this year to continue to develop those fundamental skills, to give myself an imaginative vocabulary.

This morning I acted on what I saw in my imagination when my husband and I read the book of Job, chapters 1 and 2, after dinner last evening. Job has just received bad news four times over: the loss of his cattle, the loss of his sheep, the loss of his camels along with several servants, then … the loss of his ten adult children. How does he respond to these four calamities?

“Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped.”

In my minds eye, I saw a bald man huddled on the ground.

The Process: grounded in life observation

When attempting to draw the human figure, I start with a rough skeleton in 4H pencil to express the emotion of the pose. I pay attention to the proportions of the structures using the size of the head for reference and taking into account any foreshortening:

The ribcage is 2 heads long and the pelvis about 1 head high.

The clavicles (collar bones) are 1 head long each.

The humorous (upper arm bone) is 2 heads long and the ulna and radius (forearm bones) are 1 1/2 heads, or 2 if you include the hand.

The hand is 3/4 head and can cover the face.

The femur (upper leg bone) is 2 heads long and the tibia (lower leg bone) is also 2 heads if you include the bottom of the foot.

I then added arm muscles with 5B pencil to give the near arm form: the deltoid is somewhat heart shaped from above, and the bicep lies under it. I outlined the torso, thigh and calf of the near leg and drew a rough hand and feet to express extreme grief.

Job tore his mantle, which in ancient times was "the outer garment worn by men of wealth or status." (Strong’s KJV) This meant he was probably still wearing a tunic of sorts underneath, and I have taken liberty to dress him in punjabi-style tunic and pants.

The final sketch is in charcoal pencil. To express the intensity of the scene I created a heavy cast shadow.

My daily sketch took about an hour to develop. I spent about a half hour composing the process in Photoshop, another hour writing my post in a text editor, and a half hour posting (on my old blog).

Job is one of my favorite books which has been a source of comfort to me during my life’s losses and trials. I admire how he kept his integrity, and willed himself to not blame God when things went terribly wrong in his life. That he could continue to worship and honor God as God after getting hit with horrible news is pretty amazing.