"It Is Finished" (Part I - Final)

(12" x 36".....Image of the First Half of Piece....Mixed Media and Kiln Formed Glass)

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ." (Romans 3: 23, 24...NIV) The lettering finally got finished so this is Part I again and Part II will be posted tomorrow.

This piece and the details of a very large exhibit installation are why I haven't posted the last two days. It is a spectacular exhibit and I hope all of you can come to an Opening Reception for "Fully Alive" at Hill Country Bible Church of Austin. We have postponed the Opening until Friday, April 12, in lieu of other special services this week end.

This piece was quite complicated with many different components that needed to come together in order to make it work. Several weeks ago, I began to fire glass to see how it would look and then I completed the final firings last week.

I then needed to cut balsa wood and then sand and prime it with white gesso. The support was painted, wire attached, label on back so I did not need to turn it over after beginning the placement of all of the elements.

The next step was to adhere passages from Romans from a very old bible that had the gold tabs for each book. Some of those pieces are under the glass and intermingled under some of the rice paper throughout. I was also careful to place the text around key areas where I knew it would show on the sides. It is a very interesting edge when done that way.

And, of course, the text under the main glass pieces contain the heading from the book of Romans and other key passages that contribute to the main message of the piece. After all of that was done, the pieces were adhered to the board, and weighted down with books and rocks for several hours.

More plain rice paper was applied to partially cover some of the seams between the balsa wood and adjust the values to only show what I wanted to show of the text and mono printed rice papers. The lettering was the last detail.

And that is the way it works in the world of mixed media and kiln formed glass.....lots of steps! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.