THE REVELATION PAINTING

La Pittura di Rivelazione

Overview:  12 feet tall x 40 feet long utilizing thirty 48" X 48" canvases.  Twenty canvases are gallery wrapped, highest quality to withstand the test of time, six are custom birch wood, with holes drilled of various sizes and fully functioning doors on the backs.  Four canvases are custom birch wood in order to carry the weight of over $140,000.00 of crushed precious and semiprecious gemstones.  The pearl gates are made from crushed Akoya, Japanese saltwater pearls!  The painting incorporates thousands and thousands of dollars worth of highest quality Golden and Liquitex acrylic paints, 24K gold flake and leaf, and complete fiber optics set ups which illuminate God in a way never seen before in fine art.  Customized sections of the painting give it the ability to move and bleed (Truth-The Hemorrhage of Pigs!), then returning to its natural state.

The painting initially appears as a religious painting alone, the final book of the bible, Revelation with seven magnificent scenes and subscenes labeled in various languages, yet underlying there is another painting of politics and corruption.  Within the painting is the ancient and ongoing battle of good v.s evil, mysteries and messages embedded within the artwork which are not readily visible.  The making of this painting has spanned nearly 12 years and will be released 12/2010.  Upon the painting's release, a stunning revelation will be revealed which ties this painting to current world events which was not discovered until 09/2009.  Two other unknown mysteries of Revelation were also uncovered while creating this painting and have been missed throughout history!  Please see the blogs for more detailed information about the making of this historical work of art created by one artist, and the photos as they are updated.

Upon the release of The Revelation Painting seven journals will also be released within 2011 which give an unusual first hand look inside the mind of an artist while visualizing and detailing each scene revealing the trials and tribulations of aspects required to make the painting.  The Journal of Measures (and Numbers) details not only the transition of moving an idea to giant size, it also covers odd events regarding numbers associated with the painting.  The Journal of Sketches reveals artwork from the conceptual stages and beyond.  The stones used in the painting are discussed in a journal named:  The Stones, and Truth-The Hemorrhage of Pigs! talks about the section of the painting which bleeds.  Within The Journal of Acknowledgement participants are given an opportunity to express information to the world! 

 The Revelation Painting was inspired from so many sources throughout my lifetime including the “Old Masters” and their impeccable styles.  The most prominent inspiration beyond a doubt was my mother, Mary Ann, also a very talented artist who put her talent on the back burner in a sacrifice to be a wife and for motherhood and for that I am grateful.  Within her motherly love, she instilled in me a powerful imagination nuturing the ability of vision and creation.  My mother ignited the passion of The Revelation Painting mainly through something that happened to her when she was twelve years old, an event that changed not only her life but also mine as her child.  Sometimes we receive more than genetics from our parents, we receive the seeds of dreams and through those seeds, gemstone foundations become a magnificent and massive painting!

 I cannot say that I am religious, but am learning to find my own answers.  The Revelation Painting and 12 years of its creation have offered insight beyond what could have expected from even formal study.  There was one white bible in our home and it was my mothers.  Although countless hours were spent trying to read it from the beginning, I always returned to the Book of Revelation.  Visual imagery of creatures with six wings covered with eyes inside and out, locust with men’s faces, woman’s hair, golden crowns and tails like scorpions overwhelmed my imagination.  Although my heart pounded often times, it was not in fear of what I was reading, it was the image conjured up through imagination and its glorious power often times carrying me to sleep on the back of a horse with a head like a lion!  My love for the visuals was very inspiring and continues to be.

Through maturity I began to realize the natural resources of the world and their unsurpassed beauty, which cannot be mimicked even through  science, such as a true rainbow during a soft rain, the blue to violet hues within a red ruby, and the sparkle of a human eye filled with innocence, fear or sorrow.  Beginning to develop a sense of profound humbleness while searching for the gemstones that play such a critical role in the New City of this painting, I saw humanity crushed by diamond thieves, the life, spirit and passion carved from people’s hearts, and in countries where the citizens should be living like kings of the earth due to the natural resources they sleep upon.  Remarkably children are starving to death where homes are built on diamonds!   The Revelation Painting developed into a global endeavor through the stones of the New City and the new world it represents.

In creating a global endeavor, I felt it appropriate to utilize as many languages as possible in subtitles of the painting as well creating a sense of global unity.  The effort was to pull as many cultures, races, and ethnicity as possible into the painting even offering messages in forward, backward and hidden formats within the painting.  People across the globe were offered and continue to be offered opportunities never seen before to become a part of this painting; history in the making.  Never before has an artist offered humanity to become intertwined within his/her art as it is being created in such a way or to literally become embedded within the work itself.  It is an exciting endeavor!

There are many odd things which have happened during the design of this painting that will be published within the seven journals which accompany the painting.  I would like to share one of those odd events now.  As the artist I remain astounded with the "gifts" given to me.  Often times I paint the backgrounds of my paintings in experimental ways and wait for the painting to show itself-to show me what it wants to be.  It is rare that I sketch then paint.  There are several paintings in my private collection which are unmistakable in their messages.  I would consider these paintings as gifts and that my hand had minimal interaction to create them.  Each of them tell a unique story.  

I had painted a background working toward the look of worn leather and set it aside.  For the next three months I had worked on other paintings as the worn leather painting sat against the wall in my line of vision where I could watch for the picture within the background to reveal itself.  I had not worked on anything to do with The Revelation Painting for nearly a year when I found a small, faceted golden Beryl in my paint box.  The gemstone rekindled my passion for the painting and I began to sketch.  After about an hour of working on the translucent scene of God, I looked over at the worn leather as I has come accustom to everyday.

My daughter was sitting near me when I looked over at her and said:  "Do you see what I see?"  She looked at the worn leather background and back at me, I swallowed hard as we both said:  "Holy Mary" in a soft voice as if not to disturb the vivid image who had been watching me sketch as I was unaware.  Having a great respect for religious icons, I felt and continue to feel very honored with the gift of "Holy Mary".  Considered by me to be the one who watches over of the production of this painting, I keep her near as it was she who I saw appear during the creation of the painting.

As noted in other areas of this website, I do not consider myself religious and see that I lack "faith" in things which cannot be concretely seen.  I read some information about Mary on Catholic websites and was taken back when I read the following:  The Greek word “mysterion” (later translated “sacramentum” in Latin) is the word used for the Sacraments in the Eastern Church.  They are “mysteries” of our faith. It is in that light that Mary is viewed as a “mystery”; she reveals the very heart of that faith.  She also teaches us the meaning of our own lives.  Like her, we are invited into communion with the God, in and through Jesus Christ.  She shows us the way.

Mary lived a life of receiving and giving and giving and receiving.  She has been called from the early centuries the "God-bearer" or "Mother of God" (which in Greek is Theo-tokos).



Holy Mary

If you look at the detail of her face, you can see that the lines were merely traced in order to illuminate what I saw.  The soft white around her head and on her eyelids is a glow in the dark medium which also maintains her illumination in the dark.  Even the lines of her draped garment were traced.  The painting and its form is supurbly simple and truly a magnificent piece which I would consider not painted by me, only enhanced.  A prime example of odd things associated with the painting, Holy Mary is not found within the painting itself, she can be found watching its creation somewhere nearby within the studio...showing me the way.


02/2010 Update:  An odd circumstance recently occured in making of the painting...I had no plans to place Holy Mary into the painting at any point or in any scene.  I began work on Scene II-GOD and around the throne there are Four Living Creatures.  In the Aramaic bible it states "face of a human", not face of a man as in other bibles.  I had already planned to use women somewhere in the painting but this was a pristine opportunity.  Upon researching the most known woman in the history of the entire world, it was Holy Mary.  Although there are many, many images of her there are no "real" photos.  If I were to paint her now I would be drawn to a Middle-Eastern skin tone and demeanor but since Holy Mary appeared as above, this is the image I will use for the face of The Living Creature.