Making art is sometimes like dreaming–the metaphors are not always obvious and a literal translation may not apply. Sometimes I start with a concept and end up with something very different. This Adam and Eve project has been nagging at me for months. I had to do it–I love Ellen’s ideas for shows and they are always well-received by the Ann Arbor art crowd as well as others–but I couldn’t think of any way to do a little man and a little woman and a snake and an apple and a tree within the required 9-by-12-inch vertical 2-dimensional format requirements.

I know the story: I’m a missionaries’ kid, after all. But I’m into fish right now, so I found a way to work fish into the whole thing and I ended up, in spite of myself and my occasional cynacism, feeling strangely moved. It feels to me (forgive me if I exaggerate) almost as tragic as the actual story. Even the paint I used for the serpent is called “Interference Green.”

This piece was done on 300-lb watercolor paper with acrylic paint and protected with three coats of varnish.

If you’d like to participate in the Adam and Eve show, email me for the pdf flyer.

Click on the image to enlarge it.