Good Friday

The Chaste Moon by J. Binford-Bell

Artist's Statement: I have always loved colors, shapes, and patterns. I see dragons in the clouds, gnomes in the rocks, sprites dancing in the light, and sea nymphs in watery reflections. Since I was very young I recorded what I saw with crayons, pencils, clay, and paint, but a camera is one of my favorite tools since very young. Digital technology in cameras and dry darkroom has allowed me to show the world I see to others. I love its immediacy; the now of it. Nothing quite equals uploading a day’s images onto the computer screen. It is like opening a box of chocolates. There is always what you think you took and what you really did capture. My camera is my window to the world. Just having it in my hand or beside me in the car seat opens a whole new set of possibilities.

That may explain the photographic image above but it also explains why I collect crosses. both as wall decorations and as jewelry. I just love the shapes of them.
Crosses with house guard by J. Binford-Bell

And I am not above mixing my symbols.  Amid the crosses at the upper right is a house guard made for me upon the occasion of my moving from North Carolina. Yes, Virginia, North Carolina has a few pagans. It has been a while since I made an offering. No chickens or little kids involved. Just dried flowers offered. Suppose to keep my home safe and sound.

I made a mobile for my studio upon its completion. Sail on Solar Winds obviously needs rephotographed because my big computer crash a couple years back lost those images. It takes a tall ladder to reach the rice paper and willow branch outrigger at the peak of my vaulted studio ceiling. So it is also obviously behind in gifts. I need to fold up an origami crane offering.

Crosses and moons by J. Binford-Bell

I also like moons as iconic images. Two moons in this photo and one in the top photo. And the studio mobile features a moon and stars. For those that associate the cross with Christianity it is in reality one of the most ancient of symbols of man and has been used by many religions. It is frequently a representation of the division of the world into four elements or cardinal points. Alternately it represents the union of the concepts of divinity, the vertical line, and the world, the horizontal line. You could, therefore, say that Jesus dying upon a cross was symbolic of the unity of man and the spirit. And maybe that is why it is Good Friday.

 For more on Crosses see Wiki.


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