Sword

Wedding present

This was a belated wedding present for my son Timo and his wonderful wife Lizzie. The stylized sword is composed of collections of text drawn from the Christian Scriptures that refer to the Word of God. The guard contains texts from the Old Testament, the grip from the Psalms, the blade from the New Testament. The borders are the names of the books of the Old (left, top) and New (right) Testaments.

The sword is a troublesome image for Christians. Jesus predicted that his presence would be accompanied by the sword (Matthew 10:24 ), but reacted strongly against a disciple who used one against a perceived threat (Luke 22:51), and reached out to heal the victim of violence. In centuries since then, there have been far too many tragic instances of Christians using the sword of metal against those they saw as ‘enemies’.

This quote (from Ephesians 6:17) reminds believers that the true sword is not a physical one, but the message of the Word of God wielded by the Spirit of God.

Lettering and calligraphy

Personal and artistic works

Type design stretches my brain but calligraphy feeds my soul. Here are a few articles highlighting individual projects, followed by a gallery of images from other works. Read more...

O Emmanuel

Advent hymn

A large work based on the hymn O Come O Come Emmanuel, with headings from the ancient O Antiphons that inspired the song. Third in a series of ancient hymn settings. Read more...

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Come Holy Spirit

A large work with text from an ancient medieval sequence. Created in response to the burning of Minneapolis following the murder of George Floyd, and in commemoration of Pentecost 2020. Read more...

The story of Gideon

Illuminated book

A handwritten book with illuminated caps containing the story of Gideon—from hero to tragic villain. A4 book with cover and case made as a gift for my grandson Gideon. Read more...

Many waters

Anniversary present

A small work presented to my dear wife, Sara, as a thirtieth anniversary present in 2014. We had been through some mighty floods in recent years together, and this passage from the Song of Songs (8:7) meant a lot to us. Read more...

Go therefore

Two languages three scripts

Retirement gift for a dear friend and colleague. The Scripture in English on the outer ring is repeated in the inner rings, but in the Tai Dam language, which has three writing systems using the Latin, Lao, and Tai Viet scripts. Read more...