The Signpost in the Shade
The Signpost in the Shade is a pair of paintings painted for a very special pair of people in our lives on the occasion of their wedding.
Storytellers as they are, The Signpost in the Shade, is a story written by the bride for the groom on his birthday, about a month before they got engaged.
The story is about a beautiful acacia signpost that pointed in many different directions before an Old Man from a Big House in the North came and made the signpost point solely and purposefully to his Big House leaving the severed arms of the signpost stained with the old man’s blood. In a second encounter with the Old Man, the Old Man drops a seed beside the signpost which becomes a tree, an acacia. Now, the acacia signpost and the acacia tree stands side-by-side awaiting the return of the Old Man.
“Together the signpost and the tree stood, joyful and inseparable. Everytime the signpost looked at the acacia tree his heart would sing as he was reminded of the precious blood that graced his flesh – their flesh. And as her leaves brushed against the arm of the signpost, the acacia tree would be filled with resounding joy in remembrance of the land from which she was brought.” — Signpost in the Shade, 2016, p.7
Although I’ve only the couple once in person before their wedding, but their love and kindness towards us transcends the ocean and continent that separates us. I knew I had to give this couple something meaningful for their wedding–frankly, I knew this before they were even engaged.
With my kind of inspiration-muscle, it works out that I only have the capacity to give approximately one elaborate gift each year. The moment I heard the couple was engaged, I was overjoyed to know that 2017 was the year my inspiration muscle would be exercised for them! (That said, I am eternally grateful that my inspiration-driven-gift-giving tendencies are well-understood by Tim and family who did not receive any gifts from me this year haha).
Treated salvaged wood, sketch, and first coats of paint
Inspiration is both controllable and uncontrollable … a hodgepodge discipline, meditation, observation, and then patience and luck. In this case, it’s kind of a discipline that my eyes have a tendency to wander on garbage collection day and it’s not uncommon for me to pick up random scraps I see potential in. That said, I don’t even remember when and where I salvaged these two pieces of wood. Years later, last winter, meditations over what this couple means to me were somewhere between the back of consciousness and the front of subconsciousness. By chance l was revisiting my scrap pile and discovered these two nearly identical pieces of salvaged wood. Immediately, the inspiration materialized. (Note: if you ever decide to pick up scrap wood, make sure, for example, you keep newly salvaged “permeable” stuff bagged for at least 10 months to kill off potential bed bugs…)
Wood was an ideal canvas for the signpost and the acacia tree, for obvious reasons. Furthermore, the two pieces of wood were made from identical material–just like the acacia signpost and the acacia tree in the story. With the foundation set, I made thinking about the composition a priority for my month and a half long retreat in Norway.
Sketches and notes mixed with Norwegian landscapes, July 2017
Some thoughts:
- It was almost a given that the paintings would be stylized as a children’s storybook.
Acacia tree
- I wanted the pair of paintings to be able to exist as two independent paintings, such that if you just saw one of them, you wouldn’t necessarily know that it’s only half the picture. But the backdrop between the two paintings to be continuous such that once both are seen together, it’s obvious that they belong together. In a way, this is a statement about a healthy marriage: the couple doesn’t complete each other, they enhance each other. There is no codependence: both individuals are people in their own right, both have their own relationship with the “Old Man in the Big House” independent of the other. Yet, together, they are so much more than the sum of their parts.
- While the top of the signpost (the sign) and the top of the tree (the leaves) are different because they serve different functions (like marriage?), I wanted the body of the signpost and the trunk of the tree to be stylized distinctly so that it is obvious that they come from the same source, have the same nature and foundations (like marriage??).
Signpost
Maybe someone can verify my claims about marriage before I make any more bold claims about a topic I know nothing about???
- I wanted the words on the signpost to be in some text that’s neither English nor Chinese (so as to not be immediately legible) but also written neatly enough to look like text . My first drafts had the signpost written in Norse … because I was in Norway, seeing Norwegian signposts everywhere, and intrigued by the random letters that don’t exist in English. When I explained my intentions to Tim, he suggested that the signpost be in Hebrew. That was a much better idea given the Biblical allusions the story was making.
- Finally, I wanted the house to be both mysterious and inviting. My attempt involved using the clouds to shroud the background with mystery … and using the smoke from the house’s chimney to make the house seem, you know, warm and occupied. Since there are three characters in both this story and a (Christian) marriage, the signpost, the tree, and the house (representing the old man) share relationship. That said, I didn’t have to think too hard about making the house red to match the outlines of the signpost and the tree
Side profiles
Some boring process details: I painted with a mixture of acrylic and gouache on gesso-treated-and-sanded wood (not sure what kind of wood). The paint was sealed with a glossy top-coat over the signpost and the tree and a matte top-coat over the background.
Last spring, the bride (read: Tim’s sister) sent Tim a birthday present … a plane ticket so that he could take me to their wedding. It was such an honour, privilege and joy to be able to give our gifts to the couple in person.
Altogether we gave three gifts which were (unintentionally) united by the concept of storytelling and they use of/reference to wood:
- My paintings based on The Signpost in the Shade, a story written by the bride for the groom
- Tim’s carvings inspired by Chopsticks, a story written by the groom for the bride, and
- The storybook of The Three Trees, a story we shared the first time the four of us met!
It is our hope and prayer that they continue to inspire each other to tell stories of the mysterious land they are citizens of.