Lichen in oil on digital print

Lichen #1 (2013)                  Lichen #2 (2013)

Lichen continues to fascinate me, and I love exploring ways to represent these exquisitely intricate little organisms. These two images show foliose lichens painted in oil on digital prints of text lichen.

The digital image was created in Photoshop and shows organic lichen 'growing' over a background of lacy text. The background was created in Old Testament Scripture (Psalms), while the lichen images are New Testament (Gospels). Conceptually this symbolises the modern church where non-traditional, organic forms of worship and gatherings co-exist with the formal traditional churches.