This piece was made for a Pastor who was grandfathering out of his church called Experience Church. The pastor Mark and his wife Gail had planted the church in San Francisco 16 years ago. I had the opportunity to make a piece for them in order to honor all that they had invested and built. This piece is an abstract form of an oak tree and its tree rings.The footprints are Mark and Gail’s footprint representing the planting of the church and it grew like an oak tree.

It represents growth and time of the past and that it will continue to grow. I was so blessed to be apart of this

The word God gave me to share with them is:

Where you planted your feet God made strong.
A strong foundation that proceeds all generations.
Where the depth of love grew not only outward but upward.
” They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor .” Isaiah 61:3

Process

–  I drew out the idea in my sketchbook and knew what I wanted to do. I have never made a
piece only of wood so I was an easy in approaching it but excited for the challenge.

–  I went to home depot and bought sheets of 1/4 in wood and brought it back to the studio
–  I cut tons of pieces (Free hand with a jigsaw) and tried laying them out on an old frame I had found
.

–  After cutting all the pieces I realized I didn’t like any of the cuts. They were too big, clunky and looked more like the flow of water. It didn’t represent tree rings like I hoped for. So I went
back to the store for more wood.

–  I looked back at my drawing and drew out with a pencil the shape of tree rings this time.
–  Worried about how thin I was cutting them I still went for it.
–  I then slowly moved and positioned each piece to gradually build up from the feet print.