Brian Fisher Print, Paint and Sculpture Blog

Mauna Kea, from my sacred circle series, informed by sacred sites, sacred geographies, is a Ltd. Edition, Original Digital Print (1/12). It was created in 2019 but has never been exhibited until now. Stop by my studio 23520 147 Ave SW, Vashon Island, ( #3 ) during the 2022 VIVA Holiday Art Studio Tour , the first two weekends in December. My print “Mauna Kea” is inspired by the most prominent geographic feature of the Hawaiian Islands, a volcanic mountain named Mauna Kea and by the incredible stick maps that Polynesian and Micronesian sailor explorers once made and used to chart Pacific open water travel. In Hawaiian traditions of creation, the Earth Mother, Papahānaumoku, and the Sky Father, Wākea, created the Hawaiian Islands, with Hawai‘i Island being the first and Mauna Kea as the piko (navel or center of beginning or ending), of their union. On Mauna Kea’s sides are many shrines to the pantheon of Hawaiian gods and (it has been suggested) to astronomical phenomena. The top of Maun...

“Raguel, Angel of Winter”, monotype print with 24k gold. According to Judaic tradition, is the leader of angels, known as Principalities, who are responsible for the administration of justice on Earth and among angels. Raguel is the messenger who shares the importance of tolerance so that all may live in peace. He delivers justice with fairness, harmony, with vengeance and redemption. Raguel is also known as an Angel of Winter because of his cool and tranquil deliverance when administering justice. I just finished framing Raquel for the 2022 Holiday VIVA Art Studio Tour, the first two weekends in December. You can preview the tour at- https://vivartists.com/viva/

  My latest Sacred Circle, “St Kilda” is inspired by a species of dandelion that was recently discovered on the Isle of Hirta, in the St Kilda archipelago by Jim McIntosh, a recorder of flora for the Outer Hebrides, during survey work. St Kilda lies 41 miles west of the Western Isles of Scotland. The island was abandoned by the last St Kildans in 1930 after years of slow depopulation when there were only 36 human inhabitants. Permanent habitation on the islands extends back two millennia and St Kilda is one of Scotland’s six World Heritage sites. It’s one of the few sites in the world to hold joint status for its natural and cultural qualities. There are thousands of stone structures and even two early sheep types that live on these remote islands. The Soay are sheep with linage from the Neolithic age and the Boreray are of Iron age linage. My St Kilda is an original digital archival print (edition of 12). Frame size 16” x 13”. If you are interested in this print, DM me about St Ki...

Gabriel, Angel of Communication, Oil on canvas over panel, 36 x 24 in. The English word angel, derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, means messenger.   No where in the Bible are these messengers described as winged nor are they represented in that way in early Christian art.   Sometime in the later part of the 4th century however, Angels appear suddenly to have grown them or at least artwork began depicting divine messengers complete with wings and another fashionable innovation of the period, halos.   My Angel imagery is primarily inspired by the paintings of the early Italian Renaissance artist Fra Angelico.   I have always admired his various depictions of the Annunciation and his rendering of Angel Gabriel's technicolor wings! Gabriel and other paintings in oil and monotype print are in my show about angel story August 5- 28, at Roby King Gallery on Bainbridge Island.  Opening night is 1st Friday aug 5th, 6-8pm.

  The Nature of Angels, monoprint, 6 3/8 x 25 3/4 in. I've been working prints and paintings about angel myth and story for an August 5-28 exhibit at Roby King Gallery on Bainbridge Island. This image is a collograph monoprint, with metal leaf, inspired by remarks made by Joseph Campbell on how religions and mythologies need to change with time in order to maintain their relevance in peoples’ lives. Addressing change, Campbell once said about the digital world and computers, "Have you ever looked inside one of those things? It's a whole hierarchy of angels on slats. And those little tubes-those are miracles."

  Vashon Art Studio Tour is back!!!  And here's my monotype print "A Chorus of Angels" singing hallelujah!!!

“Paper Moon”, from my Leo and Lang series, is a limited edition linocut print for sale in my studio ( #15 ) on the VIVA Spring Art Studio Tour, May 7-8 and 14-15, 2022.  Once upon a time, before cameras were common and digital imagery had replaced film, everyone’s local fair or carnival featured set photography booths where a photo portrait might be taken to document the day, a friendship, or love, paper moons were a standard set. The song Paper Moon was written in 1932 and had already been recorded by many artists when in 1973 Peter Bogdanovich gave it new life by using it as theme music and naming his movie, based on Joe David’s novel Addie Pray and starring Ryan O’Neal, Tatum O’Neal and Madeline Kahn, Paper Moon. The film has since become a classic and words to the song indelible. “It is only a paper moon, Sailing over a cardboard sea But it wouldn’t be make-believe if you believed in me.” Given the time and place I’ve imagined my characters Leo and Lang born into, they must ha...

"Angel Over Atwood", relief monotype print. (1/1). 24" x 36", is named for a small town on the prairie located at the intersection of US Highway 36 and Kansas 25 in Northwest Kansas and nestled in the Beaver Valley on Beaver Creek. This was Cheyenne, Comanche, and Arapaho country before white European settlers replaced them. Under the Works Progress Administration Atwood built a lake and when I was born called itself- Atwood, City by the Lake.    After the American Civil War my Fathers’ family moved to this area and to other small towns and land around Atwood. They came at a time when life meant struggle and to simply endure could be thought of as success. They brought little with them other than the belief that they would persevere and an ability to laugh often. Above all they were practical, though some of them were quite religious and (according to my grandfather) superstitious. I am sure that some saw angels in the tall grass as the wind swept the plains or...

Sphinx, oil on canvas 22"x22" “What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?” In Greek myth Sphinx is a monster with the body and tail of a lion, the face of a woman, and the wings of a bird. Her infamous siblings Hydra, Chimera and the Gorgons share an equally confusing biology. Hera sent Sphinx to punish the city of Thebes and in her role as threshold guardian she famously challenges the hero Oedipus to a game of riddles. That was her thing, to ask tricky questions to those who wished to pass and eat her unwilling opponent If they were unable to answer the riddle correctly. Oedipus solved the riddle, “Man, who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two legs, and finally needs a cane in old age.” Check out Sphinx on the 2022 Vashon Island Artist Studio Tour, May 7-8, 14-15. Map and info- Vivartists.com . and  @viva_vashon_artists

“Taming Bucephalus” Oil on Canvas  with 24k gold, 20 x 20 in.  I nspired by Alexander of Macedon, Alexander the Great, this painting "Taming Bucephalus" is about his famous war horse.  There is much real, documented, history about Alexander and of course the larger than life lore that grew up after his death.  All of it has kept his story active, alive, 2,345 years after his death. My mother gave me the Mary Renault books about Alexander when I was young.  I recently reread the first book in Renault's Alexander trilogy, Fire From Heaven, first published in 1969.  Historical fiction can be informative and entertaining.  This story, his story, is powerful, and still relevant!  Delighted that Taming Bucephalus and it's companion painting, Hephaestion,  just sold.

  This is my painting of Lailah, Angel of Conception, Angel of Night , oil on canvas over panel, 36 x 24 in. currently at Vashon Center for the Arts Gallery on Vashon Island WA. Angels are typically considered genderless, but Lailah is described as feminine in Midrash (commentary on Hebrew scriptures, attached to biblical text). In this tradition, she teaches the unborn spirt the Torah before birth and provides each a candle so that it can see its path in the world to come. In the moment that the spirt is born to this world, Lailah blows out the candle and strikes the child’s upper lip, causing the new babe to forget everything, but leaving the indention we all have above our upper lips. This is said to be the physical reminder of original knowledge and prompt to unlearn our way back to God. I was unfamiliar with this story until researching angel mythology, but it called to mind that experience we all have, at least while young, of knowing something rather than learning somet...

  Haniel, Angel of Joy is said to hold the keys to the palaces of heaven and appears in Genesis and The Book of Enoch, part of the Jewish and Christian Apocrypha, where he transports Enoch from earth to heaven as a living man. My painting of Haniel and all the Angel paintings and prints I've made in 2021, are inspired by Italian Renaissance artist Fra Angelico’s Angel paintings. His "Technicolor” depictions of angel wings intrigue me. I am delighted that Haniel has already sold to a friend and patron but you can still see Haniel on exhibit at Vashon Center for the Arts Gallery Jan 7-30, 2022, where you will also view work by Notable Collection artists; Victoria Adams, Morgan Brig, Brian Fisher, Pam Ingalls, Kristen Reitz-Green, Cathy Sarkowsky, and Erin Shulz. You can also see work online at VCA's Notable Collection now thru April 2022.