My LDS rug designing phase

About eight years ago, I went through a phase when I was convinced that I was going to be a rug designer.  My idea was to design rugs for the LDS market.  I thought it would be cool to market these rugs as "Family Prayer Rugs."  Sort of like Muslim prayer rugs, but with a Mormon twist, ya know?

I'm going to show you the best of my designs.  They are not the most polished of graphics and the lines can be a bit crooked in places, but I put a lot of heart into them.  When I look at them, I feel like they are kind of cartoony, but deep down I still wish that someday they might actually become rugs.

These first two I did in very different styles, though they were focused on the same scripture.

This next one has a scripture from Proverbs about how the heavens declare the glory of God, but I chose a color for the text that was too near the background color, so you can't even really see it.  But I still like it because I have this thing for astronomy.

I've always liked that scripture about how a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

This next one is a little bit psycho, but that's probably why I like it.  Probably not the best idea for a rug.  Can you imagine stepping on those eyes?

This next design--I couldn't get those feather barbs right.  But imagine having this as a rug on your living room floor.  In no other way can you gratify your pride and wound it at the same time! ;-)

This one is like ying and yang, but Mormon.

The next one has one of my favorite scriptures on it.

I'm enthralled with ancient American hieroglyphics.  To me, they are like voices from the dust. 

So there you go.  What do you think?  You like, you buy? (said in my best Persian rug dealer accent)

My stained glass testimony of Christ's atonement

When I was going to BYU, I managed to get into the stained glass class and then continued to take it for several semesters. During one of those semesters, I also took the religion class “The Writings of Isaiah” from Victor Ludlow.

In my Isaiah class, we were given a project assignment to create a lesson or some kind of work of art relating to Isaiah. I can recall sitting there and getting the brilliant idea to create a stained glass window depicting a well-known and well-loved scripture from Isaiah. This would kill two birds with one stone by fulfilling an assignment for TWO CLASSES AT ONCE!! Yesssss! (insert triumphant fist-pump here) Here's the scripture I chose:

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

I started out with a line drawing.


Then I found I had to do some modifications to the drawing in order to account for the nature of cutting glass.


It’s the size of an 8” X 11.5” sheet of typing paper, so it has a whole bunch of small pieces—97, if I counted correctly.

Here’s how it turned out.


There are some parts of my testimony of the Atonement of Christ that are expressed in this stained glass window.

Even though the scripture of Isaiah that inspired it doesn’t say anything about Christ, it is clear to me that the only way that our scarlet sins can become white as snow is through Christ’s atoning sacrifice for us. I tried to depict that change by showing that where Christ’s blood touches the earth, the earth is purified and becomes white.

I believe that the purification of our lives is a gradual process and I tried to depict that by making it seem like that purified area on the world is something that will spread outward.

I know that Christ died for me, so I depicted His hand nailed to the cross from a perspective that would put me as a viewer (and other viewers) up close and personal, as if we were there on Calvary watching.

I know that Christ died for the whole world, so I also incorporated a cosmic perspective to show symbolically how His sacrifice affects and blesses the whole world. Superimposing Christ over the sun communicates his divine, celestial identity as the Son of God and the light of the world.

The world is held in blackness, but the rays of the sun come to embrace the world, symbolizing the love of Christ for us.

Have any of you found ways to express your testimony of Christ through any kind of art? If so, will you share on your blog and post a link?