Emboss Stamp

Ecclesiastes 11:6: Sow your seed in the morning and at evening let not your hands be idle – for you do not know which will succeed. Whether this or that or whether both will do equally well.

For decades I consulted with teams, by day, to define, plan and execute strategy. And I painted in watercolour in the evening. One day I applied my strategy process to SJQ Watercolour. The first question to define my purpose was “what is your passion?” It felt like heaven had opened and angels were singing. Of course! Watercolour! A deep, irrational yet enduring desire to paint in watercolour.

However a feeling of guilt lingered. Surely I should be working day and night to build my business, to claw my way to success!

Then I heard a sermon on Ecclesiastes 11:6. According to Solomon we should work our ‘day-job’ but in the evening it is good to pick up our other work. I decided to embrace watercolour as a worthy enterprise. A gift from God. I decided to ‘cast my bread on the water’, to stop ‘observing the wind’ and start sowing. I resolved to take the risks and trust God with the outcome.

This work flows out of this intent. Therefore I designed and created above an embossing stamp to honour this insight.

Later I simplified the design to create a logo for SJQ Watercolour.

Ink stamp – The Creator and an unlikely hero

I also wanted a stamp to place in the bottom corner of prints. I thought a black and red stamp would be cool. And I did not want a Chinese character. I wanted something with more context for my life.

Then I heard someone on a podcast talking about the structure in the Hebrew text in the first sentence in the bible.

“Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

There are two characters in the middle of the sentence. Alef and Tav: The first and the last (in Greek Alpha and Omega). It is a reference to God. The structure of that sentence is fascinating. But I wanted to use those two characters. I tweaked the layout of the characters and had a red stamp made.

I heard another sermon all about a healthy attitude towards work. The preacher asked the question: “Who was the first person in the bible of whom God said “I have filled him with my spirit”?

I had no idea. I wonder if you know. Well – it was Bezalel – the Artist in charge of building the tabernacle during the Exodus.

In Exodus 31: 1-5 The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.” And I am pretty sure if there had been watercolour then, it would have been on the list.

I liked that story and listed the letters in the name vertically, with a little graphic adjustment. The result looks like this:

‘Bezalel’ means ‘In the shadow of God’.