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. Then 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?” Of course! Watercolour! A deep, irrational yet enduring desire to paint in watercolour. When I heard a sermon on Ecclesiastes 11:6 I decided to embrace watercolour as a worthy enterprise, a gift from God. I decided 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 this embossing stamp to honour this milestone.

I am very pleased with my embossing stamp.  But I also wanted something less ornate that conveyed the same idea.  Like a logo I suppose.  So I stripped my embossing stamp down to the image, without the words.  This is the image I will use to replace other images on my materials.
Therefore online and in all printed materials I would like to have one name:  Stephen J Quirke.  One organisation:  SJQ Watercolour and one image:  This little decal with the sun and the moon & stars.  Currently I have different names on different platforms.  And perhaps, if I can’t change the name I will start a new instance.

Ink stamp – The Creator and an unlikely hero

The two characters in red appear in the middle of the first sentence in the bible (in Hebrew). Alef and Tav: The first and the last (in Greek Alpha and Omega). It is a name for God.

The letters in black are the name of the first person in scripture of whom God said “I have filled him with my Spirit…”. It was Bezalel – the Artist in charge of building the tabernacle during the Exodus. ‘Bezalel’ means ‘In the shadow of God’.

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. If there had been watercolour then I am sure it would have been on the list.