Why the Mayan Calendars ends in 2012

Now you know!

"Amos, what did you see?"

Five Visions of Amos

Amos 7:1 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king’s share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up.
 4 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land.
 8 And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb line,” I replied. Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

Amos 8:1 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.
 2 “What do you see, Amos?” he asked. “A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered. Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

Amos the caretaker

Amos 7: 14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 

15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 

Amos 4:1 Cow of Bashan

Amos 4:1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”

Psalm 150

Psalm 150
1 Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary;
   praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
   praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
   praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
   praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
   praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
   Praise the Lord.

God's hand of protection

Harvest

Disciple's Daughters

When this drawing was created, it was for another story, but that story has been frozen. This instead became the precursor to Amelia's story, the Legend of the Firehawk. The story at the time was posted, still in its infancy. My thought is to bring it out as a graphic novel spanning three episodes across couple generations.

Journey to Wisdom - Portrait version

A portrait version of "Journey to Wisdom" The road junction were removed to make the layout strictly up towards life, and down towards death.

Greed

What a man would do to cling on to his treasures, but only to lose his life. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Drunkard

The idea of this illustration is that the man was so drunk, he could not distinguished between a public telephone booth and an elevator. The classy couple were inspired by Fox Moulder and Dana Scully, homage to the X-Files. :D Below is the preliminary skecth.

Journey to Wisdom - Landscape version

This is a landscape version based on the preliminary sketch. The author who asked me to draw this wanted the wisdom path to be on the right and the road to folly going down to the left. In Chinese culture, right is better than left. I made the cave leading down to "death" looked like a face of an animal to represent greater danger that sometimes was not as obvious in life until it was too late.

Journey to Wisdom - preliminary sketch

Based on the book of Proverbs about choosing one's path carefully. The road to folly often looks better at the beginning but in the end it leads to death. Path to wisdom require works and discipline, but at the end the reward is eternal.

Feast of Wisdom

Proverbs 9:1-6 Invitations of Wisdom
1 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. 2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. 3 She has sent out her maids, and she calls from the highest point of the city. 4 "Let all who are simple come in here!" she says to those who lack judgment. 5 "Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. 6 Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.

Feast of Folly

Proverbs 9:13-17
13 The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. 14 She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, 15 calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. 16 "Let all who are simple come in here!" she says to those who lack judgment. 17 "Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!"

Warning Against Enticement

Two versions of the final version. One version is based on Ancient Chinese setting and the ohter is based on Biblical-Old Testament setting.

Proverbs 1:10-19 Warning Against Enticement

Proverbs 1:10-19
10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them. 11 If they say, "Come along with us; let's lie in wait for someone's blood, let's waylay some harmless soul; 12 let's swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; 13 we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; 14 throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse"- 15 my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; 16 for their feet rush into sin, they are swift to shed blood. 17 How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds! 18 These men lie in wait for their own blood; they waylay only themselves! 19 Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it.

Proverbs 4:23 Guard Your Heart

Proverbs 4: 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 6:6-8; 24:30-34 Sluggard

I combined the 2 different passages of the proverbs into one picture so instead of making the lazy farmer sleeping, I posed him so that he is noticing the ants.

Proverbs 6:6-8
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

Proverbs 24:30-34
30 I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; 31 thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. 32 I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest- 34 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

Proverbs 6:27-29 Infidelity

27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? 28 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? 29 So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.