April 28th, 2011: ttfn!

I'm off to Chicago in the morning... so no more drawings for the weekend. (I know, I have done so well keeping up with my blog the past few weeks) BUT, I will be going to the Chicago Art Institute! So I will be doing my artist's soul good! Maybe I'll even sketch something there... depending on how much time I have. Anyway, they have this painting there! I know, such a moving piece.....

And this..... pointillism!

And this! I like ziz one!

And this is a lovely one I've seen before... from the Waterhouse era I believe....

And this Bouguereau piece! I LOVE him, and while this isn't my favorite of his, I will take what I can get!

Ok, I had best get off and get packing!

April 26th, 2011: The Passion Painting is Finished!

Finally! It is finished! I feel like Michelangelo must have after finishing the Sistine Chapel! (well, maybe not exactly like that.... I bet I would have squealed a lot more than he did.) I started this over 6 months ago( I won't tell you exactly when I started it... too embarrassing), and for various reasons, this has been a very hard painting to finish. I have had some health issues the past 10 months or so, and this painting has been on the back of my mind for most of it- tormenting me, giving me an outlet, and providing yet another reason to push on and keep going. Well, I have been much better the past 2 months or so, and I have been able to FINALLY get this painting into the last stages. I finished and signed it on Good Friday night. Good Friday is very special to me (may even be my favorite day), and I at least was very moved that I could finally finish it that day, after carrying this painting around in my head for so long during so much. God IS good! So good. I hope you like my painting!

I've had one non-Catholic (maybe non-Christian) say that this painting disturbs them- I took that as a compliment. I felt like saying, "yeah it's disturbing, now what are you gonna do about it? I want to see you being baptized next Easter." Anyway, I have a rather long quote for the day, but it's absolutely lovely! It's a poem by St. John of the Cross. I have listened to John Michael Talbot sing this since I was very little, and it was in my thoughts this past Lent:

A lone young shepherd lived in pain

withdrawn from pleasure and contentment,

his thoughts fixed on a shepherd-girl,

his heart an open wound with love.

He weeps, but not from the wound of love,

there is no pain in such affliction,

even though the heart is pierced;

he weeps in knowing he’s been forgotten.

That one thought: his shining one

has forgotten him, is such great pain

that he bows to brutal handling in a foreign land,

his heart an open wound with love.

The shepherd says: I pity the one

who draws herself back from my love,

and does not seek the joy of my presence,

though my heart is an open wound with love for her.

After a long time he climbed a tree,

and spread his shining arms,

and hung by them, and died,

his heart an open wound with love.

-St. John of the Cross

April 19th, 2011: Passion Week

Well, this week is Passion Week... one of my favorite weeks of the year, if not my favorite of all. Out of all this week, I think that Thursday night and Good Friday are my favorite times. Side note: I was in Ireland last year during Holy Week. On Holy Thursday evening, I went for a walk by myself to an old broken down church and grave yard (it was the closest thing to going to church available... and besides, I was surrounded by celtic crosses <3 ), and for Good Friday we were in Killarney at the Franciscan Church... anyways, I love Holy Week and I love Ireland and the two remind me of each other, which is very bittersweet.

 So tonight I was wanting to get into the Holy Week spirit, and so I put in the Passion of the Christ soundtrack, and just drew in the time slot I had available. It's very rough- as usual. It reminds me of the Turin and Beleg picture I drew...  Anyways, I have a very special devotion to the Agony in the Garden, and I tend to want to sketch drawings like this a lot....

For some reason I am having the hardest time getting the scanner to come up with an accurate image. The face I drew looks so different in person... oh well. Oh computers... they will be the death of me. 

    I did a drawing of the Agony in the Garden last year when I was studying in Austria. I wanted to post that tonight, but I don't exactly know where it is at the moment... I will have to find it and post it later. 

    And once again, St. Therese has the quote of the day. I have been rereading Story of a Soul, as well as reading The Sadness of Christ by St. Thomas More for Lent. I will have to try to find some good quotes from the latter- it is an AMAZING book!

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"He wants me to love Him because He has forgiven me, not much, but everything. He did not wait for me to love Him with a great love... but made me see that He had loved me first, with an infinite providence, so that now I may love Him in return even unto folly" St. Therese

April 15th... No Drawing Yet, But A Funny Story (a.k.a an excuse)

So... I was going to go to the YMCA and Stations of the Cross, and then come home and spend a lovely evening drawing something (I want to do a drawing of a more happy persuasion...). But, yeah..... something happened: I had a headache before leaving, and so I went to the cabinet to take an advil, only, I took a sleeping pill by accident! So yeah... I BARELY jogged half a mile and had to sit the whole time during stations, and have been a zombie ever since.... Maybe I will draw SOMETHING later tonight, even if it's just a salt shaker. I will try, that is all I can promise.
      And for some reason the boys (I have two younger brothers) are walking around the kitchen communicating by saying only "coo coo".... when you're drunk on sleeping pills this does really strange things to your head.... just sayin.
     Oh! And I have been thinking that along with my own drawings, I may post artwork that I like by other artist, living and (mostly) dead. I just get so excited about stuff and want to share! I'm sure you won't mind. I hope.

An hour or two later:
Ok! I did a quick sketch! I remembered that I told a friend I would do a quick unicorn sketch for her, and so here it is. I have to confess I only spent like 10 minutes on it, but I intend to get her a more detailed drawing in the  future.

Ok... so there are flecks of some ferin' substance on this.... there must have been dust or something on my scanner.

     And here is my painting by someone else for the day. I have no idea who this is by; I found this in a magazine, but it didn't have a name or source, and I couldn't find it on google images... so I suppose we are out of luck this time. But I love it! It may be my current favorite of the Child Jesus so far. 

Absolutely lovely! I wish I knew who did it. If anyone knows, please tell me. 

     Since we are kind of on the theme of the Child Jesus, let's use a St. Therese quote for today:

"If I did not simply suffer from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient; but I look only at the present moment, forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future. When we yield to discouragement or despair it is usually because we give too much thought to the past and to the future. "-St. Therese of Lisieux

April 12th, 2011: An Emo Day....

So today was tough, I'm not gonna lie. And I have been reflecting on many things, such as suffering, patience, anxiety for what's to happen, etc. I did this little sketch as more of a time to sit and reflect and think, and not so much for display at all. I even considered not posting it. But I decided I would. Maybe someone else out there had an emo day and would like to see a fellow sufferer. What the drops are I haven't decided. Maybe they are rain. Maybe they are blood ( having to do with the"sharing in Christ's death" perhaps) But there you have it: a quick sketch that I did for myself at the end of a less than perfect day.

"Broken things are precious. We eat broken bread because we share in the death of Our Lord and his broken life. Broken flowers give perfume. Broken inscence is used in adoration. A broken ship saved Paul and many other pssengers on their way to Rome. Sometimes the only way the good Lord can get into some hearts is to break them." - Fulton Sheen.

     

  I know I have already shared this quote, but it is what my drawing is based on, and so I reposted it. I have also been bumming around to Mumford and Sons.... and here is a quote from their song After the Storm that I rather like:

“And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.

And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.

Get over your hill and see what you find there,

With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.”

I want to draw something based off this sometime, but hopefully I will be more chipper next time, and will maybe draw another umbrella attacking a kid, a cuddly soft thing, or a dragon, or something. God bless. 

                 
P.S. It just occurred to me that part of this blog is orange... I don't even like orange... so I have NO idea how I let that happen. Although I have to admit, the blog ain't bad lookin......

April 6th, 2011: A Blustery Day and Runaway Umbrella

Ok, so I think umbrella's are cute- especially red runaway umbrellas.... and so I decided to do a quick sketch before bed, and delay practicing piano yet again. I used an adorable child's face from an old children's prose book that's filled with Jessie Willcox Smith illustrations. ( I love that book. SO MANY pretty pictures.) There is an odd shadow in the top left corner that is not on the original, but that I cannot get rid of no matter how many times I scan the picture. I am a little too tired to care much about it right now; I want to go read a book or sleep or something. Anything BUT practice piano.

Hehe. Where is the mouse? See him? I love mice at the moment. Five second cuteness right there (i.e. takes a short to draw, just incase you were confused). How about some Despereaux Tilling quotes then? (What? How did we go from kidnapping umbrella's to Kate DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux? I don't know. I don't plan these things.)

"Once upon a time," he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him." 


"There is nothing sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name." 


"Despereaux marveled at his own bravery. 
He admired his own defiance. 
And then, reader, he fainted."


 "He was reading from the beginning so that he could get to the end, where the reader was assured that the knight and the fair maiden lived together happily ever after." 


"Love is ridiculous. But love is also wonderful. And powerful. And Despereaux's love for the Princess Pea would prove, in time, to be all of these things: powerful, wonderful, and ridiculous." 


I spose I got a bit carried away there. That is easy to do with such a lovely book. I love Despereaux! Is it insane to be a smidgen bit in love with such a tiny big heart? He has the most adorable over-sized ears! (Look at me gushing over a mouse.)

April 4th, 2011: Therese's Eye, Color Added, And A Bit of Emo Mixed With Horse

So it has been a while since I've posted. I did warn you that I would be gone about a week. But I can't deny that I was home allll this past weekend and did not post. I was busy mind you: I was adding color to my Passion painting below. Here is a bit of it:

This is the only section of it that I am happy with, and so it is the only part I will show you right now. Ugh. Why do these things never turn out as planned!?!? But anyway, the entire painting is colorized, but  most of it needs some major reworking before it is presentable. I worked on my anatomy DVDs this weekend as well:

Yes I know, I spelt "humerus" incorrectly (I like saying "spelt" better than "spelled" for some reason). I know right, SUCH an exciting sketch! But I chose this one because you can at least tell sorta that it is the humerus bone of the arm. The mess of lines on the top is the clavicle. Yes, I learned TWO words today: humerus, and clavicle.
     I also drew an emo girl (I was wanting to do a gothic-like victorian-ish drawing from either Jane Eyre or Phantom of the Opera, but my brain was so dead that I couldn't remember a scene, nor focus enough to read one). To the left of her is a quick crooked sketch based off St. Therese's eye, and to the right is a little horse. I wanted to draw a mouse, but some how a horse came out instead. Go figure.

While I am on St. Therese, I think I will put a quote by her yet again. Yes, I am rather fond of her.
      ...... Actually I changed my mind. Fulton Sheen has the quote of the day!

Broken things are precious. We eat broken bread because we share in the death of Our Lord and his broken life. Broken flowers give perfume. Broken inscence is used in adoration. A broken ship saved Paul and many other pssengers on their way to Rome. Sometimes the only way the good Lord can get into some hearts is to break them. - Fulton Sheen.

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