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withdrawn from pleasure and contentment,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 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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March 22nd, 2011: Passion Painting

Today I spent hours working on this painting for a priest friend of mine. It features the Passion, with the Divine Mercy rays coming from Christ's side, St. Augustine, and Mary holding St. Margaret of Cortona. It is for a group similar to Rachel's Vineyard, and is focused on helping single and post abortion mothers. The theme of course is chastity, seeing as St. Augustine and St. Margaret are saints who struggled in that area especially. This painting has taken me FOREVER. MONTHS. That's mainly because I had such a hard time painting Christ the way I wanted, especially with painting Christ's face. It is STILL not what I want, of course, but at least it exists FINALLY. You have NO idea how I have fought with this painting! Another thing you should know is that it is only about 1/2 to 3/3 finished, because I plan to add color next. That will be so fun after struggling so much with the faces. I painted it black and white at first so I wouldn't have to fight with color at the same time I was fighting with the figures. I plan to add color mostly in transparent washes, but I will paint over the black and white completely a little bit. So here it is!

Below are some detail images:

I'm not sure If I will post anything else tonight... this wore me out! Heh, I came down stairs and the family tells me I have paint on my face. My sister says it is war paint-- I feel like I've been fighting! And oh my goodness it's super time!? When did that happen? Oh well, I spose that means I'm another day closer to my little trip and seeing my friends. :)

February 28th: Sketchings on a Newspaper and a Bit of Anime

So, drawing one: I am left at church on Sunday for about 35 minutes. It is raining and so I go back inside and decide to sketch the statues of St. Michael and the Child Jesus, and the stained glass window of the crucifixion. I didn't have any paper or pencils, so I borrowed a pen and an old newspaper.  It was a bit challenging to draw standing up.

The second drawing has a picture I drew of a girl at the computers at the library where I work, and a small portion of James Patterson's Maximum Ride graphic novel. I got impatient with the girl at the computer rather quickly; she kept squirming and giggling with the girl next door to her. I am  not quick enough to draw squirming children yet. So, I thought I'd give a go at some anime. I usually have no patience for it. I like to be sketchy, and it's hard to make anime look decent without drawing cleaner lines than I want to make time to do. At least, I haven't figured out how to do it any other way yet.

I want an art quote for the day.... hmm...... How about "Bad artists always admire each other's work." - Oscar Wilde. Ha! I mean, oops! I mean, what? (what part of that applies to me? Hmm... makes wonder if he's wrong, or if he's right and is talking to me.) So, if I try hard to admire the BEST artwork there EVER was, would I automatically wake up a better artist tomorrow morning? It's worth a try.