Little Christ in a Garden

I am alive and painting. I just couldn't show you this painting until just now because it was a commission/surprise graduation gift for My Lovely Friend (click on the link!). Now she has it, so now you can see it:

Little Christ in a Garden

Detail Image

I love this painting. As you can see, I managed to do a ginger-headed, freckled-faced, little Jesus with a mouse and toadstools. I had fun painting this. I was hoping for a fairy tale feel- I don't see why the Christ child wouldn't have loved fairy tales.
      And I think I should let you know that for some reason my carpal tunnel is better lately. I am not sure why, and I don't know how long this good spell will last, but I will take what I can get.
      I just got back from Franciscan University where they sent off the newly graduated class of 2012. If I had stayed at Franciscan longer than 2 years, this would have been my class. I love them so. It was a great blessing to be there with them, through the good and the bad.

‎"WHAT was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world." ~GKC: 'Autobiography.'

“My imagination is a monastery, and I am its monk” -John Keats

When you are describing,
A shape, or sound, or tint;
Don't state the matter plainly,
But put it in a hint;
And learn to look at all things,
With a sort of mental squint.
~Lewis Carroll

Updates, and Ink and Fairydust

I thought I would let you know the results of those tests I kept talking about- I have carpal tunnel and nerve damage in both hands and elbows. Excellent news for an artist right? Oh well. Thankfully, my left hand is the worst, which is good because I am right handed. Will my right hand get worse? Probably. It's already given me issues for a long time, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. God has taken care of me thus far- I don't see any reason to doubt Him now.

Also, the next Ink & Fairydust is out! Featuring a lovely cover by Mary MacArthur. There are a couple drawings inside done by yours truly that I have already posted on this blog.

I have a crazy month art-wise ahead of me. I have another commission, my Arthouse Sketchbook Project, and the next issue of Ink & Fairydust to illustrate before the end of the month. I work best under pressure, so in some ways I am excited, just as long as I get it done in the end! Time for the montage music.

I hope you all are having a blessed Good Friday, one of my favorite days of the year, and that you have a lovely Easter!

God bless and happy Easter!

One Lost Chord Divine

I am back! And with a painting. This one is a commission for a lovely friend who has managed to get two pieces out of me, which is quite an accomplishment actually. I jest of course. A little bit.

Anyway, enough nonsense, here it is. She hasn't actually seen it or okayed it yet, but I wanted you to see what I am working on none the less:

This is a mix of ink and watercolor. Mostly watercolor.

It is based off this poem:

A Lost Chord

Seated one day at the Organ,

I was weary and ill at ease,

And my fingers wandered idly

Over the noisy keys.

I do not know what I was playing,

Or what I was dreaming then ;

But I struck one chord of music,

Like the sound of a great Amen.

It flooded the crimson twilight,

Like the close of an Angel's Psalm,

And it lay on my fevered spirit

With a touch of infinite calm.

It quieted pain and sorrow,

Like love overcoming strife ;

It seemed the harmonious echo

From our discordant life.

It linked all perplexéd meanings

Into one perfect peace,

And trembled away into silence

As if it were loth to cease.

I have sought, but I seek it vainly,

That one lost chord divine,

Which came from the soul of the Organ,

And entered into mine.

It may be that Death's bright angel

Will speak in that chord again,

It may be that only in Heaven

I shall hear that grand Amen. 

-Adelaide A. Procter

Alice and Snowflakes

       Well, I did it. I gutted out a drawing late last night. Heh, you guys are so good. Yesterday, starting in the morning and lasting all day, different people, both friends and complete strangers, encouraged me in one way or another to keep drawing, just do it, etc. That did more than you know. Even the tiniest bit of encouragement can go a long long way, which I need to learn from myself.
        These are two more pages, done once again with my trusty Bic Atlantis pen, for my Arthouse Sketchbook Project book, which is due in less than a month, and I am no where NEAR finished. Grrr. Need to gut out some more drawings!

“Do you hear the snow against the window-panes, Kitty? How nice and soft it sounds! Just as if some one was kissing the window all over outside. I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” And when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves all in green, and dance about — whenever the wind blows — oh, that’s very pretty!” cried Alice, dropping the ball of worsted to clap her hands. “And I do so wish it was true! I’m sure the woods look sleepy in the autumn, when the leaves are getting brown.” -Lewis Carol, Through the Looking Glass


      Tomorrow I get the results back from some tests, and find out if I need surgery, or if they even found anything wrong, etc. So, again, prayers would be awesome. I am actually more afraid that they didn't find anything than if I need surgery. I have been through this before, and I hope they actually find something wrong this time. Can't fix the problem until you know what it is you know. 


One of the lovely people who helped me yesterday sent me this:

       Thank you, lovely little person you. 

Just so You Know...

        I am alive. But not so well. Thus so much.... inactivity. I have my own health difficulties, someone else in the family is sick, I am still wrestling with school issues, etc- so, not much priority has been given to blogging, unfortunately. Or drawing, which I hate like I hate very few things. I am actually having difficulty with my hands, which is NOT ideal for an artist. So, if you could say a little prayer for that, that would be amazing. So far it's mostly my left hand, which is good for a right-hander like me, but if the right hand gets bad, well, I suppose I'll deal with that if and when it comes.
      I hope you are having a good Lent. I think I have. I never really know for sure, for better or worse.

God bless! 

'When it is all over you will not regret having suffered; rather you will regret having suffered so little, and suffered that little so badly.'
-St. Sebastian Valfre

‎"The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man." -Fyodor Dostoevsky

Men say the sun was darkened: yet I had
Thought it beat brightly, even on—Calvary:
And He that hung upon the Torturing Tree
Heard all the crickets singing, and was glad.
          -GK Chesterton

“From one thing, know ten thousand things” -Miyamoto Musashi

“Under the sword lifted high, There is hell making you tremble. But go ahead, And you have the land of bliss.” -Miyamoto Musashi

Now, just why am I quoting an ancient martial arts master? Because the next article I have to illustrate for Ink and Fairydust Magazine is about weapons. And, well, because any excuse to quote Miyamoto Musashi is good enough for me. 

I fancy I am the middle one...

“Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.” -Miyamoto Musashi (just because it sounded cool?)

More such quotes by him:

“The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win” 

“When you decide to attack, keep calm and dash in quickly, forestalling the enemy...attack with a feeling of constantly crushing the enemy, from first to last.” 

“Perception is strong and sight weak."

“To become the enemy, see yourself as the enemy of the enemy” 

I had fun with this drawing. 

Dianthe Illustration

Here is another illustration for Ink and Fairydust Magazine. Well, I haven't actually heard if they will use this drawing particularly, but I thought I'd show you what I have been working on allllllll day. This is the second version- the first had an ink splatter on her nose.

This was a mix of ink, watercolor, and touch-up with Corel Painter X.

This coming issue is on mythology. This drawing was for a retelling. Shew. Now I have to do an illustration about weapons! Hopefully I won't splatter ink on this one, and take all day doing it.