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Artwork created 26–29 May 2023.  Vincent Cavanagh © 2023 If there has been something that has intensified over the past year, it has been this gentle but firm pressure from above to represent particular saints. With St Agatha this pressure has been of unusual strength. Way back at the end of April I had collected a series of reference images, which I left on my drawing desk day in and day out, but strangely couldn’t get much further with. The impasse only changed after a deeper dive into the story of her life, and of how she has been represented in Rome and in Sicily. In doing so she went from being an important saint mentioned in Eucharistic Prayer 1 of the Church to being formidable and unforgettable. A brief re-cap of her life would be useful. St Agatha was a native of Sicily, and a beautiful and rich young woman of a noble family who had given her life to Jesus as a consecrated virgin. To signify this consecration she wore a veil.
When the early tortures failed to move her determination, he then ordered that her breasts be torn off with the special type of tongs you see depicted and then rolled in hot coals. Neither managed to kill her, and she was returned to her prison cell where St Peter visited her. Next Quintianus decided to burn her at the stake, but an earthquake happened to prevent that happening. So she was returned to her prison cell where she died of her injuries.  'St Peter Healing St Agatha' by Giovanni Lanfranco, (Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons) The lictor sliced off my breasts with doubled blows, Due to the details of her martyrdom, St Agatha became the patron saint of breast cancer sufferers, of rape victims, of nurses, of bell-founders, of Sicily, and other patronages.  'St Agatha, by sculptor Giovanni Maria De Rossi, (via StPetersBasilica.info) One of the images that helped was the statue of St Agatha above the colonnade at St Peter’s basilica in Rome. It told the story of her life without being unchaste. The other image that helped was the reliquary of St Agatha’s head kept in the Cathedral of Catania in Sicily.  Reliquary bust of St. Agatha by Giovani di Bartolo, ca. 1373 This reliquary is a master-work of silver and enamel. An online article about the relics of St Agatha can be viewed here. If you are patient (depending on the device you are using), it is worth using the Google translate option if you (like me) are not fluent in Italian. On either side of the bust representing St Agatha are two angels. She is crowned, and in one hand holds a crucifix and in the other she holds an inscription. The whole thing is covered with votive offerings, pectoral crosses from bishops, episcopal rings, jewels etc. According to tradition, the crown upon her head was put there by King Richard the Lionheart. Also this reliquary is the origin of the decision for blonde hair rather than the black or brunette hair found more widely in popular culture imagery of St Agatha. Below is the inscription, and a translation of it, that found all over the Cathedral of Catania where her reliquary–bust is kept, and that I have included underneath my depiction of St Agatha: Mentem Sanctam Spontaneam Honorem Deo Et Patriae Liberationem These are no idle words. Her veil, kept in a separate reliquary, has been successfully used several times to invoke God’s help when natural disasters threatened Sicily. When invaders came to Sicily and rounded up the native inhabitants, the conqueror permitted them to have a last Mass at the shrine of St Agatha before being executed. When it came time for everyone to open up the hymn books, each and every page held the initials of a promise that St Agatha would always protect Sicily with her intercession. Needless to say, the inhabitants were saved, and the invaders exited in a hurry. St Agatha, this holy martyr, has been given mighty intercessory power by God. St Agatha, pray for us. Amen. Catherine Cavanagh, (based on notes and with minor edits by Vincent Cavanagh).
~31 May 2023
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This continues to be a lonely road, but each step is hopefully getting me closer to something worthwhile. If others are doing the 2018 weekly challenges, they don't appear to be using the #52WIC hashtag. The theme for Week 11 was Stamp, so I included both the stamps you put on envelopes and the a stamp that requires ink.  For Week 12 the theme was Zoom. Sometimes when you zoom, everything goes right. Other times when you go zoom, you end up like this:  Do you remember Igerrom? Well, when he heard that the theme for Week 12 was Tea Party, he just had to invite himself. He's always trying to start a tea party and get people interested in his favourite beverage.  Week 14's theme was Geometric. So let's make some lovely circular arcs together with this waltzing compass.  Letterboxes was the theme for Week 15. With this one I went digital and enlisted the help of a robo-postman - who seems to be in a hurry.  My family are all engineers, computer geeks, teachers, number crunchers or fascinated by personal medical histories, (there is an aunt with a creative gene but her work is offline and hand-crafted - pottery, folk-art, dolls and teddy-bears).
This means I have none of the regular pathways to connections with art directors and creative studios. So if you know of anyone like that seeking the work of someone like me, please invite them to contact me. I am still on the down hill run for submitting the fourth set of artworks for assessment to the London Art College's correspondence course D6 Illustrating Children's Books. Of the set, the second part is a bigger project, which this time had to be bigger than A4 but no bigger than 40cm x 33cm, and landscape in orientation. The brief went something like this: Illustrate a single page spread from a gentle story about a cow who finally finds friendship with a bird. The story reveals what they learn and see of the world around them as they travel. Allow 1/4 of the page as a text area, and a bleed all round. The image has to be appealing, yet delicate, and in soft colours. Good contrasts of scale between bird and cow were recommended. The following was my first concept drawing, but it got discarded because it was too similar to what other students have done.  Then I did some roughs of the cow  And played around with ideas for the bird  And then did a concept drawing I was happier with. I wanted to show the cow and bird relating to each other co-operatively.  It was suggested to me that there would be more sense of travel if they were both facing the same direction. So I took that on board. From here on in, it is photographs because the A3 scanner does not do delicate colours well at all.  I went for a blue and white cow because I thought that black or dark would deaden the outcome, and blue and white are symbolic of milk if the average milk carton is anything to go by.  The plan was to do light initial washes with watercolour, and then add texture and softness with coloured pencil.  This is where the watercolour washes end, and the coloured pencil work starts  All the changes get very subtle here  Now for a good quality scan from our local office supplies store  And then firstly to Photoshop for some clean-up of pencil marks and other things, and then to InDesign to add some original text. Here's how it ended up after all of that. Firstly with crop marks etc  And then without crop marks  It is nice to have this one completed.
I am on the down hill run now for submitting the fourth set of artworks for assessment to the London Art College's correspondence course D6 Illustrating Children's Books. Of the set, the first part is a smaller project, which was an exercise in getting comfortable with drawing an animal in many different poses. The brief went something like this: Take a real animal and do several drawings of that animal walking around. Then start experimenting with ways of moving that this animal normally can't do, eg dancing. Put one of these animals on an A4 page, keeping it lively and well placed and add a bird. The animals should complement each other somehow. Keep the background white except for a hint of cloud, grass etc. Use soft colours and experiment with texture, but make sure the elements cohere together. I started off looking at horses mainly, with a turtle thrown in.  As you can see, some fun was had in this experimental stage.  But I gave up on the horse, and became more serious about the turtle. The following sketches had inspiration from photographs of turtles I found online.  Then I played around with turtle ideas.  This is the pencil outline I came up with, to begin building the final artwork.  When I photocopied it, and got the coloured pencils out to do a colour test - and to some extent a texture test, it got thumbs up from the family.  The plan I had was to do some light watercolour washes, and then add coloured pencil.  The paper buckled more than I thought it would, but I knew Photoshop could take care of that.  Here's how it looked with the watercolour before adding the coloured pencil work.  This image is about halfway through the coloured pencil work.  And this is as far as I went with the coloured pencils, before scanning it onto the computer to complete it.  And here's my turtle and bird, finished.  It is a long way from the horses I started with, but I'm happy with it.
This year was my first entry in the CYA Conference competition in the Aspiring category. Previously I was in the Hatchling category. There were two options, either to illustrate up to three artworks for a given portion of picture book text or to illustrate up to three artworks for a given portion of middle grade text. I chose the latter, and here is the given text: © Tina Marie Clark – Squire Chambers (Chapter Book: 543 Words extract. Aimed at 6 – 9 years.) ‘Holy barn-hay!’ Owen exclaimed. ‘Look at the size of the floater in that!’ He stared into the porcelain chamber pot. A huge turd stared back up at him. The wooden peg on his nose was the only thing saving him from the offending smell that filled the air. This was the worst part of being a squire, emptying the knight’s chamber pots when they were in residence at Highglen Castle, and not just using the bushes like when going to tournaments or to war. It was a disgusting job. But as Sir Quentin had told him, someone had to do it, and as he was the youngest squire of all the knights still in attendance in the castle, it was his duty. Remove the debris, toss that out, then empty each pot carefully into the jugs that the fullers would collect. Sir Quentin has made him visit the fullers and see how they used the stale urine to remove the fat and dirt from the woollen fabric they made. ‘At least I’m not a fuller’s apprentice,’ he said, thinking of the way they spent all day stamping with their bare feet on the cloth soaking in the urine. He shuddered and shook his head. ‘Think happy, Owen!’ For a moment his mind drifted to the huge house on the estate that belonged to his father. When on misty mornings like this one, the chamber maid would be the one to remove the pots, not him. He would have already rushed out to the sheep sheds to watch the sheering. But Sir Quentin had come to his home, and chosen him, the thinnest, scrawniest bow legged boy to be his squire. To follow in his father’s footsteps and one day be a knight, and fight for his King. Slowly balancing the pot on his arm, he pushed the heavy door open. At the exact moment it swung open and something solid hit him full on, taking his breath away. The pot went flying through the air. ‘No!’ Owen cried as he saw it somersault over. It landed with a sickening thunk sound. On top of Sir Quentin’s head. The pot fitted Sir Quentin perfectly like a porcelain helmet! He watched as in slow-motion, the urine and poop slide down Sir Quentin’s face, and drip on to his clean arming coat that he had laid out neatly for Sir Quentin just an hour ago. ‘Run!’ shouted his brain. But his legs would not work, they solidified and lime mortared themselves to the stone floor beneath. ‘Sir Quentin, I’m sorry, you opened the door and I opened the door and...’ Owen said waiting for the outrage that he was certain would follow. Sir Quentin cleared his throat. ‘It’s a simple job, Owen, you take the pot each day and you empty the solids out, and put the liquid in the jugs. You ensure it doesn’t land on anyone. S-i-m-p-l-e. ‘Yes, Sir Quentin.’ ‘Make sure it doesn’t happen again. Remember, part of the code of chivalry as a knight is also “Humility”, and believe me I’m showing you lots of that right now. Bring clean undergarments to my room and some warm water to wash.’ ‘Yes, Sir Quentin.’ ‘Now boy! Before my patience wears off.’ Owen fled. For the first illustration I chose the part where Owen is looking down into the smelly contents of the chamber pot.
For the second illustration I chose the part where Owen is remembering life back on the family estate.
For the third illustration I chose the part where both Quentin and Owen have just worked out where the contents of the chamber pot landed.
For colour I used coloured pencils because I enjoy using them for this kind of illustration because it gives me greater certainty of the final colour on the page than mixing the watercolours. That certainty is useful in getting colour consistency in a series of illustrations containing the same character.
I was very pleased to receive a Highly Commended for my entry. |
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