Happy Feast of St Joseph. Painted 14 March 2024 ‘St Joseph and Jesus (2024)’, Vincent Cavanagh, 2024 This painting may have only taken a day to paint, but it was a whole year—and two months—in the making. The product of a deadline that I didn’t think that I was even supposed to be working towards and God’s Timing. Aack! Leaving the histrionics aside, the photograph that this picture of St Joseph and the child Jesus is based upon was taken at a local church just before mass. A father was sitting with his family in a pew, about three rows over, holding his sleeping youngest son over his shoulder. One of those “take a photo or regret it”–moments from God. In the end, very little actually changed from the photograph—well, apart from changing clothes to robes, adding head coverings, and including hair on the back of St Joseph’s head, of course.
This whole hectic schedule of events was due to a conflicting parish event after the youth night and the lateness of the St Joseph’s Day Eve party at Joseph House being on at a prohibitively late time for me to attend. In the end the picture was printed (Thank God!) and present to the housemates, and it should now be hanging somewhere inside Joseph House. Vincent Cavanagh 19 Mar 2024 Now, as for an update on my previous update about working on writing down my experiences of WYD Lisbon, that’s no longer moving forward. I’m not joking when I write that it was a commandment from on high. And given how much I was reliving certain emotions to an unhealthy amount, I’m more than alright with just letting it drop and focusing on what God actually wants me to be focused on instead. Ask God before you leap into things whether you should be leaping into them at all. P.S. Also, the writing was the reason that I only had a single day left to paint Joseph and Jesus. (Face palm) Oi vey!
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A brief update as to what I’m up to at the moment.
*midst | as in: ‘in the midst of him’; not a synonym for ‘middle’. 19 Mar 2024 For any update about the writing, you'll find it at the bottom of the next blog post. Sketched 30 Mar 2023. Coloured and completed 5 Apr 2023. [UPDATED — 9 APRIL 2023]
The following text was written after the original post because I was too tired that night to write anything, and then I was caught up in the Paschal Triduum which further drained me of any capacity to string words together. Happy Easter. I think that I can safely pin-point the inspiration for this image of St Peregrine to mention of the Latin word “peregrinus” by our bishop in his homily during the mass after the first WYD formation day/session back in March. Peregrinus, meaning “foreigner” or “one from abroad”, is the route word for Pilgrim. Artwork created 29 Mar 2023.
Apart from the odd bit of raucousness and louder-than-strictly-necessary music, today's World Youth Day Formation Session #1 was reassuring in some places and most instructive for the rest.
Baring our bishop being the cause of a brief bout of embarrassment to myself with some overzealous joining-in, and encouragement on his part, with the recitation/practice of our Pilgrim Anthem. But that says more about me and my personal tastes than it does anything about senior clerical habits (pardon the pun). I am left with much food for thought, and the odd form to fill out. Vincent Cavanagh ~ 25 March 2023 I will keep this brief because there is not enough time left in the day when I am writing this, nor the spare cognitive powers to do any form of “essay” on any one subject or do it justice.
About the 12–Month Exodus Rather like any “New Year’s” resolution, my attempts (if I can say that without rolling my own eyes) to limit my time on YouTube started out well intentioned and then sporadically got worse as a I *ahem* stumbled across topics and channels that I had not come across previously — and went down these new rabbit–holes more than once. Painted 2–4 March 2023. Rather than fail admirably at trying to condense the epic life of Mrs Chisholm into a few measly paragraphs, I will direct you instead to the Friends of Caroline Chisholm website for a greater insight to her and her works than I could ever attempt to do justice within the confines of this blog.
Link to the Mrs Chisholm website. Painted 23–24, 26 Feb 2023. St Peter Chanel is the Protomartyr of Oceania, and Patron of Wallis and Futuna.
He was a French Marist father and religious superior of seven fellow Marist missionaries sent out to the region, having left France on the 24th of December 1836. Painted 21–22 Feb 2023. St Pius X was the 259th Pope and successor to St Peter. He was a vehement opponent of what he called "Modernism" inside the theological circles of the Roman Catholic Church.
Something that the church is still fighting with today, what may be bluntly explained as: trying to convert the church to appease the (fickle) world, rather than converting the world to appease (and please) God the Father. Continuing with St Joseph, here are the 2 most recent images that I have done. Both of them where created with Copic alcohol-markers and water-based pens, with pencil under drawings. "Most Chaste Heart of St Joseph." This one was made on the first Wednesday of March (2021), because every first Wednesday of the month is dedicated to St Joseph. This was an opportunity for me to do the Chaste Heart of St Joseph justice as I'd only previously done a very small version for CATHOLinktober, Day 19, "Chaste Heart of St Joseph". It was also a chance to try out some Bristol Pad paper that I'd bought earlier. "Reunion." Showing the reunion of St Joseph with Jesus after the crucifixion and before the resurrection. This was painted in honour of the feast day of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin (March 19), after having the haunting last few words from the poem Limbo by Sister Mary Ada running through my head that day.
Here are the last 2 stanzas from that poem: And there He was Splendid as the morning sun and fair As only God is fair. And they, confused with joy, Knelt to adore Seeing that he wore Five crimson stars He never had before. No canticle at all was sung. None toned a psalm, or raised a greeting song. A silent man alone Of all that throng Found tongue -- Not any other. Close to His heart When the embrace was done, Old Jospeh said, "How is Your Mother, How is Your Mother, Son?" Until next time, God bless. |
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