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Painted 20–21 August 2024
This is the handed down Description of the Virgin from that same Miracle Hunter summary: One evening, according to tradition, a lady of great beauty appeared to the refugees in the jungle, clad in white and surrounded by light, holding the infant Jesus in her arms, with two charming boys holding torches at her side. The lady walked back and forth several times in front of the Christians, her feet touching the ground. I opted to save myself some artistic headache and stress by deciding to only focus on the Virgin, child, and torch bearing youths rather than attempting to include the onlooking Christians and have even less room for the actual apparition. I think that that decision has born itself out well.
Vincent Cavanagh 22 August 2024
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Painted 21–22 Feb 2023.  Vincent Cavanagh © 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.  Year of St Joseph: Birth of Jesus. Looking back on this picture as I'm trying to write a blog post for it, I'm stuck by how (without any forethought or planning) Joseph and Mary look very, very alike to a recently married couple I know. Funny how the subconscious works, eh?
Anyhow, the 1st of May is dedicated to St Joseph the Worker, so how do I commemorate this fact? I paint the Birth of Jesus in the cave/stable. Specifically I had in my mind how Joseph must have been after the birth: dazed and confused, in a sea of emotions. "Alright God, now what am I supposed to do?" And there before him is Mary, totally ensconced in the new life sitting in her arms. She is a total rock of calm amongst the swimming tide of emotions overtaking Joseph as he tries unconsciously to sit down somewhere amongst the animals, inside that cave, on that awesome, and holy, night. A happy month and feast of St Joseph to you all. Even if it's via Nazareth. — — — — — Digital painting, based on a rough pen sketch. Back in December 2020 Pope Francis proclaimed a Year of St Joseph (8 Dec 2020 – 8 Dec 2021) for the whole Catholic Church. More information about it can be found here, and about prayer to St Joseph here. Below are the first 3 images of St Joseph that I painted in the Year of St Joseph proper:  "St Joseph and the infant Jesus." The starting point for this image was the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 1, Verse 20; which was one of the prompts from the #Adventus202One art challenge during Advent 2020. This image in not exactly of the moment described in Matthew's Gospel, but rather of a moment after Jesus' birth when St Joseph fell in love/accepted Jesus as his son for the 2nd or 3rd time. Also the main inspiration for this image was the idea: if St Joseph had a beard before Jesus was born, how much of it would have been left after Jesus' toddler year (ie. pulling part of Joseph's beard out)?  "The Holy Innocents/The Flight into Egypt." This image was also another inspiration from #Adventus202One, this time being close to the scripture reference: Matthew, Chapter 2, Verse 13–15. The inspiration for this was thinking about how the recently departed Holy Innocents may have processed with the Holy Family in their flight into Egypt from Herod's persecution, all under the protection St Michael the Archangel. I just sketched this one rather quickly on some coloured paper and inked it with a calligraphy marker and text highlighters, because I just wanted to get it done and I didn't care how I got it done. I'd been getting sick of doing so many watercolour pictures in a row and I wanted a break from that medium.  "St Joseph, Protector of the Holy Family." The title for this one basically explains all there is to this picture. Showing St Joseph as the Protector and Shield surround the Jesus and Mary.
Although I must not forget to acknowledge and appreciate @awememento's influence upon this particular painting of St Joseph and the Holy Family. And her Etsy page can be found here. Until next time, Happy Easter! I thought I told myself that I wasn't going to do Inktober this year. But then a Catholic theme list came up (#Catholinktober), and I caved in. It is the reason why you haven't seen much artwork posted here. There is plenty to share, it is just waiting for some free time to put it on this blog. Instagram, Twitter and Facebook have had daily postings during October. So here is a brief selection from the last 30 days:  The Chaste Heart of St Joseph inspires love and trust in everyone.  A version of the icon of the Mother of God of Tenderness.  New Testament Character: Ananias getting the message from God that he is to go and visit Saul, the persecutor of the Christians.  For the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary, a decade of the rosary depicted with a big red rose for the Our Father, ten blue-white roses for the Hail Marys, and a triple golden ball for the Glory Be to honour the Most Holy Trinity. The hands are offering it as prayer, and the twelve stars are there to remind us of the crown of Mary, and her receiving the bouquet.  Charity in action.
Only one more to go, and the theme for that one is a title of the Virgin Mary. Whatever passes for normal might return soon. :) Usually in late April my Mum reminds me that we need a new artwork to go on our Mother's Day cards for our female relatives. Here is what I came up with for 2016.  Firstly a rough pencil sketch.  Then comes the ink. For this picture I used nib ink rather than my usual felt tip ink. This scan was before I rubbed out the underlying pencil marks.  Now to add a bit of colour. Firstly initial washes of gold and a little skin tone.  Then hair and shadow areas. At this point I was in two minds whether to add the expected blue or not. The need for a bit more contrast between mother and child tipped the balance.  Light pinks don't tend to scan very well, sadly. But I am happy with the final result, and so was Mum, my Aunts and Grandmothers. I'm hoping our heavenly Mother was happy with it too.
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