Category: Mixing It Up

St Andrew Dũng-Lạc, Vietnamese Martyr

25/11/2023

Drawn on 23 November 2023.

St Andrew Dũng-Lạc was a Vietnamese Catholic priest who was martyred under the Nguyễn dynasty in Việt Nam (Vietnam) with his fellow priest and countryman St Peter Phạm Truong Vǎn Thi by beheading.

They were both named among the 117 Vietnamese Martyrs who were canonised by Pope John Paul II on 19 June 1988.

Fuller histories of both St Andrew Dũng-Lạc and St Peter Thi can be found on the Santi e Beati website:
St Andrew Dũng-Lạc
St Peter Phạm Truong Vǎn Thi

The Memorial of St Andrew Dũng-Lạc and his companions, Vietnames martyrs, is on 24 November.

Vincent Cavanagh
25 Nov 2023

Brief Update 2023-10-22

22/10/2023

Just a brief update to let you all know that, yes, I am still alive.

I am currently in the middle of a 6-week course on “Theology of Body” by Pope John Paul II which is taking up nearly all of my mental and physical energy and leaving myself with not much left in tank for anything.

This is in addition to my general lack of focus and purpose in the wake of World Youth Day Lisbon 2023 and finishing my 2024 Calendar.

Currently, I find myself living (read: surviving) from one ex-WYD pilgrim social event/get-together to the next, which are so far averaging about a month apart. Post-World Youth Day Blues? Perhaps.

I know that I shouldn’t complain, because before WYD I had never had any social life what is filling up my calendar now. But I am aware of how fickle sudden-social-relationships can dissipate in the blink of an eye unless they are tended to and (hopefully) cultivated into last friendships.

Please kindly keep myself and all my fellow “Theology of the Body” course participants in your prayers.
Thank you.

Vincent Cavanagh
22 Oct 2023

What every Pilgrim Artist needs

12/5/2023

Sound advice, in any galaxy 😜
#HitchhikersGuidetotheGalaxy

And here is the process shot of me adding those wise words to the front of this new sketchbook.

Vincent Cavanagh
~12 May 2023

And this is the original from the 1981 BBC adaptation.

Caroline Chisholm City Walk (01)

30/4/2023

#ChisholmWalkSydney

Today was the first ever Caroline Chisholm City Walk through Sydney CBD: starting from Wynyard Station; stopping for Mass at St Patrick's Church Hill; pausing at the site of the Female Immigrants House founded by Mrs Chisholm in 1841; and finishing at St Mary's Cathedral.

Below are some of the photos from today.

Fr Kevin Stewart, Marist, celebrated the 10am Mass today (30 April 2023).

Preserved foundations of William Davis' cottage where the consecrated Eucharist was left behind by Fr Jeremiah O'Flynn in 1818.

Crossing Harrington Street, continuing along Bridge Street.

We stopped for coffee at the This Way Canteen in front of Museum of Sydney.

Continuing on from having stopped outside of Hyde Park Barracks.

A few final photos on the steps of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, NSW.

A last small group photo before catching the train home.

Vincent Cavanagh
~30 April 2023

First Holy Martyrs of Rome

27/4/2023

Artwork created 19–27 April 2023.

A divinely-inspired, Roman mosaic–styled depiction of a few of the many different ways in which the early Christians were martyred in Rome, under the persecution of emperor Nero in AD 64.

"Nero's Torches", Henry Siemiradzki, 1876

The top panel has much inspiration from the painting Nero’s Torches, by Henry Siemiradzki in 1876, showing both men and women being burnt alive after the Great Fire of Rome before the gaze of gathered the Roman elite.

Illumination of St Andrew, East Anglian missal, c. 1320

Panel two is informed by an image of St Andrew’s crucifixion found within an East Anglian missal, circa 1320.

And the final panel illustrates the Roman capital punishment of damnatio ad bestias (condemnation to beast), or what is more commonly referred to as “being thrown to the lions.”

I freely admit that the Christians before said lions are heavily referenced from Jean-Léon Gérôme’s The Christian Martyrs’ Last Prayer (1883).

The slowly circling beasts themselves are a synthesis of various depictions of lions found in extant Roman mosaic art.

"The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer", Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1883

The memorial of the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome is held on June 30th, the day after the celebration of the Feast of St Peter and St Paul.

Vincent Cavanagh
~ 27 Apr 2023

Image Process 2023-04-26

26/4/2023

Oh, what a grisly pair these are.

Thankfully the "art style" used in Roman mosaics allows some leeway when it comes to depictions of various beasts and predators.

Image Process 2023-04-19

19/4/2023

Trying to do a Roman Mosaic pattern without going cross-eyed only increases my appreciation for those artists who do this on a “regular” basis. Compared to the vast intricacies of Celtic knots by the likes of @creativeartlette, my lowly attempt at an entwined border pales in significance.

My hats off to all of you, my fellow artists.

A Forgotten Giant of NSW

29/3/2023

Artwork created 29 Mar 2023.

Rather a heavily stylised drawing of a NSWGR D58 class, heavy goods steam locomotive.
None survived the cutter's blow-torch.

Vincent Cavanagh
~ 29 March 2023

A 12–Month Social Media Exodus

24/1/2023

I don’t know if I would dare put this under the inglorious epithet of “New Year’s Resolutions”, this decision was not taken at New Year’s Eve, but it is about the new year of 2023, and I would argue that it is a resolution. Let me elaborate.

2023 Calendars! Now Available

9/11/2022

Yippee! It's done.

That's right folks! After a month's worth of inking and going cross-eyed at various reference photographs, my 2023 Calendar: WYD Lisbon Fundraising edition is now available to buy. Contact can be made via Email or Facebook Messenger.

Pricings for the calendar are as follows:

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