Category: Pen Ink

Comic + some news

31/10/2025

A brief explainer on what is Holy Wins/Holywins can be found in this Catholic News Agency article here and, yes, the Bishop now has a live-in/pet(?) dinosaur called Hotspur.

Months, more months, and Saints! (Photo: by Author)

And in other news—after having the thought of it gnawing at the back of my brain for what felt like half the year—I finally began preparing Month–pages for a 2026 Calendar on Sunday, 26 October 2025. Hooray!

Photographs for each month are currently still in the selection phase. Yes, photographs.

This upcoming calendar will be a collection of images of the different places that I visited in 2025. And because of all the effort that I poured into trying to pull together Jubilee Year 2025 grassroots–young adult pilgrimages to the Shrines of Hope in my diocese left me both mentally, physically and emotionally drained, such that I have had no impetus to do anything artistic whatsoever for the majority of 2025.
Save for the painting of St Clare of Assisi back in July, of course. Which is why the comic at the top of this blog post, for me, is a significant win.

I will endeavour to keep you all informed about further 2026 Calendar developments when they are worthy of promulgation.

A happy and holy Hallowtide to you all folks!

Vincent Cavanagh
31 October 2025

WYD Lisbon One-Year Later

16/8/2024

I will endeavour in this personal, reflective piece not to repeat things that I have already written much about before.

LISBON World Youth Day Week started on a Tuesday, 1 August 2023, which makes keeping track of events personally in one’s mind rather difficult. Later on, at times one could be forgiven for the honest mistake of losing, or even gaining, a day on your internal calendar.

One–Knight Comedy

30/3/2024

Surrealism incoming!
Illustrated 30 March 2024

Vincent Cavanagh, 2024

A spotlight on Bishop Stumbers’ short-lived career in stand-up comedy.

Congratulations to anyone who “gets” the cameo appearances on the far side table ;)
With apologies to Messrs Astley and Baker.

Vincent Cavanagh
30 Mar 2024 / Holy Saturday

Happy New Year and all that

1/1/2024

Illustrated 1 January 2023

'Bishop Stumbers: All Nog-ged Out'

Finally putting to paper an idea that's been knocking about in my head since around about Christmas Eve.

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to you all.

Vincent Cavanagh
1 Jan 2023

Happy Mother's Day from Down Under

13/5/2023

Artwork created 13 May 2023.

"Koala Hug ~ Mother's Day (2023)"

Vincent Cavanagh
~13 May 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.

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

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