Saint Lucy

My sketch of Saint Lucy is ready to paint. I've combined some of my favorite parts of the Saint Lucy stories, and added some animals with prominent "eye spots" as accoutrements for our patron saint of the blind.

Saint Lucy or Lucia was a wealthy Christian martyr now venerated as a saint. She continued to speak against her accusers even when they pierced her throat with a dagger. An apocryphal story claims that she tore our her own eyes and gave them to a suitor who said he admired them, so that the rest of her might live unto God. Her name comes from lux, meaning light and her day was commonly described as the shortest day of the year. She is particularly celebrated in Scandinavian countries because of their cold dark winters. Celebrants of her day wear wreaths of candles on their head.