Saint Anastasia Protectress Against Poisons and Patroness of Weavers

This is my painting of Saint Anastasia, a Christian saint and martyr who died at Sirmium. She is a healer and an exorcist. Her relics lie at the Cathedral of St. Anastasia in Zadar, Croatia. There will be much to describe in this painting. I hope to explain it bit by bit as I proceed.

Saint Thomas Sketches

 Saint Thomas the Apostle was an architect. He took money from a king to build him a palace then gave all that money to the poor and told the kind that his palace was built for him in heaven. I think that's called fraud. Struggling with how to represent Saint Thomas because after Caravaggio's Thomas everything else is an also-ran. There is nothing as psychologically charged and aesthetically delicious as sticking your finger into the wound of Christ. I guess that's why he's best known as the Doubter.

Saint Thomas the Apostle was also called Didymus, the twin, Jesus's twin. He was mystically present at the ascension of Mary into heaven and he caught her girdle which she threw down to him as she ascended.

I started out by making a grossly exaggerated version of the investigation of the wound. I felt if one person was crawling through the other, it would give the impression of conjoined twins. Several times I thought I was onto something... but I wasn't

I beat a hasty retreat to the idea of architecture. And faith as an impropable, impossible edifice.
I made a new Thomas lifting these boulders and constructing inspiring, faith-based towers.

That’s okay, but it’s not as densely packed as I would like. I’m missing references to the wound, the doubt, Mary’s ascension, the idea of twins- I’d really like to pack in the symbolism, if possible. So I guess I will keep noodling around with this idea.

Saint Lucy

 

Finishing up my Saint Lucy painting. 

 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. She is the patron saint of the blind. 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.

Here is the finished painting

You can read more about it Here at My Good Babushka

Saint Lucy

Moving on down to the bottom of my Saint Lucy painting. I'm going to put in a peacock since it's tail has eye spots,and Saint Lucy is the patron saint of the blind.

Saint Lucy

Saint Lucy, painting in progress. Just getting some colors blocked in.

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.

Sketches for St. Lucy

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. She is the patron saint of the blind. 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.

I am working on a sketch here combining some of my favorite elements of Saint Lucy's story. There were some things I left out, like, how she couldn't be moved by a thousand yoke of oxen. Who has time to paint a thousand yoke of oxen?