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.

Brine

I was researching the folklore around St. Nicholas and came across the story about him resurrecting three young people who had been killed and put in brine barrels, according to some lore, they were going to be cooked and eaten. Nicholas restored these young people to life through his faith. I have grappled with sketching this in some fashion, but I wanted to make it accessible and interesting to people who are not particularly interested in St. Nicholas. I settled for sketching three young people in a specimen jar. This would be prior to the resurrection. I like the repetitiveness of the similar figures, and I like making long, elegant fingers, wafting about in formaldehyde, perhaps.

Saint Andrew's Parade

Inspired by my readings of The Golden Legend, readings on the saints, by Jacobus de Voragine. Saint Andrew was purported to drive seven demons in the shape of dogs out of Nicaea, but then when he came to the next town, the dogs had killed a young man and he was about to be buried. St. Andrew raised that man from the dead.

At Stratton in Cornwall, on St. Andrew's Day, the youth would parade through town blowing unmelodious horns and strumming tin pans to drive out evil spirits. The handbell ringers follow to invite better, gentler spirits. (From The Dictionary of Faiths and Folklore. Beliefs, Superstitions and Popular Customs compiled by W.C. Hazlett) There is a pretty 12th century Norman church dedicated to St. Andrew there.

St Andrew is invoked to ward off wolves, the enemy of travelers, who are thought to be able to speak to humans on St. Andrew's Eve (Nov 29). A human hearing a wolf speak to him will die. I've used these ideas in the painting, mixing the sacred and profane, the superstitious traditions, the magical and the divine. Here is my St. Andrew's Day parade that is agitating the seven dogs. Maybe demons. Maybe just dogs baying along to the cacophony on the itinerant band. Acrylic on canvas 9" x 13"

You can see the listing Here at My Good Babushka.

Advent

Finishing up my painting, Advent. Here is how the completed work looks at my Etsy shop. You can read more about it here or see other paintings available from My Good Babushka!

Advent

Advent. Painting in progress. Inspired by The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine. Thinking about advent, beginning, arriving in the astronomical sense of stars and galaxies being born, coupled with the religious symbols of the four candles in the advent wreath, and the traditional advent calendars with new doors and thresholds to open each day.