Suffering With Joy

Sunday Snippets – a Catholic Carnival

August 1, 2010

Welcome to Sunday Snippets hosted by RAnn at This That and the Other Thing where Catholic bloggers gather to share their favorite posts for the week.  If you have a blog, make a Sunday Snippets post, link to RAnn and leave a link at her site to your post.  If you don’t have a blog, join us anyway.

This has been a tough week.  Our 15 1/2 year old dog had a cancerous tumor removed from her leg and we had big vet bills and vet visits.  Then there were other unusual things that kept me from working on my blog until Thursday, but I do have a few things to offer.  No chance to do any digital art, though.

A friend gave me Our Lady of Kibeho and I read it cover-to-cover, hardly being able to put it down.  Now I want to read Imaculée Ilibagiza’s other two books on surviving the genocide in Rwanda. If you have not heard of Our Lady of Kibeho, I hope you enjoy my post about it.

One of the great by-products of participating in memes is stumbling on interesting people, places and things as part of contributing to the meme.  Not long after I started joining Jenny in Praying the Psalms I discovered a Jewish artist who has a museum in Jerusalem where his illustrations of all 150  psalms are on display.  I was so taken with his work and his story I had to write about it.  In Moshe Tzvi HaLevi Berger – Painter of the Psalms I tell a little of his story and in Interpreting Moshe Tzvi HaLevi Berger’s Paintings I explain a little about his art using his illustration of Psalm 9.

Feldheim publishing has a beautiful book of his paintings and his commentaries on them that I would love to have some day.  And I would like to go to visit him in Jerusalem.  Well, I guess those are a couple of things I will have to offer up in exchange for some extra grace since neither is likely to happen.

For a short commentary on Psalm 29 read my post Praying the Psalms where you will see another of Berger’s paintings.

For a couple of my quiet times with the Lord, visit Sabbath Moments.

God bless all my readers and thanks for joining me.

Tags: art, Blessed Virgin

Interpreting Moshe Tzvi HaLevi Berger’s Paintings

July 30, 2010

As I was looking for an illustration for a post on “Praying the Psalms” recently, I stumbled upon the work of Jewish painter Moshe Tzvi HaLevi Berger who founded the Museum of Psalms in Jerusalem in 1995.  Until then I had never heard of his work.  What a discovery this was and what a great journey from both an art standpoint and a spiritual standpoint he set me upon!

Berger’s work is like none other’s.  Some people use the word “psychedelic” in describing it, but I think that is an injustice.  I matured in the psychedelic 60s and the term connotes to me a drug-induced state of mind out of touch with reality.  Berger’s paintings on the other hand are colorful and at first glance seem abstract in nature, but again, abstract is an unfair term if used in the sense of most abstract art, because every aspect of each canvas has meaning easily accessible if you understand the symbols. Just as every word of the Bible means something, every part of Berger’s images mean something.  Those of us who are not familiar with the Kabbalah, Zohar, and Hebraic letters just have to work a little harder to discover how Berger is depicting the Psalm verses he illustrates.

As a Catholic, I view Christ in Berger’s works, not something he intended or would agree with, of course, but nevertheless, just as Christ is the Word of God, so in depicting the Word Berger depicts Christ and the escatological truths of the Bible. This allows the Christian to consider a deeper interpretation of each image.  For example, his illustration of verse two of Psalm 9:

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous deeds.

Berger writes:

Jerusalem and its holy temple are situated at the top of a garden.  Myriads of angels stand guard over this holy place.  The birds represent Herut, a state of freedom, whereby man is liberated from all mundane concerns, enabling him to freely serve the Almighty.

As a Christian, this image speaks to me of the Garden of Eden transformed into our final destination of Paradise for which we hope, green being the color of hope in eternal life. The holy temple and the city of Jerusalem signifies the New Jerusalem of heaven where we will celebrate the eternal todah (Thanksgiving – Holy Eucharist).  We will be among the angels (book of Revelation) who surround the throne of God, totally liberated from the imperfections of this world. Our service to the Almighty will be eternal praise and adoration which we freely begin to give in this world and continue perfectly in the next. The menorah atop the temple represents to me the rule of Christ the King and the sun connotes God and His love, mercy, and justice from Whom all life comes.

Berger paints in the seven colors of the rainbow, and each color has significance.  Seven is also the number associated with God in the Bible, which reminds me of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost which are designed to bring us to perfection if we co-operate with God’s grace.  In the above painting in addition to the green (hope) of the garden, we see the royal blue (Mary’s color), indigo (the heavens), yellow, red, orange, and violet.

“These paintings are in the metaphorical tradition of ma’asei merkava (Divine Chariot) rather than the realistic mode of the ma’asei Breishit (Creation) which most art work emulates,” he explains. “To transliterate the Psalms from written poems to visual image was a difficult task. Just as each psalm is different, so is each painting. And yet, as each Psalm is inherently connected to the other 149, so too a unifying element had to run through the 150 Psalm paintings, a task accomplished through careful observation.”

Berger drew inspiration for his paintings from years of study of the Psalms based on Judaism’s classic medieval commentators on the Kabbalah including Rashi, Radak and Malbim, among others, he says.

“All figurative representations are intended as metaphors. We know the world was created with letters; [an interesting take on the Word] we know that Ha-Shem (God) is represented by fire in the Bible. Therefore in each painting there are letters, or fire, or both. Nothing happened by accident.”

If you want to order prints of Berger’s work, go to the Museum of the Psalms. If you would like an entire book of his works along with his commentary, Feldheim, the publisher has a compact edition.  At their page you can see into the book.

Tags: art, Christ

Moshe Tzvi HaLevi Berger – Painter of the Psalms

July 30, 2010

Since I began participating in the meme “Praying the Psalms” and stumbled on the work of Moshe Tzvi Halevi Berger, I have been thinking about this man and his work. What contribution might his paintings make to my spiritual life and my understanding of our heavenly Father? What of his life will contribute to my understanding of Orthodox Judaism? What might it tell of the minds and hearts of devout Jews at the time of Jesus?  Of devout Jews of today?

These subjects may not be important to many, but I am always thinking of how we Catholics can possibly bridge the gap between our understanding of Christ and that of others. Who knows what role the answers to my questions will play in gathering others to Him?  Perhaps none, but learning more will make me a better, more thankful Christian and deepen my awe of how God works in others.  Of that I am sure.

To understand Berger’s paintings, it is important to understand the man.  Born in 1925 in Transylvania, Berger is no ordinary person although he looks like the quintessential Jewish grandfather.  He is someone I wish I could sit down and speak with for many days because of his fascinating life and work.

Berger is descended from a long line of Hassidic Rabbis. As a young man he was interned in a Nazi prison camp for several years and after being liberated completed medical school to became an oral surgeon.  By 1957 he quit medical practice to study in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts.  He also studied in Italy at Rome’s Instituto de Belle Arte and became a successful commercial artist.  God was working in Berger in the midst of his secular success, however.  His artistic focus changed dramatically when he began studying the Torah and Kabbalah. In 1982 as he began living as an observant Jew, he was experiencing that deep longing only God can satisfy.

A short departure here: the Torah is the five books of Moses.  The Kabbalah is, according to Wikipedia

a discipline and school of thought concerned with the mystical aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an eternal and mysterious Creator and the mortal and finite universe (His creation).

As in New Age systems that corrupt Christian teaching and mash eastern mysticism with Christian spirituality, some unscrupulous people promote the Kabbalah as holding the “secrets” of all wisdom.  It’s all gnosticism and what the attraction to this perversion of truth holds for many is beyond me.   I can say that based on what Berger writes about his paintings, he is giving expression to the mystery of God’s love for man in his art, making verses of the Psalms become visual.  Superstition and gnosticism appear to play no part in his thinking or work.

After moving to the United States in the early 1980s, Berger gained renown for very large Kabbalistic murals he painted in Florida and Brooklyn, New York.  The latter was six stories high.  In 1988 he began his series of Psalm paintings which would take him fifteen years to complete. The year 1992 saw him move to Jerusalem where in 1995 he founded the Museum of Psalms in a building located in the courtyard of the synagogue built by former Israel Chief Rabbi, Avraham Yitzhak Kook.   Berger lives in a single room next to the museum and visitors often are privileged to have him as a guide when viewing his works.

As if illustrating all 150 Psalms was not enough, Berger embarked on the task of painting 42 images on healing, light, and meditation called the Sun series. Based on the Zohar, these are no less deep than the Psalm paintings.  Completed in 2007, they are part of the collection at the Museum of Psalms.

Another short departure: the Zohar is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five books of Moses).  Wikipedia says,

The Zohar contains a discussion of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, redemption, the relationship of Ego to Darkness and “true self” to “The Light of God,” and the relationship between the “universal energy” and man. Its scriptural exegesis can be considered an esoteric form of the Rabbinic literature known as Midrash, which elaborates on the Torah.

The goal of Moshe Tzvi HaLevi Berger in painting the Psalms was to “bring inspiration to the souls of many who seek spiritual enlightenment and do not live by bread alone.”

These are the very words Jesus spoke in Matt. 4:4:

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God

and Luke 4:4:

And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God

derived from Deuteronomy 8:3:

And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Berger has had more than 100 one-man shows on three continents.  Had it not been for the internet, I would never have discovered this great and unique spiritual art which rightly belongs to the Judeo-Christian heritage.  In my next post I will write a little about the elements of symbolism in his works but for now, let me say that he has inspired me on my journey of suffering with joy.

Tags: art, joy, suffering

Indian Paintbrush

July 21, 2010

In April we went to Texas to visit friends.  The bluebonnets were almost over with and we didn’t get any pictures of them, but the Indian Paintbrush was in full bloom.  They looked so bright and happy amongst the pasture green I took a number of photos from various angles in the hope of being able to paint them.

Sometimes life is overwhelming and we can find ourselves mired in the dirt of everyday living.  The flowers carry a lesson for us if we pause and look.  The paintbrush reaches for the sky, not bothering to look at the ground and dead leaves beneath their blooms.  They simply are, and in that simplicity they glorify God.

Today we are assaulted from all sides with much that is ungodly.  We can either get caught up in it and let it take over our lives, or we can, like the paintbrush, simply cut through the mire and reach for the heavens.

Spring is my favorite time of year.  Everything is fresh and beautiful.  The air is breezy and cool while the sun shines brightly.  This is the painting of the Indian Paintbrush that I did this week using the Impressionist style with some special effects.  I hope it brings a feeling of spring freshness to you in the midst of this very hot summer.

If you would like to use this image I ask that you:

1. Credit me as painter,
2. Leave a small donation by clicking on the donate button and,
3. If you are using it at a web site, link to this post.

If you know someone who would enjoy this, please let them know about this post.  Thank you.

P.S. As with all impressionist paintings, the farther away you are from it, the more you see.

Tags: art

Adventures in Art II

July 20, 2010

My painting time is one way I connect with God and deal with my fibromyalgia.  When we must suffer, it is always better to do it with joy rather than with frustration and anger. Painting is a way for me to be joyfully with God and find ways of conveying His beauty to others through the images I create.

This past week I was learning how to use various oil brushes and some special effects  in Corel Painter 11.  The photo that was the basis for this image is a close-up of a horse my friend owns.  I cropped the photo so viewers would be drawn to the eye and then went to town.

It took a lot of hand work to paint out whiskers and long hairs, which were distracting elements in the original photo I took.  This is the first time I used a border as part of the image. One thing I’m learning is that no one medium is right for all images.  You have to let the image and idea dictate the medium.  With digital painting, you can experiment to your heart’s content until you get what you want, and you can use many media.  I’m an eclectic sort of person so the flexibility of using many and mixed media really appeals to me.  It’s also very fair to say that if digital art had not been invented, I would not be able to try to be an artist.

I love this horse.  She is gorgeous and powerful and I hope this image conveys that to viewers.  Her eye really is blue, in case you are wondering about it.  Some quarterhorses will have a blue eye, something I learned when visiting my friend. The original image is a little bigger than 11 x 12 inches.

If you would like to use this image, it is signed in the lower right corner.  All I ask is that you:

1. Credit me as painter,
2. Leave a small donation by clicking on the donate button and,
   
3. If you are using it at a web site, link to this post.

If you know people who would like this, please direct them to this post. I am trying to get an idea of what different people look for in art so I can create things that others will like.  Thank you.

Tags: art

Adventures in Art I

July 20, 2010

Regular readers know that art and beauty are part of my wellness plan, spiritually and physically.  This past week I was learning how to use some brushes in Corel Painter 11 and posted a painting I did of a friend’s cat from a picture she let me use.  For the fun of it, I opened my Adobe Photoshop Essentials to see what else I might be able to do, and found a couple of special effects I really liked. Not all subjects would be well suited to this, but Pogo surely is.

Here is Pogo’s portrait:

Here is Pogo carved in stone:

Here is Pogo on an old piece of crumpled art paper:

I’ve signed all of these so if you’d like to use them please:

1. credit me wherever you use it,
2. make a small donation by clicking the donate button and,
3. link to this site if you use it on the internet.

I can’t decide which version I like the best.  Which one is your favorite? if you have time to think about it, other than making a portrait for the owner, how else could the images be used? I am open to ideas because sometime soon I will have to start marketing my work and could use some inspiration.

Tags: art, wellness

Sabbath Moments

July 17, 2010

Sabbath moments are the moments we rest in God, when we take time to just Be with God rather than Do. Sabbath moments are those times when we live in the moment and find the holy in the ordinary. Colleen at Thoughts on Grace hosts this meme.  I cannot think of anything more important in this fast-moving world than to be quiet on a regular basis, and to recognize God as He continually reveals Himself all around us.

Today my Mom would have been 88 had she lived a few months longer.  Mom was a very talented artist who had a perfect color memory just like people who have perfect pitch.  She didn’t use her talent by painting because with five kids she was kept very busy.  Nevertheless, she made our Easter dresses every year and our graduation dresses. They were always lovely.

Since I have been learning Corel Painter 11, I have many Sabbath Moments creating paintings from photographs.  I’m sure Mom would be happy to see me carrying her talent into another generation.  Working on art is very peaceful to me, and I feel like a partner with God in creating beauty.  It is an important part of my wellness program.

I enjoy painting animals.  This week I painted my friend Carole’s cat Pogo from a photo she took a few years ago.  The cat’s pose is one professional photographers love to get which is why I wanted to paint it.  Carole got it in a snapshot.  Here is the original:

Here’s my painting of Pogo which is about 9×6 inches:

Tags: art

Praying the Psalms – Psalm 26

July 10, 2010

Jenny at Just a Minute hosts the meme Praying the Psalms each week.  Join her and other Catholic bloggers who share their thoughts on the psalms.

Painting by Mose Tzvi HaLevi Berger illustrating v.3 of Psalm 26. His comment about it: "The branches of this tree spell the word love. A father who loves his son must teach and reproach him, sometimes with kindness and sometimes with severity. Thus the Almighty's tree projects the color of red for strength and the color of blue for mercy. As for the middle, the white zone is reserved for loving kindness celebrated by surrounding branches."

This week we are covering Psalm 26 where the author defends himself before the law.  This psalm is about innocence on trial in the courts of the Lord.  The innocent One, Christ, prays this to the Father on our behalf. We pray it with Christ, signifying our unity with Him.

1  Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. 2 Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind. 3 For Thy steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to Thee.

We are asking something fearsome in this psalm – to be tested by God in our hearts and minds – to be proven by God as as faithful to Him. God’s tests are never easy, but by constantly keeping the love God has for us before our eyes, that is, seeing and recognizing Him working in our lives for our good, we need not fear failing His tests.  By putting God first in our lives, we walk in faithfulness.  This does not mean that we don’t sin.  It means that we seek never to sin deliberately, and to get up after falling and keep walking on that narrow path that leads to the narrow gate.

4  I do not sit with false men, nor do I consort with dissemblers; 5 I hate the company of evildoers and I will not sit with the wicked.

One of the greatest and surest pieces of spiritual advice is to keep good company. It is akin to the old saying that we are known by the company we keep.  If we love God, we will keep company with others who love Him. We will withdraw from association with those committed to serving Satan even though they may promise us earthly wealth, prestige, and honors.

6 I wash my hands in innocence, and go about thy altar, O Lord, 7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving and telling all Thy wondrous deeds.

Hand washing is symbolic of becoming clean of heart. King David speaks of coming to the altar of sacrifice with a pure heart and joining the procession around it, glorifying God.  Verses 1-7 are a sworn oath in the presence of God. Jesus was the true Innocent with the most pure Heart who glorified and thanked His Father in everything, no matter how bitter His suffering.

This is an important attitude of mind for us when we attend Mass.  We must be washed of sin and denounce our attractions to it before partaking in the Body and Blood of Christ. We must continually seek to be delivered from attachments to sin while asking for the grace to be attached to God. Moreover, we must develop a thankful spirit that does not hesitate to proclaim the great things God has done for us – we, spreading the Gospel, the good news of salvation and all that it implies.  What Jesus did for us on the cross is what we must do for our neighbor.

8 O Lord, I love the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thy glory dwells. 9 Sweep me not away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, 10 men in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes. 11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me.  12  My foot stands on level ground; in the great congregation I will bless the Lord.

Graced we are when we love to attend Mass, to be present in front of the tabernacle, to be for those short moments each week transported from time into eternity. We cannot see the angels and saints in front of us at the Holy Sacrifice, but we know that we, and they, are in the house of God together, the place of glory where He dwells.

In verses 9-10, before the just Judge, we plead for the grace of faithfulness and salvation so that we do not spend eternity in hell with those who persist in offending God. I cannot help thinking of abortionists and aiders of suicide and euthanasia when I read the first part of verse ten. Our God is the God of life who always stands opposed to death and the usurpation of His power by mortals in league with Satan. It is right that we plead not to be swept away with them for in this plea we seek God’s grace to live a holy life that leads to eternity with Him. May our feet be on the level ground.  May we bless the Lord with all the angels and saints forever.

About the illustration:  From the Museum of Psalms in Jerusalem:

Moshe Tzvi HaLevi Berger, born in Transylvania in 1924, is a living embodiment of the strength of the human spirit. A Holocaust survivor, he went on to study art at both the Belle Arte in Rome and the Beaux Arts in Paris. His art has been showcased in over 100 one-man exhibitions across three continents. Mr. Berger has the distinction of being the first artist to exhibit his paintings at Jerusalem’s Western Wall.

Tags: art, psalms

Painting of Hollyhock

July 8, 2010

Hollyhocks are one of my favorite flowers, and also of my Dad (RIP). A few years ago we planted five in the same bed as the daylilies and iris.  The second year they were just gorgeous and I took a close-up of this pink one with my 3.5 mega pixel Sony digital camera, and saved it to use for painting.

I’m glad I took the photo because the next year we were infested with Japanese beetles which loved eating the hollyhock leaves.  Thus began the great Japanese beetle wars which continue to this day in our yard.

Also, we learned that hollyhocks seed themselves liberally and they started to choke out the lilies and iris.  Last fall we tore them out altogether and I was sorry to see them go, but they belong on the side of a barn, along a ditch, or somewhere else where they can grow freely, be beautiful and not stunt anything else.  They need lots of sun and bloom for a very long time.

I painted this with a worn oil pastel brush on artist canvas.  The original is close to 5×3.5 inches but can be made much larger.  If you want to use this image you are most welcome.  I only ask that you

1. link to this site
2. make a small donation
3. credit me

Someday I hope to be able to offer my services to people who would like to have paintings of pictures they own the rights to.  That means I’ll have to practice doing some people portraits before long.

Tags: art

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

July 4, 2010

Happy 4th of July to all my readers.  I praise and thank God for having allowed me to be born in the USA, raised Catholic, and blessed with the skills and calling to “blog for Christ” as I think of it.  One of the greatest aspects of working on our relationship with God is that He always has a job for us, and often it is a new job, no matter how old we get. He’s the only employer that never fires anybody (although some people up and quit).  That’s how I ended up blogging.  As He closes some chapters in our life, He starts new ones with us until He is ready to finish our temporal book with the final words, “Not The End, but The Beginning”.

Please join us at RAnn’s This That and the Other Thing blog where we get to enjoy reading other Catholic bloggers’ posts.  If you’re not a blogger but want to participate, you’re invited to leave a comment anyway.  If you are a blogger, create a “Sunday Snippets” post, link to This That and the Other Thing, and be sure to leave a link back to your site at RAnn’s page.

This week I posted two portraits I painted using lessons on digital painting.  Each are unique and emphasized the uniqueness of the subjects. The first one is about my friend Lynn’s horse, Asti, The Horse with One Blue Eye. The second one is Francie’s Story, a post about our young rescue dog.

I wrote a couple of health related posts: Simple Tips to increase Fat Burning and Improve Conditioning and Simple Way to Stop Mid-back Pain with people like me and my husband in mind. You’re never to old to do easy stuff to feel better, even if you’ll never have a 25 year old body again.

In Thoughts on the Feast of the Visitation I wrote about how Mary and Elizabeth gave us lessons on trust in God. If you’re like me, there are never too many lessons on this subject.

Thanks for visiting.

Tags: art, trust in God, wellness

Francie’s Story

July 2, 2010

This past week my digital art lesson has been to learn how to paint with the acrylic brushes.  I’ve been using Martin Addison’s Painter 11 for Photographers with its excellent tutorials. After many trials, I completed this portrait of Francie, our second rescue dog.

We got Francie from people down the street who were letting the puppies run loose.  Francie was one of five and they were starving and thirsty.  Every week various neighbors had their trash bags torn open because these dogs were so hungry.  Long story short, we got Francie at 5 months of age and she was a wild dog.  It took us 2 months to housebreak her and she had some medical problems which have since cleared up.

As she was maturing her ears became huge.  At times I thought this little part Boxer puppy would lift off as she sailed through the yard.  At about 9 months of age her left ear wouldn’t flop over like the other one, so she has this comical one-ear-up and one-ear-flopped look that adds to her mischievous personality.

In the fall of 2008 on a bright October afternoon Roger and I took our 3.5 megapixel digital camera that was a gift from a friend and went out to take some pictures of the dogs.  Photographers call the kind of lighting on Francie in this portrait “broad lighting”, which is not normally used for portraits, but under the circumstances we were lucky to get her settled down enough to snap this shot.

Painting animals with acrylic brushes is ideal and digital painting is a great advantage for those of us who have always wanted to paint but couldn’t for various reasons.  In this portrait, Francie’s fur came out well.  The photo background wasn’t attractive at all, so I painted in a more traditional studio type canvas.  The intense look in her eyes is typical of her when she is focused on something like a treat or toy.  Perhaps someday I will get good enough to offer painted portraits of pets to people from their own snapshots.

The original size of this one was about 12×12 inches after cropping, and I re-sized it to be about 5×5 to use less memory on the computer, and of course, this version here is much smaller.  The larger size really brings out the brush strokes and paper texture.

Francie has been a real gift from God because she makes us laugh and is such a happy, funny girl.  After four dogs I know that each one of them is as unique as every person, tree, rock and all the rest of what constitutes creation.  She is a vital part of my wellness program.

Tags: art, wellness

The Horse With One Blue Eye

June 29, 2010

Asti

Suffering with joy means that sometimes you just lie quietly and say the name of Jesus. Sometimes it means taking medicines and supplements that you’d rather not take but you do it anyway to care for your body – and do it cheerfully. Sometimes it means finding something to enjoy at whatever level of functioning you have whether that is puttering in the garden or picking up a skill you’ve always wanted.

For me art and wellness go hand in hand.  Part of my journey to better spirits in spite of chronic pain and fatigue is learning to do digital art – to create beauty however I can. Now beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there are some universal tenets that apply to good art such as the rule of thirds, Divine Proportion, color relationships, and for me, a noble end-purpose which is to show the beauty and order of God’s creation. I’m very much a beginning artist, learning to use tools and opening my mind to all sorts of possibilities.

Last week I was studying a lesson on airbrushing and chose a photograph to paint of my friend Lynn’s black quarter horse, Asti, who has one blue eye. It took a long time – about 3 days – and the deleting of many images before I got this one. I not only wanted to capture her blue eye, I wanted to give a sense of her muscled power and force of personality.

The photograph was taken at high noon in bright sunlight with a 300mm zoom lens on our trusty 35mm film camera with the main focus on the eye.  This made everything in front of and behind the eye out of focus.  I eliminated all the background except what was necessary to give definition to the face where needed and carefully applied layers of paint to make the eye stand out.  The wind was blowing that day and you can see that from the mane, which gives a sense of movement to the picture as does the pose itself with the head and neck angles. Through the use of dark and light I wanted to draw the viewer’s eye in a circle around the painting always landing at Asti’s eye. The bright sun brought out the browns in her coat and face which would otherwise have looked much darker.

A horse’s eye is only a small part of the face, which made this project really challenging.  How could I show what I wanted without distracting elements?  Gaining some mastery of digital airbrush technique helped me a lot. The pose gives the impression that Asti is swinging her head out of the frame directly towards you and I wanted to emphasize that, too.  In the 5×7 or 8×10 size, her blue eye really stands out whereas on this page I couldn’t make an image that large so the eye color is not as impressive.  I guarantee you, though, that if you were standing next to her you wouldn’t miss that cornflower blue.  Go ahead, reach out and pet her on the nose.

Tags: art, joy

Laser Technology Reveals Tomb Paintings

June 24, 2010

Oldest known image of St. Paul, represented as a philosopher, the Christian Plato

Last June, near the end of the year dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle, L’Osservatore Romano revealed that archeologists had uncovered the oldest known image of the Apostle to the Gentiles in a catacomb beneath a modern Italian office building. The tomb named after St. Thecla, a noblewoman, is not far from the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on the Via Ostiense and contains important historical evidence of Christian devotion to the Apostles.

It is through the application of modern laser technology that images of Sts. Peter, Paul, Andrew, and John have been liberated from a crust of calcium carbonate in the basement of an Italian insurance company.  Archeologists say that these paintings in St. Thecla’s tomb are the oldest known representations of the Apostles, dating from the late 300s.

Well into the fourth century Christians always tried to bury the dead near the tombs of martyrs.  If the deceased were wealthy, the walls of the tomb would be decorated with Christian symbols, biblical scenes, and references to the martyr.

St. Thecla is one of the most ancient of virgin-martyrs, having been converted by St. Paul at Iconium.  She was of a noble family who had espoused her to a wealthy young man but she was determined to remain a virgin in spite of their pleading.  At the first opportunity she fled her luxurious home and followed St. Paul.  This act earned the rage of her fiance, who captured her and turned her in to Roman authorities who set her amid lions at the colosseum at Antioch.  The beasts merely laid down and licked her feet while nothing the keepers did to incite them prevailed upon them to tear her to pieces. It is believed that at Rome the authorities attempted to burn her to death, but God protected her and she emerged from the flames unscathed.  She is said to have died a hermit in Seleucia.

St. Thecla attended St. Paul in several of his journeys, following his example of austerity and penance. She was well versed in philosophy, literature and science and is often portrayed wearing the dark brown or gray of the Greek philosophers and surrounded by lions and tigers. She is described by SS. Gregory Nazianzen, Chrysostom, Augustine, and others as a virgin and martyr because of the many persecutions she suffered, though St. Bede in his Martyrology writes that she died in peace.  The Roman Church celebrates her feast on September 23rd and the Greeks on September 24th.   Because of her fame as a holy woman in the earliest times of Christianity and the many wonders God worked on her behalf, she has been especially revered over the ages.  It is not surprising, then, that a catacomb in Rome would bear her name.

Christ the Good Shepherd on the ceiling of the burial chamber of the tomb named for St. Thecla

In the burial chamber medalions of the four Apostles mentioned above grace the four corners.  In the center of the ceiling is a painting of Christ as the Good Shepherd, a common theme found in many paintings in the early Christian catacombs. The arch over the vestibule features a fresco of a group of figures Vatican experts describe as “The College of the Apostles.” It’s hard to overestimate the importance of these discoveries because they show that devotion to the Apostles began much earlier in Christianity than historians formerly believed.

Before the advent of laser technology, archeologists would painstakingly scrape away at the white crust with scalpels and brushes, always resulting in the loss of some of the paint.  Now, however, lasers move pinpoint by pinpoint across the walls releasing the images without loss. In this modern age of unbelief and mocking of God, of the attempts by man to glorify himself in wealth and possessions, it seems that God turns the very science man uses to declare his intellectual superiority over previous ages into His own tool.  Again and again, as in the miraculous images of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the Holy Shroud, God demonstrates through science that being Christian is timeless, and that what we believe today is the same testimony the early Christians painted on the walls and ceilings of tombs and that testimony is true.

Tags: art, Catholic Church

Vatican Splendors Exhibit – A Review

May 26, 2010

The Virgin in Prayer, 1640-1650, Sassoferrato (b. 1609, d. 1685, Roma), Oil on canvas, National Gallery, London

Last week we went to St. Louis to visit my aunt and see The Vatican Splendors exhibition in St. Louis.  Even though the two room exhibit was very tiring and elevated my pain levels, I loved it and was glad to have had the chance to see things I would never have otherwise been able to.

Vatican Splendors will be at the Museum of History in Forest Park until Labor Day, so if anyone is planning a trip to the vicinity this summer, it is a great opportunity to learn more about the Catholic “Journey through Faith and art”. Vatican policy is to allow certain items to go on tour, but they must return to the Vatican and remain there for a year before going out again.

From artifact reproductions of items from St. Peter’s tomb to actual paintings by great artists such as Sassoferrato, from sculptures by Bernini to chasubles woven with gold, it all was impressive.  Some of the treasures on display were sent over many centuries to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Shown were an Arabic  painting of Madonna and Child, a painting on rice paper of a Vietnamese funeral in 1840,  a painting of a Chinese funeral from 1791, a petition to Pope Pius IX from Chinese Christians sent in 1847, a gorgeous tempera on paper of Our Lady with Jesus and St. John the Baptist all dressed in clothes of Korean royalty, and many others.

A large part of the exhibit centered around the demolition of the original St. Peter’s Basilica and the many artists and architects who had a hand in designing and constructing the new Renaissance basilica we enjoy today. When the current basilica was constructed, the great obelisk Nero took from the Egyptians was moved to its present location in St. Peter’s square.  An etching showing the thousands of horses and men required to move and raise it gave me a great appreciation of the engineering feat it was.  We also saw Michaelangelo’s calipers, and a pulley and shackle used to erect the basilica.

Two items I will never forget are the chalice and ciborium belonging to Pope John Paul II who used them to celebrate Mass at St. Peter’s. The pictures in the catalogue don’t do them justice.  You must see it in person to have the full beauty sink in.  They are made of gilt silver with lustrous pink gems (called vitreous in the catalogue) and sculpted scenes of Christ.  Looking at these one could never doubt that they are worthy to hold the Sacred Hosts and Precious Blood of Christ.

We hear much today about the need to demonstrate our Catholic identity.  This exhibit showed the continuity of belief and the missionary outreach the Church has faithfully carried on throughout the ages. In spite of all the grave sins committed by her members even today, this exhibit brings home a line from the Apostle’s Creed: “I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church” – a Church who continually strives to bring all to Christ, a Church which, as Bernini’s Colonnade exemplifies, reaches out to embrace all mankind.

Tags: art, Catholic Church

Polish Madonnas in Art and Poetry

May 20, 2010

It is Mary’s month all of May.  That is my excuse to bring my readers some beautiful paintings I stumbled upon when I was searching for information on the Madonna with Child Clothed with Sunlight that I blogged about last week in the post Decoding Sacred Art.

"Carol" - Click on the image for information on the meaning and the poem which inspired it

From the University of Dayton which hosted this exhibit:

“Polish Madonnas in Art and Poetry” is a collection of fifty-four paintings by Wislawa Kwiatkowska from the Diocesan Museum in Plock, Poland.

...The verses of the modern Polish poets who inspired the paintings of Wislawa Kwiatkowska likewise emphasize the presence and influence of Mary in Polish daily life. Mary is found in settings familiar to Poles —  a garden of dill, a forest strewn with mushrooms, lush flower gardens, holy shrines, and sites that recall Poland’s tragic history; wherever Poles live and breathe, Mary is there with them, and her presence is commemorated in Polish poetry and painting. In fact, Mary is understood to be so intimately present in daily life that the poems — and the paintings — often reveal a folksy, humorous quality.

The Art of Wislawa Kwiatkowska

In the work of Mrs. Kwiatkowska, the influence of nineteenth century art can be detected, but it does not overpower her own unique style, which she developed through the years. She studied at the Academy of Art in Warsaw and in its Department of Art Preservation and Restoration.The world of her works is filled with imagination, decorum, fantasy, and fable, but her paintings are not without realism. Flowers, plants, and birds provide depth. She employs colors that are bold, bright, and crisp. A characteristic of her work is to join the picture, painted on canvas cloth, with the frame, which eliminates the distance between the work and the viewer. The pictures are painted in oil and measure 90  cm x 75 cm each.

Wislawa Kwiatkowska has also produced many pedagogical works for children, filled with drawings of butterflies, flowers, and animals. In addition, she illustrated the stories of Hans Christian Andersen and The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery.

"Soldier's Fate" - Click on the image for information on the meaning and the poem which inspired it

This painting, Soldier’s Fate, reminds me of our valiant men and women who suffer and die in combat every day.  One could just as well paint Mary weeping over the dead on today’s battlefields all over the world.  The message, while explicitly Polish, is universal for all times and places.  She is, after all, the Mother of us all.

Kwiatkowska’s work is appealing for many reasons, but especially for the intense feeling of love for the Blessed Mother. The Bogarodzica, the Polish “Mother of God”, brought the Poles through many wars, the communist regime of post-World War II, and now into the 21st century where this Eastern European country may provide an enduring witness to Christ and leadership in justice that the world so sorely needs. If it can hold to it’s Christian roots, it may well be the last Christian state in Europe from which the seed of restoration may spring.

Be sure to visit the Polish Madonna exhibit site to see all of Kwiatkowska’s works that were  displayed and use them to pray for the conversion of sinners and world peace. For myself, I never get tired of looking at these lovingly painted images of Our Lady.

Tags: art, Blessed Virgin