Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Button fault

I found out something was wrong with the Paypal buttons on the Liturgical Calendar Coloring Book page, so that they couldn't be used. I've fixed them now, so just in case anyone was wanting to get the coloring book but couldn't, you can now. ; )

And may you have a blessed, happy, and lucky New Year!

Friday, December 27, 2013

Epiphany page colored


Now that the Liturgical Calendar Coloring Book is complete, I'm going to start coloring some of the pages. The first one is the page for Epiphany, which I then used for my Christmas cards this year.

I'm coloring printouts, not the original artwork, so I have the same thing to work with as people who buy the book. (Which, by the way, is now available all in one go, via email or on a CD.) And with this one, I used some media that children often use with coloring books: Crayola crayons. And also acrylic gesso wash for undertones, marker for shadows, and white paint pen for highlights. I've got a bit unused to coloring after this year of mostly black line drawings, so I need to get back into practice.

Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Life is Crumbly


There's a new book with illustrations by me out now! It's Life is Crumbly by Jansina. It's about cookies (looks like this may become a theme...) and is kind of bleak but funny, and really really cute. It reminds me of the classic English folk song John Barleycorn. You can find it on Amazon here.

Jansina also happens to be the editor of Ink & Fairydust, an e-magazine I illustrate for regularly. And the Christmas issue of that has just come out! You can read it here.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Mexican martyrs coloring page -- Peter O'Toole tribute


Right to left, Saint Jose Maria Robles Hurtado, Saint Cristobal Magallanes, and Saint Pedro de Jesus Maldonado. Saint Cristobal was played by Peter O'Toole in the movie For Greater Glory, and I tried to get a bit of his likeness in this page.

Man... Troy was a terrible movie, but when he begged Achilles for Hector's body, it suddenly, for that scene, became good. He could bring one to awed tears with a speech about restaurant criticism. (Ratatouille.)

Never be embarrassed to pray for celebrities. They need it. Although... three of his last four movies were respectively about: The martyrs of the Cristeros War, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and the Blessed Virgin. That sounds like a pretty good final act.

Requiescat in pace.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Christmas Cards for sale

Christmas cards with art by me:

Elevation

Inside:
Jesse watered a Rod,
And the Rod grew a Fruit;
The Fruit was the Rose of mercy,
Which was Medicine for the world,
And the world's ruin
Was healed today.
                    ~Adam of St. Victor

Madonna and Child Over the Stream

Inside:
Illumined by grace,
Before the manger of the King,
Who alone reads the sealed book,
A new song we raise.
Let us praise
The Virgin's birthing,   
The new Leader we adore,
Who comes to seek us.
                ~ Adam of St. Victor

Madonna and Child of the Tamaracks

Inside:
In the highest, hark the strain:
Glory to the newborn King,
Who doth with Him peace, again,
Joining Earth and Heaven, bring.
            -Adam of St. Victor

With the first two, translation is by me, with the third it's by Digby Wrangham. These are ones I've made for my own use over the past three years. This year I'll make a new one, and then next year that will be added to the collection, and so on.^_^

Seven dollars for a pack of five, Twelve dollars for a pack of ten, Two dollars shipping. Comes with envelopes.



Saturday, December 7, 2013

Holy Family coloring page, December pages, and with that it's done!!!


Back on Monday I sent out the December coloring pages. Included were:

St. Francis Xavier (which you can see here)
St. John Damascene (here)
St. Nicholas (here)
St. Ambrose
The Immaculate Conception (here)
St. Juan Diego
St. Damasus I
Our Lady of Guadalupe
St. Lucy
St. John of the Cross
St. Peter Canisius
St. John of Kanty
The Nativity of the Lord
St. Stephen
St. John the Evangelist
The Holy Innocents
St. Thomas Becket
St. Sylvester I
The Holy Family (above)

The reason it took so long between sending it out and posting about it is I've spent the intervening time sending any subscribers who wanted the whole thing now all the months they lacked. And now, the whole thing at once is available to all! Just check out the new Liturgical Calendar Coloring Book page! There are tons of options! The whole thing through email or even on a CD! Or single months, of your choice! And as before, good old year subscriptions.

I now feel a tremendous sense of relief, and gratitude. This was the biggest work I've done so far, and I think it's worthy of note. Every single saint's day!!! It's a total of 247 pages! Two-hundred and forty-seven drawings!

Dedication of the Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul --November 18

I mentioned before, this thing kind of became my prayer life. Each picture was a conversation with saint, and I frequently said, "Well, you'll forgive me for that." I really wanted to avoid a lot of compositions consisting of the saint standing there, looking at the camera, so I researched them, looking for strange and dramatic stories.

St. Callistus I --October 14

One thing I found was a proliferation of martyrs. In my experience Christians, and not just kids, know about the Roman martyrs, but not much about subsequent persecutions. The truth is there is a hardly any time in the history of the Catholic Church when people weren't being killed for the Faith somewhere in the world. There are martyr saints who were killed by Pagans, Arians, Iconoclasts, Muslims, Eastern Orthodox, Protestants, Enlightenment revolutionaries, Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists, Fascists, Communists, and even other Catholics acting out of earthly pride. I was honored to draw pages of Japanese, English, Mexican, Chinese, Roman, Ugandan, Vietnamese, Korean, and Filipino martyrs. The Body of Christ conquers through the Cross.

Our Lady of the Rosary --October 7

This project made me progress immensely, in composition and anatomy (hands and feet in particular,) and in the ability to draw several pictures in a limited amount of time. Yes, it was extremely stressful at times, but it was definitely worth it. I thank the subscribers through this first year, who had patience as I figured out how to best distribute. Now everything's settled so I can send it out to more and more people. And of course, I thank God and all the saints.

Purchase the Liturgical Calendar Coloring Book here.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Book announcement for Advent


Advent is coming up before too long, so I'd like to announce my illustrations are featured in a new Advent book!


The second edition of Meeting Jesus Through the Jesse Tree by Anne E. Neuberger, has twenty-four ornaments for coloring and hanging on your Jesse tree, with lineart by me. The one at top is the one for David; I like the one for Jacob the best. You can buy the book here or on Amazon.

In other news, I made a tumblr for the development of my Batman fancomic, of which I've posted some concept pieces here in the past. You can check it out here if you like.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Blessed John Duns Scotus coloring page


Today is the feast of Blessed John Duns Scotus, the Subtle Doctor who laid out the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception long before it was officially promulgated. I've had fun drawing about this before. While every saint and blessed has a day, most of them aren't observed on the calendar. This one isn't, so I wasn't going to include him in the Coloring Book, but then a subscriber specifically asked, so here we go!

I wasn't sure from what I read if he's thought actually to have had a vision of Mary or not, but whether as object of vision or contemplation, she was definitely present to him.

I also decided today to make a little gallery on this blog of some of my best work. You can get to it up there in the top bar.

Sign up for coloring pages of every single saint's day here!

A boy and his tiger


Billy Batson (also known as Captain Marvel) and Mr. Tawky Tawny, the talking tiger. They came long before Calvin and Hobbes!

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Miracle


I didn't think I'd post this here, but I like how it turned out so very much and I've made no secret of my love for the third Blue Beetle, so...

The idea is from something that is suggested, but not resolved, in the comics, and I was inspired by an old picture of Becki Lee's and the song "Summer Home" by Typhoon:


Monday, November 4, 2013

St. Catherine of Alexandria coloring page, November page list


I finished and just sent out the November pages. This month was a doozy; not many ferias and a number of days requiring two pages. Phew. But now! Just finishing up December is left! It's the home stretch!

This set included:

All Saints
All Souls
St. Martin de Porres
St. Charles Borromeo
Bl. John Duns Scotus
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
St. Leo the Great
St. Martin of Tours
St. Josaphat
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
St. Albert the Great
St. Gertrude the Great
St. Margaret of Scotland
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Dedication of the Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul
St. Rose Phillipine Duchesne
St. Edmund
Presentation of the Blessed Virgin
St. Cecilia
St. Columban
Bl. Miguel Pro
St. Andrew Dung Lac and Companions
St. Andrew the Apostle
Christ the King

(List is for USA Ordinariate version. Just USA doesn't have Edmund, and just General doesn't have Edmund, Frances Cabrini, Rose Duchesne, and Miguel Pro.)

Christ the King is the last day of the liturgical year, so that page is to be my artistic climax of this work. I went a little crazy and apocalyptic, but I think it's fitting.

Sign up for coloring pages of every single saint's day here!

Friday, November 1, 2013

All Saints and All Souls


My coloring page for All Saints' Day includes some saints and blesseds (and others, read on) whose days aren't liturgically observed on the calendars I'm covering. In choosing, I tried to cover a wide range of time, and they all are particularly interesting to me.

Clockwise from the top, they are: St. Brigid of Kildare, St. Boethius, Bl. Pius IX, St. Julia, St. Philomena, Beatrice Portinari, St. Peter Martyr, St. Margaret of Cortona, Bl. Charles of Austria, Zita of Bourbon-Parma, and in the center are Bl. Imelda Lambertini and Bl. Jose Sanchez del Rio.

You may have noticed I included two people for whom the Church has not declared any saintly status. This is to emphasize that All Saints' Day covers absolutely everyone in Heaven. And Zita's cause is open, and Beatrice-- that's Dante's Beatrice, so... yeah. If he can say she's in Heaven with such power, I can but defer to him. And did you know, there's an encyclical, of Pope Benedict XIV, which says that Dante is the greatest poet of all.

I didn't want just to have a group picture and that's all there was to it, so they're united, Communion of Saints, in the halos of the Sacrament on Bl. Imelda's tongue. I know, in Heaven He won't be hidden under other attributes, but that was the best I could draw It here. Everyone's looking that way except Beatrice, who's looking at us, a bridge to bring us into this, like she was to Dante.


My All Souls page is also Dantean, with the mountain and procession. Two real people I included here: King Charles II of England and Oscar Wilde. Both led dissolute lives and joined the Church on their deathbeds, so I think it's not unlikely that they were or are in Purgatory for some time. If I'm wrong one way they'll forgive me, if, God forbid, I'm wrong the other, that's just too bad. The sugar skulls indicate prayers and acts of charity, (including offering sugar skulls,) that the living do for the souls in Purgatory.

All the November pages will be sent out soon!
Go here to sign up for coloring pages of every single saint's day!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Blessed John Paul II coloring page


Today's his day. Wonder if that'll change come April? I chose to show him opening one of the Holy Doors for the great Jubilee...

In that sequin brocade cope that everyone hated!

Why? Well, there was a traveling Vatican treasures museum exhibit some years back, and I saw that cope in person there, and I actually thought it was kinda cool. Generally I'm a person who vastly prefers old-fashioned, ornate vestments and such to the 'contemporary' (or more accurately, 1970's-style) ones that one finds in many churches. But that cope, while definitely not old-fashioned, wasn't plain and blah like most modern vestments. I liked the pattern, and I like shiny things. And most importantly, this is a coloring book, so it's all about COLOR! And I think that cope would definitely be fun to color. ~_^

Sign up for coloring pages of every single saint's day here.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Recent nice things

So, the coloring pages and teaching an illustration class and a sewing project and being sick again have kept me busy, so no new drawings presently. But here are some recent nice things:


The UST library book sale. I mostly got architecture stuff.


Looking for the first time at a book you bought at last year's library sale, and finding:


It's signed by the author.

And best of all, way better than nice, fangoriously world-class and grand:


Seeing Typhoon live. I have no words for that. Marc Barnes writes well of them, but even he doesn't do justice.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Bl. Marie-Rose Durocher -- October coloring pages


I got the October coloring pages out on Thursday after a lot of work. So I took Friday off and spent all day playing video games. ^_^ The October saints are:

St. Therese of the Child Jesus
Guardian Angels
St. Francis of Assisi
St. Bruno
Bl. Marie-Rose Durocher (above)
Our Lady of the Rosary
St. Denis
Bl. John Henry Newman
St. Wilfrid
St. Edward the Confessor
St. Callistus I
St. Teresa of Jesus
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
St. Ignatius of Antioch
St. Luke the Evangelist
St. Jean de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues
St. Paul of the Cross
Bl. John Paul II
St. John of Capistrano
St. Antonio Maria Claret
Sts. Cuthbert Mayne, Edmund Campion, Robert Southwell, and companions
St. Simon and St. Jude

Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher was a Canadian foundress and teacher. The yelling guy is Charles Chiniquy, n priest who apostatized and became a Protestant minister and wild conspiracy theorist. While he was still an active priest he tried to take control of Sister Durocher's schools, and after he left the Church he tried to make it his mission to rid Montreal of Catholic influence. He claimed that President Lincoln's assassination was arranged by the Jesuits, and his publications became a source for Jack Chick, the infamous anti-Catholic comic-writer. Yeah, not pretty.

Go here to sign up for coloring pages for every single saint's day!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Guardian Angels coloring page


Today is the feast of Guardian Angels. Thank yours!

It was fun to do a current, everyday setting. Also fun, I tried making an edited version, the scene without supernatural vision, with the angels unseen:



This is how we would see the scene, with our earthly eyes. Quite different!
Do you think the sign says 'diner' or 'dinero'?

Sign up for coloring pages of every single saint's day here!

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

St. Therese coloring page


Due to health issues and things making me busy, I won't be able to send out October's pages till a couple days into the month. So that folks don't miss the first few days, I'll be posting them here.

It was a little strange to draw St. Therese not in a Carmelite habit, but I wanted to have Pope Leo XIII, so I did the episode where she talked to him when she wasn't supposed to, to try to get his permission to enter Carmel when she was fifteen. Why on earth couldn't I give him a halo, I ask you? He should totally be canonized. And you know how in some of the Sherlock Holmes stories, it mentions Sherlock working for the Pope? That would have been him.

Sign up for coloring pages of every single saint's day here!

Monday, September 30, 2013

Archangels and St. Jerome


I meant to post this yesterday, which was the feast of the three Archangels of whom we know the names, but didn't have time. I originally developed these designs for them for a children's book about Christmas and the Incarnation. I've written it, but more work is needed before finding somewhere to try submitting it.


And today's memorial was St. Jerome. I've said before, one thing I want to do with this project is show saints with a variety of emotions. I like that St. Jerome was often so very grumpy. Gives one encouragement.

Sign up for coloring pages of every single saints' day here!

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Our Lady of Walsingham coloring page


Today is the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, the patroness of my parish! It was one of the earliest ever Marian apparitions, happening in England in 1061, to an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman named Richeldis.

One interesting thing about this image of Our Lady is that the devil is represented by a toad rather than a snake. Anyway, doing this coloring page was one I was looking forward to, but I think I'll still want to do a more definitive-for-me rendition in the future.

Sign up for coloring pages of every single saint's day here!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

The Three Ships pub sign


Today was the celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lady of Walsingham, the patronal feast of my parish. (the actual date's Tuesday, but because she's our patron we get to celebrate it on Sunday.) The Knights of Columbus, to celebrate, wanted to set up an English pub behind the parish hall. And every English pub needs a painted sign. So I was commissioned to paint one, like Gabriel Gale from The Poet and the Lunatics!

The three ships refer both to the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria (since they're the Knights of Columbus) and to the ships from the Christmas carol, "I saw three ships come sailing in" so the Virgin Mary and Christ are there.

Here it is in action:



 I'm noticing a nautical theme in my art lately.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Pavilion sketches




Sketching people without their knowledge. ^_^

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Glorious


I realized today that in doing the coloring pages for the whole liturgical year, I've covered the five Glorious Mysteries. So I decided to make them available as a set, like I have with the Luminous Mysteries. Just check out the Mysteries of the Rosary button in the above bar, or click here.

By the way, I think these are some of the best work I've done in the entire coloring book so far. If you already have a subscription, you already have or will get these, but if you don't, they're worth getting.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

More Minnesota pictures

They trickle in as I get rolls of film developed.





These were taken with 35mm film on an Olympus Infinity.

Monday, September 9, 2013

St. Peter Claver coloring page


Today is the feast of St. Peter Claver. For his page, I wanted to get down to it and show him in the hold of a slave ship, though I'm sure I didn't draw it as awful as it really would have been.

As I've been doing this coloring book project, themes seem to develop for each month. They come from a combination of what the feasts are, what scenes I choose to show, and my interpretation and experience thereof. This work is kind of becoming my prayer life, (because I'm not very good at maintaining a regular one ^^; ) so it's quite personal. May's theme was emotion, June's action; July's a 'haunting' nature. So for September, with this, Our Lady of Sorrows, the Korean Martyrs, Padre Pio, Januarius, Lorenzo Ruiz who was martyred via tsurushi, etc., the theme to me was suffering.

Sign up for coloring pages of every saint's day here.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Exaltation of the Cross coloring page, September pages


I just sent out the September pages of the Liturgical Calendar Coloring Book. Included were:

St. Gregory the Great
St. Cuthbert
Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary
St. Peter Claver
The Holy Name of Mary
St. John Chrysostom
Exaltation of the Holy Cross (above)
Our Lady of Sorrows
Saints Cornelius and Cyprian
St. Robert Bellarmine
St. Januarius
Saints Theodore of Canterbury and Adrian the Abbot
Saints Andrew Kim Taegon and Paul Chong Hasang
St. Matthew the Evangelist
St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Our Lady of Walsingham
Saints Cosmas and Damian
St. Vincent de Paul
St. Lorenzo Ruiz
Saints Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel
St. Jerome

(That's the list for the USA Ordinariate calendar. The USA calendar doesn't have Cuthbert, Theodore and Adrian, and Our Lady of Walsingham. General Roman calendar doesn't have those and Peter Claver.)

Sign up here to get coloring pages for every saint's day in the Liturgical year!

Monday, September 2, 2013

Where the Wind Takes Us


My entry for a Wind Waker fanart contest that Nintendo is holding. I tried to emulate three kinds of imagery used in the game. The center is inspired by the bright, softly shaded graphics of the upcoming remake, Wind Waker HD (the release of which this contest celebrates;) the next section by the stained glass-style official artwork, and the outermost section by the woodcut-style ingame images of the legend of the ancient hero. That outer bit was the big challenge: it's a real block print, though with foam instead of wood, and I hadn't done that for years.  I think it turned out quite well, and here's hoping I win!

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Treading


Illustration for the fascinating poem 'Tides' by Neri Preslin in the latest issue of Ink and Fairydust which you can read right here! It's watercolor layered over ink painting.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Moccasin flower


Taken in Minnesota with 35mm film on a Pentax K1000.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

St. Maximilian Kolbe coloring page


Today is the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe. Doing this whole calendar project makes one realize how many times governments have slaughtered multitudes of innocent people. And there are so many martyrs from every continent, every time period. The Body of Christ is one crucified.

Learn more and sign up for the Liturgical Calendar Coloring Book here.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Saints Pontian and Hippolytus coloring page


Today is the feast of St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus. I've talked here before about this amazing story. Saint Pontian was a Pope, and Saint Hippolytus was the first anti-pope. That's right, the first anti-pope is a saint!

Hippolytus was a priest who wrote some valuable works on the liturgy of the early Church, but he didn't like how the sacrament of Reconciliation was developing. He didn't like that the hierarchy was forgiving people who had yielded to the civil authorities during persecution. He said that Pope Callistus and Pope Zephyrinus (also saints) were heretical and had himself elected as pope in opposition. During the reign of Pontian, both Pope and anti-pope were arrested by the Pagan government and enslaved in a mine. There, Hippolytus repented and Pontian gave him forgiveness, and they both died there from abuse and harsh conditions, martyrs.

So, I'd been looking forward to doing this page.

If you'd like pages like this of every saint's day, check out this project here.