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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

Elevation pack of five $7.00 USD Elevation pack of ten $12.00 USD Over the Stream pack of five $7.00 USD Over the Stream pack of ten $12.00 USD Tamaracks pack of five $7.00 USD Tamaracks pack of ten $12.00 USD Mixed pack of five $7.00 USD Mixed pack of ten $12.00 USD

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.