Thanks to all of you who visited here and commented on my progress with "The 'Mary' in Kimberly" while I was completing miniature paintings for several competitive shows. I do love painting large just as much as I love my work in miniature! Having given it my all during two key months when many of the miniature show deadlines overlap, it was important to rest and revitalize for a bit, but I've been looking forward to getting rolling again with my portrait series. I have two pastel portraits awaiting completion, and a new piece I'd like to begin, but first, here is an interesting comparison that I hope might stimulate some spiritual discussion:
My drawing for a Madonna and Child painting using Karen as a model.
"The 'Mary' in Karen" miniature portrait in egg tempera
The first "Mary" portrait in my series---the one that I began this blog with---was "The 'Mary' in Karen" (above, the only miniature in this series). But as some of you know by now, I also love to paint Mary herself, and it was in that spirit that I used Karen as the model for Mary in the above Madonna and Child drawing, one that I did a while ago, but still plan to use as the basis for a painting.
So I've drawn Karen as Mary, and have also attempted to paint the 'Mary' within Karen, but in my mind, as well as in my creative intent, these are not the same thing. And I wonder, does it come across as I intend? Apart from the fact that in the Madonna and Child drawing I've taken some liberties with Karen's likeness and hair, and given it a Renaissance feeling, do you see and feel the difference between one effort and the other?
