New drawing for The 'Mary' in Kimberly series of portraits

Preparatory drawing for a painting of Kimberly with roses

While I'm finishing up the backgrounds and finishing touches on some of my other spiritual portraits, and continuing my work on the first 'Mary' in Kimberly portrait panel, I'm starting something new. Still debating what size I want this one to be, and I'm picturing it in egg tempera.

father and son portrait in progress

egg tempera portrait in progress, approximate size 17" x 15"

Although this is not an official part of my spiritual portrait series, another portrait I'm also currently working on is this one of a father with his first son. The subjects in this instance prefer to remain anonymous, and at this point, the initial layer of the grass is just blocked in, with more work to do on both the figures and background.

"The 'Mary' in Terry #2" with gold leaf

"The 'Mary' in Terry #2," 25 1/2" x 19 1/2", pastel and 24 kt. gold leaf on La Carte pastelboard

I have minor details to fill in at the bottom of the image, but here is another detail view

"White Madonna in Aix-en-Provence"

(detail view)

"White Madonna in Aix-en-Provence", 36" x 24", pastel on Wallis paper

I'm still awaiting restoration of some of my retouching and scanning software that is important to file size and color for posting, so please bear with me on my posts temporarily, but except for some final touches, I'm pleased to present my latest pastel! I'm also adding something special to one of the portraits you've seen in progress, and will be posting on that as soon as it's far enough along to show you.

Update

My computer troubles were worse than I thought, and due to a hard drive crash, I am still getting things back into gear.  Although I replaced the hard drive, got it home, and started reinstalling software, a new mystery sound is sending me back to the repair shop tomorrow.  

I trust my persistence will pay off soon, but until I can post again, I'm hoping all is going well for you, and am wishing all of my readers a great beginning this year!

Happy New Year and computer problems

Happy New Year to everyone!!

Computer problems have arisen this week, but I hope to resume posting very soon.

Merry Christmas!

Many thanks and warmest wishes to all of you who have followed my art journey on Grander Joy of Spirit in 2009. God bless and I'm wishing you much joy on Christmas and during holiday time! More to come soon!

My Visit with Mary Magdalene

A mother and her two children in front of the reliquary

Newly renovated stained glass windows at St. Thomas Aquinas church

the French relic of Mary Magdalene positioned atop a limousine for the outdoor procession

both relic and priests were escorted by bagpipers in front...

...and a mariachi band behind them

worshippers carried religious banners and images through the streets of Brooklyn

after the outdoor procession one of the French priests assisted with the dedication service

as the Knights of Columbus, congregation, and guests looked on

and while a soloist led a gorgeous rendition of "Jerusalem" upstairs in the sanctuary...

...the mariachi band simultaneously celebrated at a coffee and cake reception downstairs

and Madonna and Child were placed in a position of honor during it all

It may not be everyone's tradition to venerate the relics of saints, and forgive me also if I miss aspects of it which are of special significance to you if it is your own religious tradition, but I was so taken with this joy-filled, reverent celebration over the first visit of a relic of Mary Magdalene to this country from southern France! It was so special for me in fact, that I have had to digest it for weeks before I could cull my photos of it's procession, just to try to share with you in pictures what it was like to be there in person in November when this relic came with several priests from Frejus-Toulon, France to St. Thomas Aquinas Church in my neighborhood.

If sometimes it is unfair in life, and it's not until after we are gone that someone sees how special we were; if it crosses cultures to try to answer just one celebration in our memory; if it's just centuries later, and it's Brooklyn, New York, then my visit with Mary Magdalene was huge in it's importance and its influence only on Mona Conner. If it was just me, I was joined by hundreds of others who paid respects to her as well. And if you were there, it was hard after just one day's visit to see the wonderful celebration come to an end and the relic packed for it's next location on it's tour around the U.S. It's not only Catholics or specific religions who are impacted by saints. They are still being created today, and they walk among us.

Aix en Provence Madonna & Child progress, Step 4

36" x 24", pastel-in-progress of the corner niche ornamenting a building on the square in Aix-en-Provence

Aix en Provence Madonna & Child progress, Step 3

36" x 24", pastel-in-progress on Wallis paper

White Madonna & Child Niche, Aix-en-Provence, progress

36" x 24", further progress with my pastel on Wallis paper

I made some further progress on Wallis paper and I'm feeling better about it, but still exploring options.

White Madonna & Child Niche, Aix-en-Provence

two views of the 36" x 24" pastel-in-progress on Wallis paper

Experimentation is an important aspect of being an artist. I've made a start on the white Madonna and Child on a pastel surface that is new to me, Wallis paper, and I'm struggling a bit to get used to it since I'm learning that it has a more abrasive, less smooth texture than La Carte, and it doesn't 'grab' the pastel in the same way. I also wound up showing more of the Madonna than I had plotted out, simply because it was such a large sheet.

In reading about these two pastel surfaces, I learned that Wallis paper has an abrasive made with white aluminum oxide, while La Carte is coated with finely ground vegetable flake and cork, giving it a more velvety feel to the touch.

If can locate some La Carte tomorrow, I may start another version, cropped as originally planned. I'll probably give both versions a whirl until I see what feels the most comfortable to me for this subject matter.

White Madonna & Child Niche, Aix-en-Provence

photo © Mona Diane Conner 2008

I've made three drawings in my effort to start a new pastel of a beautiful white Madonna & Child niche statue that I photographed in Aix-en-Provence during my trip to France in 2008. It has taken three tries to decide what part of it I want to include for a large pastel painting. Sorry for an extraneous, uneven tone in my digital shots of my drawings, (strictly practical compositional sketches, rather than artworks themselves), but you can see how I started off wanting to show most of the niche structure at first, and then began to zero in more.

Since I also really like the idea of portraying part of the lamp, as in my photo, I am doing a fourth drawing for a miniature painting of this same scene (which will roll out on my miniature painting blog). My miniature version will include the lamp and give me an opportunity to show the entire structure of the niche that surrounds this statue. But for my pastel I want to dramatically zero in on the Madonna & Child itself, so the drawing at the top of the post shows you how it will be composed.

I had a search to locate a certain color of the pastel surface I wanted, only to get it home and discover that I got the color I want but the surface is defective. As a result, I may try doing this on a darker color than I would have liked just to get it started. With all this preliminary action going on, I'm asking Mary to please support my effort to paint the White Madonna & Child!

I was very charmed while in Aix-en-Provence to discover these niche statues of Mary and other saints which seem to adorn every building corner there, making it one reason that Aix-en-Provence was my favorite spot in Southern France. It's going to be a fun, too, painting more niches like the White Madonna & Child over a period of time.

The Difference Between Modeling Mary and the Mary Within

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:

Detail of my Madonna and Child drawing using Karen as a model

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?

Update

I'll be returning soon to my large portrait work, but September is quite a busy month for me as I prepare for several miniature shows during this period of time. So, until my next post, you might enjoy seeing what I'm working on in miniature, including a miniature portrait in progress at this link: The Ruby Slippers

"The 'Mary' in Kimberly," panel painting progress

I'm overdue for a progress report on "The 'Mary' in Kimberly" egg tempera panel painting, (my computer keyboard wasn't working, but I'm back in action), so this update represents several painting sessions since I last posted on it. I began to under paint the veil and worked on various areas of the painting.

Alex Garcia's Portraits in Egg Tempera

"El Boricua," by Alex Garcia (self-portrait), 6" x 8", egg tempera on panel

"Be Still," by Alex Garcia, (portrait of the artist's wife, Carmen)

20" x 16", egg tempera on panel

"Little Linda," by Alex Garcia, 8" x 6", egg tempera on panel (Alex's daughter)

"Little Puppet," by Alex Garcia, 8" x 6", egg tempera on panel (Alex's youngest son)


Alex's lovely family!

Generous artist and friend of mine, Alex Garcia, does so much for other artists, I'd like to thank him with a post, if it's just to show you how special his own art is. The example on top of this row of portraits shows how irresistibly Alex manages to get a spiritual quality in his portraits which is both iconic, and icon-like.

It's so inspiring to see how Alex does his egg tempera paintings. I recommend a visit to his website to see his step-by-step portrait of Carmen, his wife, and how beautifully he has also portrayed two of his children, shown here, as well as many others. I can't wait to see the finished portrait of of his oldest son, which is currently in step-by-step progress on his blog.

I believe it has been partly out of his respect and admiration for other egg tempera painters, such as Andrew Wyeth, and his willingness to take the time to study and to appreciate how others have worked with the medium that Alex has so finely tuned his own skills as a tempera painter. And it's easy to see also, from these family portraits, what a loving father and husband he is!

An Online Review of My Portrait Series

Sorry for announcing this late because I've been out of town, but this week my spiritual portrait series has received a lovely review from Alex Garcia on his new website: "Artists I Like". To read it, please visit this link: Mona Diane Conner - Spiritual Beauty

Thank you Alex for your very kind words about this series which is so close to my heart!

Progress on "The 'Mary' in Terry #2," & "The 'Mary' in Unni"

"The 'Mary' in Terry #2," (in progress) 19 1/2" x 15 1/2", pastel on La Carte pastel board

"The 'Mary' in Unni," 11 1/2" x 8 1/2", pencil drawing

(click images to see them larger)

Apart from her talent as an artist, fine art photographer, and musician, my friend Unni's wonderful spirit has been an inspiration to me. She has made an amazing recovery from major illness for the second time. In the summer of 2005, around the time I first began to dip into the idea of trying to make spiritual portraits, I met Unni at a religious art show where we were both participants called "Spirituality in the Arts" at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA.

When I showed Unni one of my first studies (the one which is also the masthead for this blog) and described my series to her, she was so enthusiastic about it that she posed for me right on the spot, and this drawing is based on her pose at the art show. I haven't forgotten how her enthusiasm has energized my effort with this series. Just wish I'd done it sooner for Unni's 'Mary' portrait, but at least this drawing is a start.

Unni credits her recovery from illness in part to the practice of a gentle flowing form of hatha yoga, which she now teaches. Please take a moment to read more about Unni, at her website: Unni's Healing Yoga

"The 'Mary' in Terry," #3, further progress

"The 'Mary' in Terry #3", (more progress) blue and white pastel on colorfix pastel paper

I have a little more work on the dark blue robe and general fine-tuning, and I want to try something special for the background which entails a trip to the art store, but more soon on this limited color pastel. Next I'll resume my progress on "The 'Mary' in Terry #2".