A.R. Danziger, Art & Design

One last post before I take a long break.  Here is another book cover I designed for Cruachan Hill Press : " The Life of St Columba As Told by St. Adomnan , edited with an introduction by Phillip Campbell. Famous hagiography of the great Irish St. Columba who founded the renowned abbey of Iona from which he brought Christianity to Scotland. Contains the complete biography of Adomnán (updated with historical footnotes), an appendix of all the hymns attributed to St. Columba, and a thirty page original introductory essay."   Order here...

I can't seem to get a non-blurry photograph of this, but I'll post it anyway. Here is my painting of "The Woman Clothed with the Sun" from Revelation chapter 12. Happy Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe!  Once I finish the borders I'll take a better photo of the finished piece. I've had to accept that the 3 required entries will not be complete in time for the Apocalypse Prize deadline.  Instead of being disappointed at not reaching my goal, I can be at peace because I know the circumstances are a blessing from God.  I'm very busy with the care of 3 small children, and I'm expecting a new little one to be born before the end of the year. Please pray for us for a safe and healthy delivery and recovery!

I'm still putting the finishing touches on the first painting which will take a while longer. In the meantime, I have very limited time to work on the next 2 paintings in the series, so I've jumped into the drawing for the second one while I wait for the border of the first one to dry. Here is an angel (with no wings yet) who will be blowing one of the trumpets from Revelation Chapter 8:

Some of my readers have asked me to draw a template for the All Hallow's Eve martyred saint shrines I created last year.  I quickly put this together while the baby was napping.  You'll still need to trace around the outside of your own box since cereal boxes vary between brands, but these are the essentials: PDF Template St. Peter St. Lucy St. Denis Original post with instructions Please make sure to use LED electric tea light candles and not real ones, and have a Happy Halloween, Catholic style!

After transferring my drawing to the panel, I used burnt umber to define the values. Next will come the metal leaf and colors.

I managed to cobble together a mock-up drawing and transfer it to my panel board which I had already painted a neutral color. Here I'm nearly done tracing it with a blue ball-point pen so I can tell which parts of the drawing I've already gone over. I used white Saral brand transfer paper  between the drawing and the panel board. I don't know what it's made of, but it doesn't make the surface dirty with hard to cover-up graphite (which I learned the hard way last time). It's a little hard to see with the glare but here's the finished drawing. Next I'll do the under-painting with burnt umber to establish the light and dark values.

I'm continuing to post my figure study drawings for my work-in-progress based on Revelation chapter 12 . What does the Woman clothed with the Sun represent?  From the Douay-Rheims commentary: " [1]   A woman : The church of God. It may also, by allusion, be applied to our blessed Lady. The church is clothed with the sun, that is, with Christ: she hath the moon, that is, the changeable things of the world, under her feet: and the twelve stars with which she is crowned, are the twelve apostles: she is in labour and pain, whilst she brings forth her children, and Christ in them, in the midst of afflictions and persecutions." Thankfully I have access to a baby (my son, A), and a pregnant friend who patiently allowed me to put a sheet and a tablecloth around her for a photo.  This isn't a likeness, but a good compromise between realism and the stylized woman and child from the Douce Apocalypse.  I'm convinced the artist dressed a model in robes and observe...

This is the third angel in the piece.  I didn't give him a shield because he'll be in the background. A bit of self-critique:  This is an example of why not to draw from photographs if you don't have to...it's difficult to get the proportions right when you're fighting against the lens distortion.  This angel is little stocky with a long arm. On the plus side, I'm getting better at handling the drapery, working from large forms down to smaller forms and letting the folds assist the sense of movement.  I managed to get a good contrapasto (weight on one leg) pose out of the model which makes the drawing just the right amount of dynamic.