It has been more than a month now that I have worked on this new drawing and I still think I am far from completing this particular picture. It has proved a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. I am deciding on additions – and general composition - bit by bit as I go along. I have now come to the stage where I have the basic saintly figure and the accompanying cat and dog (is there a place for a bird somewhere?) and I have framed the trio between two pairs of columns and added an arch. The whole thing still looks like it is less than half completed.
I thought it best to take a photo of the work done so far and decide on the way forward by manipulating in a couple of scenarios. I do not believe this is cheating…it is just a more efficient way to test and visualize how the end work could eventually look.
The inspirations behind this picture are many. First Saint Francis himself, a wealthy, worldly man who turned his back on all things material and decided to embrace poverty. A shining example through the ages, perhaps more so in the modern, consumerist, must-have-now world we live in today.
I thought it best to take a photo of the work done so far and decide on the way forward by manipulating in a couple of scenarios. I do not believe this is cheating…it is just a more efficient way to test and visualize how the end work could eventually look.
The inspirations behind this picture are many. First Saint Francis himself, a wealthy, worldly man who turned his back on all things material and decided to embrace poverty. A shining example through the ages, perhaps more so in the modern, consumerist, must-have-now world we live in today.
Then there is something of the miniature holy pictures from my childhood (santi in Maltese) which I think always had some effect on most children of the sixties growing up in what was then (on the face of it at least) a devoutly Catholic country. These were probably among the foremost visual images then – along with collectible cards featuring animals, soldiers’ historical uniforms, and of course dinosaurs.
There is also the medieval angle to the composition. I simply love Proto Renaissance paintings…the stiff figures and poses…the gold everywhere…the unlikely landscapes…the architectural motifs… the heavy Byzantine influences… Think Duccio di Bouninsegna, think Giotto, think Fra Angelico - you get the picture (Comparisons are odious I know, in this case they border on the outrageous). To this day these paintings are among the foremost I look for in any major art museum I visit.
I will not necessarily adhere slavishly to the landscape, columns and motifs I have added digitally to help me map the way forward but they will certainly help.
I reckon this picture will take a few more weeks to complete.
There is also the medieval angle to the composition. I simply love Proto Renaissance paintings…the stiff figures and poses…the gold everywhere…the unlikely landscapes…the architectural motifs… the heavy Byzantine influences… Think Duccio di Bouninsegna, think Giotto, think Fra Angelico - you get the picture (Comparisons are odious I know, in this case they border on the outrageous). To this day these paintings are among the foremost I look for in any major art museum I visit.
I will not necessarily adhere slavishly to the landscape, columns and motifs I have added digitally to help me map the way forward but they will certainly help.
I reckon this picture will take a few more weeks to complete.
This is actually only the second time I am attempting a drawing on a quasi-religious theme and using Christian iconography.
I had previously completed "Visitation" in 1995. (image on left) showing an anonymous saintly nun being visited by an unabashedly unclothed angel delivering a rose. I remember that the rendering of the massive archway was murder but the nun was a joy to draw - a wobbly curvy shape with an equally oval face.
This remains a favorite work of mine (even if I say so) and I like the subtle humour of the work.
There are obviously parallels between the drawing I am doing now and this one.
I had previously completed "Visitation" in 1995. (image on left) showing an anonymous saintly nun being visited by an unabashedly unclothed angel delivering a rose. I remember that the rendering of the massive archway was murder but the nun was a joy to draw - a wobbly curvy shape with an equally oval face.
This remains a favorite work of mine (even if I say so) and I like the subtle humour of the work.
There are obviously parallels between the drawing I am doing now and this one.
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