Brushes2Halos: Our Lady, Mother of Sweet Sorrow III

After a long period of time away from the blog – due to technical problems – I am now back, and ready to show you some recent work.
This particular Mother of Sweet Sorrow was fun because my commissioner requested that her version of the painting have no color. I didn’t like the idea of mere black and white, however, but enjoyed the warmth and spectrum of brown tones in the painting. That said, there is something a little too ghost-like in the painting to fully appeal to me. Unlike the richness of the colored version, our Lady’s garments look poor. Her face looks too wan. I suppose this was the challenge – to make this brown version work as well as the original, and in my opinion, without the color, the painting loses part of its life.

The Original Sweet Sorrow

I suppose it is partially a matter of opinion, however. For instance, on a different but related issue, I enjoy that some of the most ancient icons and artwork adorn our Lord and the saints with flowers, angels and other decorative designs (see below). I find that applying a similar honor to my own icons and artwork enhance the beauty of my work. Yet I was criticized for this recently, informed that most people would rather not have a decorative border around their icons. The only thing I can figure is that people are different. Some may find color distracting; other may find ornate decoration distracting. And when you are speaking of a Sacramental, it is certainly important to listen to what calls to you to prayer. Each individual should be able to be drawn closer to God according to his own sensibilities. I will stop my preaching here - only observe how different the styles depicted below are. Both time and place are amazing for creating such differences - and ALL honor our Lord.