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.

Painting of the Good Shepherd in the Catacombs of Rome

Bulgarian icon

Plashchanitza or Epitaphios (Icon of Christ's Dead Body which is kissed on Good Friday)

Medieval Manuscript page

Ethiopian Icon

Mexican Retablo

Our Lady, Mother of Sweet Sorrow 4

She is finished.  Our Lady required a particularly colorful border, and this is the one that my imagination felt was fitting for it.  There is just one thing that bothers the typologist in me.  That is, only twenty-eight stars fit around the border, and our Lady, of course, has an additional three stars (symbolizing her virginity before, during, and after the birth of Christ) which makes a total of thirty-one.  Thirty-one!  What does that mean?
Studies have shown that Christ entered into His public ministry at the age of thirty.  He died at the young age of thirty-three.  Thirty-one doesn't fit neatly in there.
But here's the crazy part about numerology.  Thirty is three times ten.  Three is for the Trinity, ten is for ordinal perfection (perfection among numbers).  The number thirty, therefore, indicates magnificent and abundant divine perfection.  When you add the number one to thirty, it indicates that this divine perfection is overflowing out of Perfect Unity which is God.  Which is interesting, since the number thirty-one is the numeric value of the Hebrew word "El," which is one of the names of God (as seen in such names as Nathanael-Gift of God, Michael-Who is Like God, Eleonora-God is my light).  God is indeed overflowing with His abundant perfection, which is why we are all here.
Why is it so important that something as simple as stars in picture should have symbolic meaning?  Because this is what an icon is - every little aspect points to God and His goodness, whether it be the colors used or the numbers of stars in the border.  Religious art and iconography enable us a tangible way of understanding things about the unknowable God.  Icons are beautiful and interesting lessons, and symbolism is the way we learn and remember very real things about God.
But here is another point - Jews, at least traditional Jews, do not have icons.  Their reasoning has partly to do with what God said in Genesis 1:27: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."  That is, the true icon of God is man himself.  We do not need art to point to God when we can see God most completely in our fellow man.  As Christians we certainly see the value of learning things about God through religious art.  However, when we look at another human being we must see Christ Himself.