Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta in the Catholic Church, is one of the most iconic women of my lifetime.  And she accomplished this by taking care of the poorest of the poor.  This is a dot-drawing done with three different size Sharpie pens.  I added the blue stripes to her habit with watercolor.  The model I used was a dramatic photo from Getty Images by John Downing.  Below, is the picture at different stages.  

DEDICATION:  This picture is dedicated to Mrs. Carole Louise Cooney (1937-2017), my 11th grade English teacher at Fountain Valley High School.  She was a nun, who fell in love with a priest.  The Pope released them from their vows so they could get married.  She was the Drama Teacher at FVHS from 1970-1990.   She was one of my favorite teachers.  God bless Mrs. Cooney.

Liturgy of the Hours Book Cover and Pouch

My life-long best friend, Ed, wanted me to do a book cover for his Liturgy of the Hours books that he carries with him every day.  This was a challenging  project on many levels.  First, if I do a project for myself and it doesn't turn out, I just throw it away, and I don't worry about it.  But doing this one for Ed, I felt added pressure to do a good job and didn't want to let him down.  Second, I needed to use a thin, calf skin leather which would fold around and over the book itself.  I have never worked with this thin-cut of leather before.  In order to do the artwork, I used a plate of thicker leather, which is the kind I usually work with.  I left the cover and the pouch a natural color with a neutral wax on it because I didn't want anything to stain Ed's books.  I used a darker wax on the plate which gives it a nice contrast and has sort of an antique look to it.  I told him that I am pretty good at making very primitive-looking items.  This looks like it might be more for St. Francis than Pope Francis, if you know what I mean.