This year’s Glenmary Easter appeal was very difficult. When they called to commission me for the painting, they said they were thinking of an image of the risen Jesus and Mary Magdalene at the tomb. I responded with, “Um, you do know that I don’t do people well.” Not only was I anxious about doing people, I was also anxious about painting Jesus because everyone has their own conception of what he looked like. Glenmary (very kindly) replied that they had liked the people I had painted for them in paintings past, and wanted me to give it a shot…oh, and also include an olive tree and other foliage with the tomb.
Amazingly enough, they were really happy with the first draft I sent them and only had a few refinements. This painting, what I feel is the most complicated piece I’ve done for them, had fewer revisions than any other painting that I had done. The Wisemen painting alone went through something like six revisions!
Happy Easter!
Clever! Just put Jesus backwards. 🙂 I love the joyfulness of the sky and color of Mary’s scarf (shawl?). beautiful.
One small detail, what about the nail marks on his hand?
Jessica– in the first/original draft, I had that detail, and in haste when I finished the second draft, I forgot it. For their purposes, they Photoshopped the original Jesus I did onto the second draft, which they wanted more for the background and revised Mary. Safer to do that way if you’re happy with the original element, since with watercolor, you are never sure what you will end up with.