Newly ordained priests, 2019. Photo by Alessandra Tarantino, AP |
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If I were to cast a daytime soap opera and needed a hunky priest, I would have signed him up. We exchanged casual greetings and talked for a while about the mural. Then he asked me to do a job a for him:
Father Michael's church: |
It so happened that Father Michael was going to be officiating at a ceremony were young novices (I think that's how they are called, I could be wrong) were ordained as priests. He explained that during the ceremony the novices have a type of linen 'scarf' with the symbols of their particular priestly orders painted at the ends. These scarfs -which, incidentally, were made by nuns and called
Painted symbols of the Order of Carmelites on a linen stole. |
Now that I understood father Michael's predicament, I agreed to do the paintings, four images per scarf, as shown on these photos. The scarfs -stoles, were about 6 inches wide but the painting proved difficult. Working on raw linen is like painting on a sponge. So I had to apply a size to seal the fabric's fibers before priming the areas for painting. Then I patiently reproduced the reference images that Father Michael provided, repeating the process three more times to complete the four stoles. To make the detailed and small scale job easier (each image is about 2.5 inches wide), I used fluid acrylics paints which felt more like painting with ink.
Painted symbols of the Order of Carmelites on a linen stole. |
Father Michael was very pleased with the results and so was I. Hmm. Come to thing of it, I rather enjoyed doing this unusual job. Back home, I kept breaking out in laughter thinking about what would a certain Catholic friend of mine, who was convinced I had a free pass to hell, would say if she could see me... painting saints! Actually, she is a real sweetheart, and a Catholic (who traveled with me in Rome), and I confess I could use "a little" of her moralizing influence. By the way, for another story about me and saints, see