Work in Progress: Camino de Santiago Commission
An artist friend of mine recently asked me to make him an artwork to represent his upcoming bike trip to the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) in Spain. The route is an old pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried.
So I decided to make him an icon of St. James, who is traditionally represented with a Scallop shell. The icon also holds a stylized cross, also associated with St. James. On his breast is pinned a feather, which has meaning for my friend, as, with his last bike trip, he found a feather on the first day of the trip, and kept it with him for the duration of the bike trip. I have no idea if St. James really looked like this (curly hair, beard), I just made a very stylized figure that I thought would work for this.
The artwork, as you can see, is currently still being worked on. I started yesterday. It's 20 x 16 inches, ink and acrylic on claybord. I originally started to make the colors more naturalistic but decided I would have more fun by giving him blue tones.
So I decided to make him an icon of St. James, who is traditionally represented with a Scallop shell. The icon also holds a stylized cross, also associated with St. James. On his breast is pinned a feather, which has meaning for my friend, as, with his last bike trip, he found a feather on the first day of the trip, and kept it with him for the duration of the bike trip. I have no idea if St. James really looked like this (curly hair, beard), I just made a very stylized figure that I thought would work for this.
The artwork, as you can see, is currently still being worked on. I started yesterday. It's 20 x 16 inches, ink and acrylic on claybord. I originally started to make the colors more naturalistic but decided I would have more fun by giving him blue tones.
 |
| The initial sketch - the hand is really off here and I had to redraw it. |
Comments