Saint Icon - Damien of Molokai

So being raised a Catholic, I have an appreciation for the saints. I have great aloha in my heart for the traditions, ceremony, and formality involved in how my Church honors our saints.

I want to do a series of saint icons for saints that have special significance to people I know and love.  I started this project a while ago, but finally put the finishing touches on this first one.  And it's a great one to begin with.

Damien of Molokai (Links to Wikipedia and Daily Celebrations) is important to many people in Hawaii. He is the name sake of my uncle's Alma Mater.

Damien is one of 15 American Saints and most notably he did most of his missionary work in Hawaii with the Kalaupapa lepers on the island of Molokai. He continues to be an inspiration to those in the service of the sick and those who are outcasts.

To create this piece, I started with a red oxide ink wash. I then did the drawing in red ink then in black ink. I am pretty happy with the effect. The hand pose is a nod to the Spanish Renaissance artist El Greco who really liked that hand layout.

I like the alcove in the background, though I am unsure if the drawing is really complete yet.   

I have a whole bunch of pages prepped for this project. Let's see how many of these I can do.

"Art is everywhere you look for it,

hail the twinkling stars for they are God's careless splatters."

~El Greco