Hail Mary Full of Grace
Oil on Linen
11x14 inches
04/15/2007
Visitation Monastery, Mobile, Alabama
Description:
When I am in Mobile on a Sunday, I try to attend Mass at the Cathedral
downtown. It is a beautiful structure and just recently restored. After
the service I was to do a portrait photo shoot, but the shoot was
postponed to the afternoon. The storm the night before had brought wind
and cold and it was only 50 degrees. For Mobile in April, that is too
cold for a 5-year-old girl to sit outside posing for her picture.
At first I thought about doing a street scene in downtown Mobile. It
was pretty empty and had loads of possibilities. I had to go back to my
hotel to get my landscape painting kit and on my way I passed the
Visitation Monastery. I had participated in a retreat there years ago
and it has a walled grove of live oaks draped in Spanish moss. It
beckoned me to visit again. After all, it was Sunday.
The sun was shining nicely but the wind was fierce. Behind the walls,
however, it was calm. The trees were old, huge, and had extended
branches as far out as the trees were tall. Against the walls, and here
and there in the grove, were palm trees. It was lush and green and very
much Mobile. In and amongst the trees, the nuns had placed a cross and
a statue of Mary. Mary was perfectly positioned to capture light on her
head and it shone like a halo.
While I was painting, people were arriving for an outside service for
the second Sunday of Easter. I fully expected somebody to come over to
watch me paint. I'm not saying this to be vain because people usually
watch me when they see what I'm doing and I enjoy talking to them.
On this day though, no one came. Perhaps it was because I was painting
Mary, and when Catholics are having time with Mary they are politely
left alone. So I had time with her alone and did my best to honor her.
| 
|
Click to enlarge