Drawing upside down

May 11, 2024 Claire Fitzgerald

I took an exercise from Betty Edwards book, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”. These exercises are to help people improve their drawing skills. By drawing an image upside down we can develop perceptual skills to see things as they really are. In this exercise I found I had to look at shapes as I really saw them, and I was less able to impose thoughts or perceptions on the image I was copying. Overall I found this a really useful exercise that I will use again.

The image I chose to copy from was the head of Fra Angelico taken from a larger painting called the “The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament” by Raphael, located in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.

The image on the left is the original painting of Fra Angelico by Raphael. The image on the right is my sketchbook drawing (drawn upside down).

Finished drawing. My sketchbook turned the right way up.

Portraits of the living and the dead – using cold wax technique

May 8, 2024 Claire Fitzgerald

I decided to explore methods and materials of painting used in ancient Egyptian mummy portraits. I did this because of their influence in icons later, for example the idealised faces, large eyes and robes. The ancient Egyptians were preoccupied with what happened when you die and mummification was an important ritual in the journey into the afterlife. This in turn influenced Roman sculpture where busts became more human and alive.

Also ancient Greek stories are occupied with how a hero goes on a journey to the underworld and is spiritually changed by his experience that leads him to change and lead a better life in this world.

Interestingly the ingredients used in mummy portraits are the same as those used to in mummification i.e. bees wax, honey, water and oil. I melted these ingredients into a small jar and used it as a binding medium to paint with. I used only 4 pigments; yellow ochre, red ochre, black and white to keep a simple pallet.

Painting easter eggs using wax resist dyeing technique

April 19, 2024 Claire Fitzgerald

Easter egg painting is a great craft activity that all the community can participate in.

Here I took some wax pellets and put them on a large tablespoon suspended over a candle flame to melt. I brushed on the liquid wax on the eggs (which I had washed and cleaned out earlier) with small patterns and designs taken from a book on folk art. I also used a small canting tool for drawing patterns on the eggs in wax. When I was happy with my design I dipped the eggs in some natural dye and allowed to soak for a few minutes. When ready I allowed them to dry and then gently removed the wax to reveal the negative print of the pattern.

This was a very enjoyable craft that enabled me to meditate on the season of Easter, new birth and resurrection.

Making shell gold

February 11, 2024 Claire Fitzgerald

Over the years I saved up lots of scraps of gold that I had left over from water gilding projects. I wanted to use these to make shell gold. This was really important to me to use the waste gold because there is a powerful symbolism there about taking the left over remains that nobody wants and turning them into something beautiful for the glory of God.

I carefully scraped all the little pieces of gold into a small glass dish and with a tiny dribble of honey I patted it into a small paste with my fingertip. I kept going for another 10 minutes and then began to grind it with my finger in a circular motion. I did this for over an hour.

This circular motion was deeply meditative and enjoyable. I reflected on ideas of bringing something into creation – strength, resilience, love, fertility and eternity.

Once the gold beneath my fingers felt sufficiently smooth I washed the gold off my fingers with spring water. I then passed the gold through a piece of habotai silk cloth. This drained off the water and separated the gold from any impurities. I then collected the shell gold and placed it into anther dish. When I am ready I will then combine this with a binder and be able to use this to paint with. Shell gold works very well for the highlights of a garment on an icon or for other fine details in manuscript illuminations. It can also be burnished to give a variety of textures from a soft delicate matt to a shiny and polished look.

St. Brigid's Day Craft

February 2, 2024 Claire Fitzgerald

A selection of crosses and other Christian symbols made with rushes collected from bogland near Lough Derg, Co. Donegal.

Sposi Novelli blessing

January 29, 2024 Claire Fitzgerald

My husband and I went to Rome for our honeymoon. The highlight for us was to receive the Sposi Novelli blessing (Italian for “newlyweds”). The Pope gives the blessing in Latin during the General Audience every Wednesday morning in the Audience Hall. Couples are expected to arrive in wedding attire within 2 months of the marriage. We were seated at the front with lots other brides and grooms. This was a once in a lifetime experience that we won’t forget.

My Wedding at St James's Church, Spanish Place on Saturday 16th December 2023

December 29, 2023 Claire Fitzgerald

The livestream of our wedding can be seen from the folowing link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZosYPl7dLH4

Order of Service

Entrance of the Bride

Trumpet Voluntary John Stanley (1712 – 1786)

Introduction and Welcome

Opening Carol

Once in Royal David’s City

Solo Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that Mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little Child.

Choir He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall:
With the poor, and meek, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.

All And through all His wondrous childhood,

He would honour and obey,

Love and watch the lowly maiden,

In whose gentle arms He lay:

Christian children all must be

Mild, obedient, good as He.

For He is our childhood’s pattern,

Day by day like us He grew,

He was little, weak, and helpless,

Tears and smiles like us He knew:

And He feeleth for our sadness,

And He shareth in our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see Him,
Through His own redeeming love,

For that Child so dear and gentle,
Is our Lord in heav'n above:
And He leads His children on
To the place where He is gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see Him, but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high,
When like stars His children crowned,
All in white shall wait around.

Words: Cecil Frances Alexander (1818 – 1895), Music: Irby by Henry John Gauntlett (1805 – 1876)

Opening Prayer

First Reading

A reading from the Book of Ruth 1: 1-22

RUTH AND NAOMI

In the days of the Judges famine came to the land;

And a certain man from Bethlehem of Judah went - he, his wife and his two sons - to live in the country of Moab.

Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she and her two sons were left. These married Moabite women, one was named Orpah, and the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years.

Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two sons and her husband. So she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard that the Lord had visited his people and given them food.

Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and went back to her people, but Ruth clung to her. Naomi said to her, "Look, Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god. You must return too. Follow your sister-in-law!"

But Ruth said, "Do not press me to leave you and to turn back from your company! For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you live, I will live, your people shall be my people, and your God my God."

This was how Naomi, she who returned from the country of Moab, came back with Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

The word of the Lord.

Response: Thanks be to God

Psalm

Ecce sic benedicetur Cristóbal de Morales (1500 – 1553)

Ecce sic benedicetur omnis homo qui timet Dominum:
et videas filios filiorum tuorum.
Pax super Israel.
Alleluia, alleluia.

Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord:
May you see your children's children.
Peace be upon Israel.
Alleluia, alleluia.

Second Reading

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 12:31-13:8

Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.

If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing.

If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all.

If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful.

Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

Love does not come to an end.

The word of the Lord.

R: Thanks be to God

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia

Exsultate justi in Domino Lodovico da Viadana (1560 – 1627)

Exsultate justi in Domino, rectos decet collaudatio.

Confitemini Domino, in cithara; in psalterio decem chordarum psallite illi.

Cantate ei canticum novum: bene psallite ei in vociferatione.

Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just; praise befits the upright.
Give praise to the Lord, on the harp; sing to him with the psaltery, the instrument of ten strings.
Sing to him a new canticle, sing well unto him with a loud noise.

Gospel

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 2:1-11

R: Glory to you, O Lord.

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee.

The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. When they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the wedding was all finished, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said, ‘Woman why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water,’ and they filled them to the brim. ‘Draw some out now’ he told them, ‘and take it to the steward.’ They did this; the steward tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from — only the servants who had drawn the water knew — the steward called the bridegroom and said, ‘People generally serve the best wine first, and keep the cheaper sort till the guests have had plenty to drink, but you have kept the best wine till now.’

This was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was given at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

R: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Homily

The Rite of Marriage

Exchange of Vows

Blessing and exchange of rings

Bidding Prayers

Celebrant: Dear brothers and sisters, let us accompany this new family with our prayers, that the mutual love of this couple may grow daily and that God in his kindness will sustain all families throughout the world. That he will bless their covenant as he chose to sanctify marriage at Cana in Galilee, let us pray to the Lord.Lord, we ask you,

People: hear our prayer.

Celebrant: For their relatives and friends, and for all who have assisted this couple, let us pray to the Lord.