“Our Lady of the Roses”, 9×12″ pastel on paper by Annie Dash Studios
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” ~ Luke 1:26-1:28
One evening, while my husband and I were meditating on the Glorious Mysteries while praying the rosary, a beautiful vision came into my mind. The image was the Blessed Mother praying for us. Her eyes were lifted to the heavens; she was surrounded by soft pink roses, with a double halo dotted with twelve stars above her.
Here is the art work I created from this vision; I recorded an a capella version of Schubert’s “Ave Maria” to accompany it. I’m a classically trained mezzo soprano and took private voice lessons for 22 years. I felt called to share my voice along with this piece.
For “Our Lady of the Roses”, I used PanPastels to produce a painterly look for the underpainting, then added Faber Castell Pitt pastel pencils for all the detail work. I kept the focus on the soft facial features and figure of the Blessed Mother and decided to keep the roses soft and expressive, instead of highly detailed.
I found this piece to be quite challenging, as I created it from memory instead of using a reference photo. As a trained, professional photographer, I’ve spent over two decades learning the art and craft of photography to create better reference photos for my artwork. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the challenge, the subject, and the process immensely.
I would love to hear from you in the comments below — have you been inspired by a spiritual experience? How did it impact you?