Happy Mother's Day!

                                                                          "Madonna & Child"  © Leo Winstead

Holy Face of Mary

A commissioned small oil painting, based on an image "drawn by an Italian mystic" in the Pieta Prayer Book.

It frustrated me that the book does not name this mystic, or give any other information, and I couldn't find the image anywhere else! It is lovely, though, and was a challenge to interpret. 

Working with Wax

Lately, in spare moments, I've been working on correcting a wax casted version of my Madonna and Child statuette.

The original version of this piece was sculpted in clay in 2008 and a mold was made from that, but the mold was faulty in some ways. The biggest problem with the original mold was that the Christ Child's face was damaged, but there were other small problems as well. Most of the problems were discovered when, with the help of Reed Armstrong, I cast a resin version of the statue. With the wax version I hope to correct the problems and make a new mold. Wax, I've learned, is not my favorite material to work with.

Here are a couple pictures:





If you're interested in seeing more of the process, there is a longer post about it on my blog, with pictures of the mold, the original clay version as it was created, and even the little terra cotta sketch I started with.

Christmas Painting

This was actually an acrylic painting that I finished last Christmas. I didn't think to share it until just now. Merry Christmas!

East meets West in the Italian Renaissance

There is a great article on the Blog "Suffering with Joy" about this painting, "Madonna with Child Clothed with Sunlight." Ms. Schoeneberger talks about not oly the symbolism in this painting but combination of eastern and western stles that produced this stunning piece.

The Annunciation

Above is an unused sketch for a piece I am currently working on.  I was hesitant to share this since the painting is still in it's earliest stages, but it may be a few months before completion.  The final will be in oil.

Month of Mary

After living in Italy for some years in the 1970's I got used to seeing devotion in churches. It wasn't uncommon to see pilgrims like this, prostrate and praying by an altar dedicated to Our Lady. Usually at shrines and places of pilgrimage. It's not often in the USA to see such outward acts. Since it is May the month of Mary, I wanted to post something in her honor. I found this 20 year old oil sketch I had done on canvas paper. It is not the best composition and I'll be the first to admit that.