New Drawing: Second Dream of St. Joseph

This is the sixth drawing I have made of a Christian subject in the style of Japanese art. St. Gabriel shows a vision of the Flight into Egypt and the Miracle of the Cherry Tree to St. Joseph, who sleeps in the stable of Bethlehem next to the gifts of the Magi. I attempted to convey a sense of otherworldly urgency by having the angel’s robes and hair blown by a strong wind that affects nothing else in the picture. The text is from Emile Raguet’s classical Japanese New Testament translation of 1910: Arise, and take the child and His mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy Him.

In this work, I especially imitated the style of woodblock prints by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. I drew it using fine-tipped pens and calligraphers’ inks applied with brushes on an 8" &times 10" piece of Bristol board. Read more here.