“The Symbol of St. Patrick”

Here’s my piece that I contributed to the HCBC Art Exhibit entitled “Three in One.”  I took a few pictures (not very good ones, unfortunately) while I was making it…

First I formed the leaves and stem of the shamrock, and the decorative braids out of paper clay.  It is lightweight, fast-drying, and very easy to work with.

I painted them with several layers of green acrylic paint, mixed with glaze.

Then I painted the background with acrylics on a piece of 12″x12″ canvas board. 

Next, I aged a piece of scripture about Christ’s baptism (from Matthew).   I chose this passage because all three persons of the Godhead are present in the scene: the Son is being baptized, the Father’s voice is heard, and the Holy Spirit descends as a dove. I mounted it with dimensional tape, along with a gold coin I had.  The man on the horse represents St. Patrick riding to preach the gospel.

I finished painting the shamrock pieces and braids and glued them onto the board.

At this point, I decided it needed more green overall, so I added the green borders to the top and bottom.

I found some pretty beaded ivory ribbon, and then braided some different fibers to create a colorful band to pair with it.  They were stretched and glued on top of the green borders.

Finally, I bought a shadow box frame at Hobby Lobby to put the piece in.

 

 

 The Symbol of St. Patrick

Mixed-Media in a shadow-box frame.

Artist’s Interpretation:

 Holding up a shamrock, St. Patrick is said to have asked his hearers, “Is it one leaf or three?”

They would reply, “It is both one leaf, and three.”

“So it is with God,” he explained.

The hand-sculpted shamrock is paired with an aged piece of text from Christ’s baptism (Matthew 3:15-17) which mentions the presence of all three persons of the Godhead.

Not For Sale

4 Comments

  1. Those are really cool!! I like the coin and the leaf. 🙂

  2. You are so incredibly talented!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*