Mary 12 of 12 - Holy Family

The last Mary in the 12 Marys of Christmas series. I like the interaction with the baby. I got the arms better-proportioned. I was glad I tried this series. Vacation over, back to my day job.

Copic colors used: Cool gray multiliner; Bench and blankets E41,44, V000, RV91, Y000,13; Halos Y13; Baby E00+R000, R00; Mary & Joseph hair & skin E21,29,37,R02; Joseph robe BV20+W1, BV23; Mary robe & veil BG000,32, B24,29,32

Mary 11 of 12 - Dancing with the Baby

I wanted to show Mary's joy, in contrast to yesterday's post. I made her arm too long (again!) but I like the sense of movement.

Copic colors used: Ground W3 with streaks of 0; Baby E000+R000, R00, RV91,95; Halos Y26; Mary E04,21,29,37, R02, B06,41,45, B41+BV31

Mary 10 of 12

Love her expressive posture. Not sure where that headdress came from, but I enjoyed the flow of the fabric and all the "embroidery" details.

Later I noticed I drew her hands wrong. No wonder she looks so serious. She's thinking, "How will I ever take care of a baby, with my hands on backwards?"

Copic colors used: E21,37, B24,32, BG05,45, BV20,23, Y19, shadow W1, horizontal lines W3

Mary 9 of 12 - Abstract - Mary with Elizabeth

My childhood and adult church life has not had much of a focus on Mary. As I worked on this series, of course, I reflected on her story and what her experience might have been like. Before the birth of Jesus, as told in Luke 1:39-56, she visited her cousin Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. I drew them together in one of yesterday's Five Oval Marys. For today's drawing, I used some of their words, and words about them.

I needed an abstract drawing as a change from drawing people. For the shapes, I did some tracing of my French Curve templates, and added some echoes of those lines. I drew and colored with greens and grays for Elizabeth, blues and browns for Mary.

Copic colors used: Mary BG45,72,75, E37, YR14, cobalt multiliner; Elizabeth W1,3, G28, YG63, BG93, olive multiliner; Dots of 0

Mary 4-8 of 12 - Five Oval Marys

I made the five oval frames in PowerPoint, then printed the page. Along with drawing the five pictures, I added the flowering vine.

The captions are: Center "Mary with baby Jesus," Top left "Mary with Gabriel," Top right "Mary with Elizabeth," Bottom left "Mary with star and angels," and Bottom right "Mary with shepherds."

Mary 3 of 12 - Joseph Holds the Baby

I like their expressions and the feeling of connection among them. But some of the arms are too long! More practice needed. I used an ellipse template (plastic with many ovals cut out of it) to make the halos.

Copic colors used: Halos Y26; Baby BG000,32, E00,25,37; Mary E21, B41,45, R02; Joseph E04,29,37,41, YG91,95,97

Mary 2 of 12 - Mary and Baby

She looks uncomfortable. Maybe she's thinking, "now what?"

Generally, I don't draw people. So when I decided to attempt a Mary series (see yesterday's post), I went to my local art supplies store and bought 2 manikins. Fortunately, I was on vacation with time for drawing.

This was my first drawing with the gray plastic manikins. It helped a lot with proportion and angles. But ouch, that left hand! A lot more to learn and practice.

Copic colors used: Bench YG91, W3; Baby R00, RV11, Y000,15; Mary B01,05, E29,41, Y15, R02, C3

Mary 1 of 12

The verse reads: "But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19"

For a whole month, I was doing small images, including the Thanksgiving prayer drawing. So for this drawing, I thought I would do a large abstract something, lines & shapes, just get myself back into the larger scale & wider hand-arm movements. My only plan was to use some orange, which I didn't use in my Advent calendar.

I started with a few swirly lines and patterns. Then I turned the paper a different way & saw the beginnings of a face with scarf or hair or maybe both. Along with other shapes that didn't seem to fit. I kept on drawing and coloring, and in a little while, I saw that it wanted to be Mary, pondering. Not what I expected. Definitely not anything that I planned to draw! I don't draw people usually, and if I had set out to draw "Mary pondering," it would have been shadowy and mysterious. Not like this.

This is Mary 1 of 12 because, when my friend Sybil saw it, she said, why not draw the "Twelve Marys of Christmas." (Like the Twelve Days of Christmas, December 25-January 5.) So that's what I did.

Copic colors used: YR04,09,14, E04,21,37, BG000,72,75, Y38, R32