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