Pages 20 and 21 of my 2017-2018 watercolor sketchbook/journal.

Left page is from an inktober prompt that was witch-themed I think.

Bottom (right) page includes a few funny little sketches of me with @theoneman-army and a random girl with a hat.

Pages 18 and 19 of my 2017-2018 watercolor sketchbook/journal.

Lots of little doodles of @theoneman-army and I together. I think I was following a prompt list but I'm not sure which one.

On the bottom left corner is one of my brothers, haha. On the same page is me getting caught drinking some beer and eating snacks on my period.

Pages 16 and 17 of my 2017-2018 watercolor sketchbook/journal.

Patterns! That's it, lol.

Pages 14 and 15 of my 2017-2018 watercolor sketchbook/journal.

Left page contains a little figure drawing, study of my fist, and a cartoon self portrait.

Right page is from when I was on my period, illustrating what that suffering feels like.

Pages 12 and 13 of my 2017-2018 watercolor sketchbook/journal.

Left page is a design for the lovely @mademoisellesarcasme and the right page has some sketches for the St. Francis International School in Silver Spring, MD.

Pages 10 and 11 of my 2017-2018 watercolor sketchbook/journal.

Left page is a comic I doodled inspired by a business idea of @mademoisellesarcasme, who could add pockets to any article of clothing that was missing pockets they needed!

On the right page is a sketch of me with @theoneman-army from some snapchat filter and a few random sketches I don't remember any purpose to. Also, a tiny sketch for the business card idea :) it will make sense when you see the next page.

Happy April, everyone!

St. Catherine of Siena's feast day is April 29th - if you have anyone in your life who is a fan of this Doctor of the Church, you could gift them this print on her feast day because I finally put them in my shop!

About my illustration and print as well as a little about St. Catherine of Siena:

This is a 5” x 7”  limited edition giclée print (ten editions) on Epson Somerset Velvet - 255 gsm, certified archival paper. Each print is signed, titled, and numbered. Also, the halo on each print is hand-painted with gold gouache, giving each print a unique reflective quality. Shipping and archival picture-framing tips are included.

St. Catherine of Siena, a third-order Dominican from the 14th century, is one of the first female saints named a Doctor of the Church; patron saint of Europe, Italy, journalists, mediators, and people ridiculed for their faith.

In this image, Saint Catherine is standing between Italy and France (Italy is behind her and France is in front of her). She is holding a crucifix in her right hand, as well as a pink rose and a lily, symbols of love and purity. She is extending her left hand toward the border of France (and the viewer) calling the Pope back to Rome. 

This is referencing the time during which the Pope had left Rome for the French city of Avignon, which had resulted in a crisis within the Church called the Great Schism of the West, in which multiple men backed by different kings claimed the papacy. Through her letters, Catherine persuaded Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome from France, persuading also other rulers to recognize the true pope. In addition to calling the Pope back to Rome, she was essential for diplomatic missions to negotiate a peace with Florence. St. Catherine had a gift for telling men to get off their asses and bringing peace. In my illustration, she is reaching out to the viewer, looking directly at them, reminding them of the same thing: get up and do what the Lord has called you to do.

On her head is a crown of thorns, symbolizing a vision she had five years before her death in which Christ offered her a golden crown, symbolizing earthly riches, or a crown of thorns, symbolizing the glory of heaven through suffering in this life (St. Catherine chose the latter). She is also shown with the stigmata on her hands, which she also received in a mystical vision five years before her death.

my sweet lord

Laudare, Benedicere, Predicare...

And for these, Dominic treasured prayer, study and community.

You can always find him sitting and reading.

This is one of my favorite icons of St. Dominic. It always pulls up whenever I read about him, he looks so peaceful and focused.

Pages 8 and 9 of my 2017-2018 watercolor sketchbook/journal.

Left page are a couple doodles of characters from Steven Universe and some unfinished doodles.

On thr right page is an edition added by Lydia, one of the younger residents I got to know at Pine Ridge. I painted a portrait of her later in this sketchbook. She was very sweet and had a lot of energy :)

Pages 6 and 7 of my 2017-2018 watercolor sketchbook/journal.

Left page is a little me looking up at the big ol' sky while at the Pine Ridge reservation and a couple of botanical studies. One thing I miss about living in Texas is the big sky. I know it's all the same sky but living in such a congested area with tall buildings amd tall trees you don't get to see as much of it all the time. I was reminded of that in Pine Ridge.

On the right page is an unfinished doodle of Chance the Fairy Godmother, a dreamcatcher I bought from one of the residents at Pine Ridge, and a loose sketch of the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Pages 4 and 5 of my 2017-2018 watercolor sketchbook/journal.

Left page was the moment my nostrils cleared and a small sketch of a statue of Mary and baby Jesus on the garden that is outside the friary at St. Camillus/Holy Name College in Silver Spring, MD.

On the right page is a portrait of a friend from college I made the year before while swing dancing.

Pages 2 and 3 of my 2017-2018 watercolor sketchbook/journal.

These pages are from a trip I went on with my fellow FVMs and others who go annually to help out with the Lakota on the Pine Ridge reservation. Unfortunately I was not feeling well half the time of the visit so I missed out on a few things, but I did get to know a few people and paint some people and experiences while I was there.

And now begins our journey through my next watercolor sketchbook/journal that I kept in 2017-2018. I debated about showing the next two side by side ish becsuse I actually was painting in them around the same time (the other one I was painting in until 2019) but it's simpler to do one at a time so I'll stick with that.

So this is page 1 of my 2017-2018 watercolor sketchbook/journal.

You can see I'm still into textile/pattern illustration on this page. I think I was debating trying out using Spoonflower at the time, lol, which never amounted to anything. The first page of book 2 isn't very exciting but that's how it often goes, haha.

The final page (page 74) of my 2015-2016 watercolor sketchbook/journal and its cover.

This last page is a self portrait either painted at the end of December 2016 or the very beginning of January 2017, I can't remember. I'm wearing my tau from my year has an FVM (Aug 2016 - July 2017) in Silver Spring, Maryland - which, isn't over yet of course, at least in my sketchbooks ;)

The next couple of sketchbooks I have were actually painted simultaneously but I will still go through one sketchbook at a time.

Pages 72 and 73 of my 2015-2016 watercolor sketchbook/journal. I lied. Now it's just one more page left, lol.

Top page is a painting of one of my brothers on a playground reading something. We were on a road trip and taking a short break. It's a study from a photo so it's not an image from a 'current event'.

Bottom page is an illustration of my character Astraea with her babysitter from my wip children's book, "People Planets". I wrote it for my book illustration class but felt a little defeated by the negative/constructive criticism I received from my professor and I still haven't gone back to it :( I should though. It's a story about grief.

The main negative comment was that Astraea seemed too smart for her age and I was just like... my brothers and I all had higher vocabulary counts than the average kid I guess..... anyways!

One page left of this book to share and then it's on to the next one!

These are prints of two illustrations I did of St. Dymphna and St. Catherine of Siena that both share a similar design concept that I hope to continue using in future illustrations!

St. Dymphna (feast day: May 15) is from Ireland but ran away to Belgium to escape her father (he was trying to marry her, yikes). The green shape above her head is the southern coast of Ireland and the red shape behind her is Belgium.

St. Catherine of Siena (feast day: April 29) was well known for the many letters she wrote, including the ones that insisted the Pope return to Rome from France. The green shape behind her is Italy (the shape inside is of Vatican City) and the red shape in front of her is the coast of France.

To learn more about these saints and my illustrations of them you can read my descriptions on my website! (Click on their names for more).