Virgen de la Alta Gracia Painting

My art has been a long love of mine but with work and family, I seldom get a chance to do it. So I thought I'd post some of the images of my new project. I am painting on fabric, Our Lady of High Grace which is the patron virgin of the Dominican Republic (La Virgen de la AltaGracia).  The country's official patron saint and Queen Protector of the heart of Dominicans. It will be a gift for our departing Franciscan Priest. It will be sewn onto his priestly robes, I am only hand-painting the image.

This is an image of the original painting which is said to have been painted in the late 15th century in Spain. It was mysteriously delivered by a shrouded old man who dropped the painting and disappeared. This portrait of the Virgin Mary in a Nativity scene is also in cloth.

 I usually don't do commissions because I usually like to choose subjects that inspire me. I chose to do this painting because it was a gift for our departing parish priest.

So I am starting with my rough sketch first, then I am transferring it onto fabric. Before I trace my sketch onto my fabric I sprayed a fixative on my sketch so that the graphite from the pencil didn't transfer to the fabric. WIP images of the process.

Rough Sketch
 

Transferred Sketch onto fabric

 

 

Started painting the background on the fabric with Acrylic Paints and Textile Medium.

 

 

Working on Fabric is a whole different experience. Blending colors is a little harder. I prepped my fabric with a combination of Gesso and Textile Medium so I can be able to have my Acrylic paint blend better. I did notice that to much of this mixture tends to pucker the fabric. So I used it lightly. I am going to heat set the paints with an iron when finished so hopefully the puckers will come out. Stay tuned I will try to post my progress.