A Vivaldi - The Madonna

I have always been captivated by the alluring beauty of the old European churches and fascinated by just the thought of how they must have constructed such magnificent structures. But what attracts me the most is the colossal statues inside the church. I just stare at them in absolute awe with no words to express myself. Another thing that mesmerizes me are the huge stained-glass windows with all their exquisite and intricate detailing of scenes from the Bible. Each scene tells a different story. These windows date back to the 10th century with the construction of Gothic cathedrals. The oldest complete stained-glass windows were those of Augsburg Cathedral in Germany constructed in the 11th century. The colored glass is created by adding metallic oxides to the molten glass and then shaping it. The most expensive being the red stained glass, as gold dust is added to the molten glass which gives a deep red hue on cooling. These pieces of glass are held together using strips of lead and hence the thick black lines in between the various colored glass pieces. The whole window is held in place using a sturdy metal framework. These stained-glass windows have been around for hundreds of years and still stand strong, this amazes me.
This specific stained-glass window is at the Catholic Basilica of St. Lawrence in Asheville North Carolina USA. It depicts Mother Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms. The sunlight that passed through the stained glass, influenced me to paint this artwork. I wanted to recreate the same window on a piece of canvas. I love the feeling of peace and quiet that one experiences on entering a church. Just sitting there in silence and trying to take in every single inch of the alluring beauty is simply divine. I would love my audience to be able to experience this divine feeling through this piece of art. The artwork has been created on a 24" by 36" gallery wrapped canvas, using Liquidex Basics acrylic paints and coated in a double layer of Gamvar Gloss varnish.
The best part about this piece of artwork, is that coincidently it took me exactly 33 days to complete it, and Jesus Christ died at the age of 33 too. Isn't that amazing???

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Ritina is a visual fine artist, working in acrylics and oils, currently residing in Tennessee U.S.A. She was born in London and spent her childhood there.
During her formative years, she engaged in a great deal of painting techniques, like fabric painting, art on pottery, and wooden surfaces. She has always enjoyed creating beautiful landscapes, but at the same time she loved to create figures from Indian mythology.
A self-taught artist, who enjoys experimenting with different colors, hues and textures, Ritina’s art is full of bold and vibrant colors. She likes to bring those colors to life in her paintings and enjoys using various surfaces, mediums and textures for painting. She is always keen to try out something new. Her substrate could be anything from canvas, fabric, to wood or earthenware, basically anything that can hold the paint.
Landscapes being her favorite subject to paint, she still prefers to be a versatile artist, and paints whatever she finds aesthetically beautiful. Her artworks are usually in bold and bright colors, and she relishes incorporating the most minuscule of details into each piece.