sketchbook: ex-voto painting

"As a child I dreamed of cats howling at the moon

&

heads following in the night.

The wolf stalks, breath is cold and my heart beats & beats & beats.

I prayed let this night be over, be over, be over,

but the head still follows

&

the wolf waits in the dark corners

&

there is no escape

from the demons that haunt us in the night."

Obviously this isn't what the original ex-voto that I used as inspiration for my sketchbook version said. The text is a moment in a child's life, mine.

It is acrylic and pen on paper and then coated it with kyrlon crystal glaze.

I have always had a love of ex-voto's, partly because it uses text in the paintings. I have never quite figured out how to use text in my paintings and so I find them inspiring.

Here is a link to some really beautiful ones.

History of ex-voto paintings.