Title: "Saint John of the Cross." St. John of the Cross was born into poverty in Avila, Spain. His father was disowned when he married a woman of low social stature. Compounding matters, his father died when John was three. John started on a religious path as a child: he was an acolyte at an Augustinian monastery, attended a Jesuit school and joined the Carmelite Order as a friar and then priest when he was able. He followed St. Teresa of Avila, his best friend and sought to restore the strict regimen of the original Carmelite rule in his monastery. For this he was tried for disobedience, punished by imprisonment in a tiny cell at his monastery, and publicly lashed each week by the friars from his own house. While imprisoned, he wrote poems on smuggled sheets of paper. After nine months he escaped. He returned to the Discalced Carmelites of St. Teresa of Avila and spent the rest of his life establishing new Discalced Carmelite houses across Spain. He influenced many poets, mystics and artists with his writings.
St. John of the Cross is the patron of poets, contemplatives and mystics. "Where there is no love, pour love in, and you will draw love out...Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you, for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love." -St. John of the Cross
Artist: Lynn Garlick, Taos, New Mexico. The artist reserves all copyrights.
Media: High quality folk art print decoupaged onto pine board.
Dimensions: 10 1/2" x 5 1/2" x 3/4"
Condition: New.
Speaking of her work, Lynn Garlick says, "The diverse cultures and the landscape of this part of the country deeply and yet unintentionally influenced me both artistically and spiritually. I am nourished by Northern New Mexico's rugged wildness and rawness. The profound devotion found in the different traditions and faiths here are unusual and inspiring."
Moved by the sacred art of the retablos (paintings) and the santeros (saint makers) who made them, Lynn started creating them herself. Lynn hand carves and paints her original designs on the traditionally used Ponderosa pine planks. Then she decoupages high quality prints of her originals onto pine boards in an old school technique used for the Italian altar screens of medieval Europe.
The saints and angels are ready to hang or rest about your home. On the back of each retablo is an inspiring story about the angel or saint. Many of the descriptions also include a prayer. "The saints, angels and prayers have changed and blessed my life. My hope is that they touch and bless others as well.