Saint Series: Original of Saint Francis

About the series:

I am painting Saints throughout October! I really wanted to start painting again and knew committing to this would be something I loved and would be really excited about! All the originals will be for sale on All Saints Day, November 1st, at 6 am PST. The prints will be released each day for pre-sale. It is TBD if these prints will be available after long term or all together as a series! 

About this painting:

This is an original painting of Saint Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata. He is kneeling in front of the San Damiano cross. This is an 8”x10” watercolor by Leanne Bowen on watercolor paper.

Saint Francis

Io mio sono chinato sopra di te,
ho lavato le tue piaghe
e ho scoperto la musica,
la musica del dolore.

I bent over you,
I washed your wounds
and I discovered the music,
the music of pain.

Ho il volto solcato dalle lacrime.
Dio, come ti amo,
quanta pena nel cuore
e quanto gaudio.
Ogni giorno mi sveglio,
mi carico della tua croce
e la porto verso il Golgota.
Mi sono messo cosí, a piedi nudi,
per sentire l’arena del deserto.
Ah, di quanta sabbia è fatta la solitudine,
di quante promesse evangeliche.
Io sono un grande cammello di Dio:
attrerseró il deserto
cavalcato dall’onda del mio amore per te.

My face is streaked with tears.
God, how I love you, how much
pain in my heart and how much joy.
Every day I wake up,
I take on your cross
and carry it towards Golgotha.
I stood like this, barefoot,
to feel the desert sand
Ah, how much sand solitude is made of,
how many evangelical promises.
I am a great camel of God:
I will cross the desert
ridden by the wave of my love for you.

Excerpts from Francesco- canto di una creatura, my own translation so may be slightly off.

I wanted to include some of Francis’s Italian poems in this piece by Him. I had initially just had a grey background to represent his grey habit (sometimes shown brown as here because it was always so covered in dirt). And then a line came to me, “At the base of the cypress trees You transformed my soul.” I knew these words were true for Francis- but also me. They were my words, how I felt praying under the cypress trees in Assisi. I wanted to include his words too. They are so beautiful and rich and good.

Day 4/31 Saint Francis of Assisi