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This story begins in 2016 when I took a trip to Jerusalem and got to see with my own eyes the terrain, conditions, locations, and details of many of the stories in the Bible. Mary’s elderly cousin Elizabeth was six months pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary who was only fourteen and Joseph traveled ninety miles on foot to visit Elizabeth and Mary stayed with her through the birth of John the Baptist. Elizabeth and Zechariah lived in a town near Jerusalem called Ein, Karem. The local legend has it that they met in a hillside family garden south of the town near the garden well.  John kicked with joy at the presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb. According to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich in her apparitions with Mary throughout her life, Elizabeth was tall and slender. Mary wore a brown woolen dress in a yellowish covering on her head. According to her, it was in the afternoon and the painted scene is facing South with the sun at 4:00 o’clock.

Hillside garden south of the town

Unlike my original Nativity painting where I used live models, I now build 3D digital models for the bases of the digital paintings.  This allows me to spend most of my time creating the scene, posing the people, and composing the final shot.

My first painting of the Joyful Mysteries started with the Nativity scene and live models and took 5 years of spare time to complete. Now with digital models, I can complete the composition and painting in one year with several years of background study before I imagine the scene in my mind.

 Once the digital model is complete with my 3D assets, I then move into the digital painting mode where I might spend six months working on additional garments, props, and painting techniques. Every pixel of the digital painting is painted by hand with a digital paintbrush on a Wacom tablet.

 I hope you enjoy these digital paintings of mysteries found in the Bible. By spending a considerable time studying the history, natural surroundings, and Saint’s mystical descriptions of the scene, I hope I can help to bring God’s graces closer to your heart.

Peace and Merry Christmas