I bought this wonderful oil painting in Peru and just let my mind go in building a retablo for her. I had no idea who she was––thought she was just another Madonna. When I had finished, an artist friend, Eduardo Xilonzóchitl, was at my house painting and building a sculpture for me by the pool and he saw her and said, “Ah, Santa Cecilia.” I then Googled Saint Cecilia and discovered that she is the patron saint of poets and musicians and all of the symbolism–the various musical instruments, the quill, manuscript and sheet music did in fact tell the story of her life. Some things just want to belong together and so it was with her portrait .
16″ X 16: Santa Cecilia: Mixed Media Retablo, Wood, Metal, paper, dried flowers and leaves, Gold Leaf, Feather, Bone, Abelone, Antique Toy Rocking Chair, Oil Painting on Canvas, Acrylic paint. 16″ X 16.
Click on picture to enlarge and see details.
For the Writer’s Workshop, the prompt is “symbol.”
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
What a wonderful story. Love the painting and the items you surrounded it with. And then to learn of who she was, and you’d somehow channeled about the music and poetry she was a patron saint for -wow ! 🙂
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It was amazing and it remains my favorite of hundreds of retablos I’ve made. A good friend bought it for her musician boyfriend. I hope he still has it. They broke up a few years later and she married someone else.
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I hope so, because it is very pretty and has a lot of meaning. 🙂
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Judy, this is a stunning retablo. St. Cecicila is beautiful and you honored her so artfully. Just gorgeous. Thank you for sharing this image and the story that accompanies it.
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Thanks so much, Judy..
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Serendipity – well done
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Awesome! I love your retablos, dear Judy.
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