Enchanted Saint Helena

Enchanted Saint Helena

Oct 9, 2022, Sun — Perfect for Sunday, let’s learn all about enchanted Saint Helena. Born in 248, died in 328, she married Roman Emperor Constantius and her son grew up to be Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to become a Christian. Helena, who converted as well, oversaw the construction of churches at important Holy Land sites. She is credited with discovering the cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified. 

Saint Helena is the patron saint of difficult marriages, divorced people, converts, and archaeologists. Doesn’t that say it all?! It was definitely one of the most difficult relationships I have encountered since early on in my painting here in Redding. 

Some paintings take a village…

It was my friend AC, who stopped into the studio on other business who saved the day. (Actually at that point she was a total stranger). I was up against how to connect the disembodied glowing mountain to the fertile land below, and the set of low blue hills seemed to be the fulcrum between environments. But how to present them? She walked in in the middle of my distraction with these hills and I said WTF look at this! Almost instantly, she made an amazing suggestion by pulling up another painting of mine that reminded her of this one and said, “Why not do them like that?” 

Woww!! Who are you?? It was the best idea!

And now we are fast friends 🙂

I love how it turned out. I did final touches today and signed the painting, but mostly it was done yesterday. If you read my blog you know that yesterday I swapped out a lot of the  black shadows in the foreground hills with a bright purple. This revolutionized the painting and gave the lower land the enchantment needed to wear such an ethereal hat. But then, last night looking at my snapshots of it, I thought maybe I blew it, as the black had looked good, too! But whew, my instincts were right, the purple works! I let the black reclaim a wee bit of territory today, and it’s finished.

Patron saint of difficult marriages, you gave me a run. Here she is, Enchanted Saint Helena. And to keep the little man happy, I invite you to browse my originals gallery, sign up for my monthly newsletter and pursue the calendar of events for a show near you.

Enchanted Saint Helena, iphone shot in the studio, 30 x 40 in, oil on canvas by Lauren Forcella
Enchanted Saint Helena, iphone shot in the studio, 30 x 40 in, oil on canvas by Lauren Forcella
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Lauren Forcella

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About Lauren Forcella

Lauren Forcella is an award-winning California artist with 27 years of experience. If art was writing, Forcella’s style would be called magical realism. Indeed, her paintings are a love letter to this beautiful Earth. In art, her style is called alla prima impressionism. Forcella uses a bold palette of classic oils. She lays the paint on thick so the emotions of her subject come through the brushstrokes as well as the color. Read More…

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