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Theophilia — Tobiah's Prayer
Published: 2013-01-01 04:08:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 8731; Favourites: 168; Downloads: 111
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Tobiah's Prayer:Tobit 8:5-7
© Cecilia Lawrence
December 31st 2012
Watercolor and ink
Here's the last picture of the Year 2012! This is a rather late Christmas present for my mom and dad (commissioned by my dad) that I just finished an hour or so ago. This passage comes from the Book of Tobit (particularly Tobit 8:5-7), where Tobiah and Sarah are praying together before their wedding night. This was one of the readings in my parents' wedding, so it's a very special passage for them.
This one is also in a Gothic illumination style. The three little illustrations on the side all have to do with the theme of marriage. The first one is of a young married couple being blessed by the holy Trinity. The second is of Christ on the cross when His side (and heart) were pierced, and flowing out in the Blood and Water is the Church, Christ's Bride.
The third and bottom one is of an older married couple receiving their crowns of glory for their faithfulness from the hands of Christ. Anyways, enjoy, God bless and have a Happy New Year!
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Comments: 49
Hello! I came across your Tobit 8 prayer rendition today and was wondering if by chance this was a print I could purchase?? My anniversary is in a few days and this was our first reading at our wedding and I have been wanting some kind of version of this text to hang in our bedroom. I had loft aspirations of making a pinterest-y wood panel hipster type cool DIY version. But I am not terribly crafty and have failed at this attempt
Thanks for letting me know asap!!
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Oh yes, absolutely! My e-mail address is in my journal: theophilia.deviantart.com/jour… towards the bottom. Also included are instructions for how to order the prints. All my print prices are based on size so just let me know what size you'd like.
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Truly, it's a beautiful book! 
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I like your illuminations better than the original ones because I can actually read your handwriting. 
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Hahahah, I do have to say....I wish those things were more legible.
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Do you do the colored parts on the same paper as the calligraphy? Or do you draw that separately and piece them together through a computer program?
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Well, for this one I just did everything altogether (I do mostly traditional media, though I'll employ some digital media for backgrounds--like in this one, since the parchment background is digitally put there--or to fix up little mistakes and do color correction). So generally draw it, ink it, then color it with watercolors. Then I scan the piece, fix the colors and everything and sometimes add a background.
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The illumination here is stunning. Beautiful work again, Theophilia!
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Another gorgeous work.
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THANK YOU!!!
Do you mean the lines for the lettering, or the lines for the border stuff? If the former, then I just use my ruler to set up the width of everything and then once I've inked I erase them. If the latter, then I use my ruler to pencil them in, then when I go to ink I cross my fingers and hope I don't mess up inking the lines straight.
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another piece of art! I would love if sometimes you'll write something in latin or perhaps in greek....
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Latin I could probably do. I don't have enough confidence in my writing of the Greek alphabet to do much with it.
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Very nice. I'm jealous of people with the patience to create gothic illuminated manuscript. Very lovely.
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Awww, thank you!!!
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Your are most welcome ^_^
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This is adorable!
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THANKSIES!!! ^^ Yes, they are rather small.
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Aaaawwww. That's a really sweet gift. I'm sure they loved it. I've never read that passage before; it's really sweet. Gorgeous details as always! Even those are well-thought-out and symbolic and meaningful and stuff.
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I think they did.
Thank you!
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You've evoked the florid style of the 1400s perfectly. Very impressive work.
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Ah, thank you! That's what I was going for!
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This is very special to me. The book of Tobiah was a huge inspiration to me when I was a young woman and I prayed to the angel Raphael to help me find a spouse--naming my first child after him in thanksgiving. This is a prayer my husband and I prayed on our wedding night, abstaining as Sarah and Tobias did in thanksgiving to God.
Anyhow, so very lovely and the illustrations are gorgeous. Another lovely work.
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I am so very glad that you like it! ^^ Thank you!
And that's so very beautiful.
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Absolutely stunning. I'd love to see you do one of the prayer by St Aidan I have on my profile(s)' info..
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Oooh! That would be a lot of fun!
Leave me alone with God as much as may be.
As the tide draws the waters close in upon the shore,
Make me an island, set apart,
alone with you, God, holy to you.
Then with the turning of the tide
prepare me to carry your presence to the busy world beyond,
the world that rushes in on me
till the waters come again and fold me back to you.
Anyway, we can discuss the details in a note. Just note me with exactly what you'd like and we can talk about logistics too.
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*Gasp* yes, that's beautiful!!! O_O
The prayer always makes me think of the wave-lashed craggy cliffs and coasts of Northern England or Scotland.. Like little inhospitable, lone habituated island sanctuaries on a stormy sea. And well.. I mean.. Lindisfarne.
But probably the best description of the prayer I heard wasn't from pictures or anything but from from from the writings of those gone before us... Richard John Niehaus:
[link]
Or Lewis:
[link]
Fr Porphyrios of Athos,
"If you are in love, you can live amid the hustle and bustle of the city centre and not be aware that you are in the city centre. You see neither cars nor people nor anything else. Within yourself you are with the person you love. You experience her, you take delight in her, she inspires you. Are these things not true? Imagine that the person you love is Christ. Christ is in your mind, Christ is in your heart, Christ is in your whole being, Christ is everywhere." (Doesn't that make you think of the Lorica of St Patrick?)
Or from the mouth of a Coptic monk, "You can pray anywhere. After all, G-d is everywhere, so you can find Him everywhere. But in the desert, in the pure clean atmosphere, in the silence, there you can find *yourself*. And unless you begin to know yourself, how canyou even begin to search for G-d?"
But I don't know. Most of my best attempts at prayer end up as navel-gazing so I'm not really one to speak on it or conjure up imagery for it... I'd actually much prefer to leave it up to the rendering of your gifted, lovely mind and you can trust I will be more than pleased with the result..
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I would pay for its commissioning.
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Just nameyour price. )
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Thank you so much!
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You're most welcome!
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Another lovely illuminated manuscript and a beautiful piece to end the year!
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You're much too kind, but thank you!
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