Franz Jaegerstaetter Icon--Snapshot

Franz Jaegerstaetter was an Austrian farmer executed by the Nazis for refusing to serve in the German army during WWII.  Against all motives of patriotism and even against the interests of his family, and certainly counter to his own personal  interests, Jaegerstaetter refused to serve the cause of evil because he believed God's imperatives come before all else.  He was a committed Catholic who fearlessly thought through the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Church, and he followed through on what he knew to be right.

Jaegerstatter was one of the millions who died as a victim of WWII.  Many millions of those were innocents, and many millions of others died in war fighting either for or against the Nazis.  Those who fought in the war are hailed as heroes, willing to die in a fight against evil, but we should ask ourselves, How much pain and suffering and death might have been avoided if sizable numbers of others, within the German Reich and elsewhere, would have been wiling to die in peaceful protest against the Nazi war machine?

The frame of the picture is made up of symbols and images related to the Nazi-dominated socio-political world that framed the life of Franz Jaegerstaetter and his family and friends and fellow citizens of Austria.  The saint is pictured within a sort of mandorla that shows forth a better world--the local world of the saint's home region, surrounded by a border representing his home nation, Austria, through flowers and foliage associated with that nation (the Austrian rose and edelweiss.  Jaegerstaetter's parish church and the house on his farm flank the saint.  Emanating from the mandorla is a sort of secondary halo spreading its light over the framing background of evil that is overcome by the work of Christ in the world such as that done through and by the followers of Christ.

Out and About--Pax Christi Michigan Conference

On Sat., March 29 I will be presenting my icons as a vendor at the Pax Christi Michigan conference at Christo Rey Church in Lansing.  I look at this not only as a great opportunity to put my work out there in front of people, but more importantly to learn about the work of this organization and the peace movement arising out of the Catholic Church.

Here's a link to the Pax Christi Michigan website: http://www.paxchristimi.org/

Dorothy Day Icon Completed; Original Icons for Sale

This is a snapshot of my latest icon--Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and a tireless worker and advocate for peace and on behalf of the poor in America during the Great Depression and after.  Day has been declared a "Servant of God" by the Vatican, the first step on the road to being recognized by the Church as a saint.  This is a title I use for her in the picture, "Servant of God," because even when she is further recognized as a saint, that title will certainly still be an apt description of this faithful Catholic who gave her life over to God and God's children.

This picture is not yet available as prints at redbubble.com or FineArtAmerica.com, but should be soon.  To speed up this process, and to receive an 11x14 fine art print of the icon, with a handmade frame, consider donating to the cause (PayPal button at right), $350 or more.

Right now I'm working on an icon of Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian Catholic who died at the hands of the Nazis for refusing to cooperate with the German war effort during WWII.

In other news, I will soon be offering my icon originals for sale, including the Day icon and many others.  The pictures are 16x20 or 18 1/2 x 22, made of cut paper, ink and acrylic paint.  Prints and cards are available at the sales websites mentioned above.

Dorothy Day Icon in Process

This picture is about 75% done.  No border flowers as yet--there will be morning glory foliage and flowers.  I think I might rework the head, which now may be too generic.

A pair of icons I recently completed on commission for an Episcopal parish near Bar Harbor, Maine--St. Andrew the Apostle, pictured with the x-type cross on which he was martyred, according to tradition; and St. John the Divine, exiled for his faith to the Island of Patmos, where he received the visions recorded in the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation.

Gospel Icon/Design for a Gospel Book Cover

My latest icon, made for St. Thomas Aquinas/St. Johns Student Parish in East Lansing.  The design is according to a well-know form for the cover of a Book of the Gospels as used at Mass--a central cross surrounded by images of the traditional symbols of the four evangelists: St. Matthew, a man or angel; St. John, an eagle; St Mark, a lion; and St. Luke, a bullock or ox.  At the center of the cross are the Greek letters alpha and omega, symbol of God, "the beginning and the end."

I took the forms of the four creatures representing the evangelists from a stained-glass window depiction.

Comments on this icon are welcome--especially on the coloration.  I could use some input, especially of the analytic kind, or just a reaction, positive or negative or some mix of both.

The picture will be available to buy as prints or cards soon at redbubble.com and FineArtAmerica.com.  As usual, donations welcome to further my work.

And by the way--the Gospels.  Reading them highly recommended--Jesus is found there.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha Icon--Fine Art Prints Available

Art prints and cards of my latest icon, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, are now available for sale at http://www.redbubble.com/people/draber/works/9701364-st-kateri-tekakwitha-icon  OR at  http://fineartamerica.com/featured/st-kateri-tekakwitha-icon-david-raber.html.  The works are offered with a wide variety of matting and farming options, or unframed up to poster size.

St. Kateri was recently welcomed into the family of recognized Catholic saints when she was canonized at the Vatican in October.


Please contact me directly for multiple prints at reduced cost, or to arrange a fundraising program for your parish or other group--offering this and/or other icons for sale.

I am currently working on a Vatican II icon, the first in a series celebrating the Year of Faith declared by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

A happy and blessed New Year to all!

Vatican II Icon--Preliminary Sketch

This is a preliminary sketch of the basic layout for the Vatican II icon I'm working on now (first in a series of pictures celebrating the Year of Faith proclaimed at the Vatican by Pope Benedict XIV).  This just shows the central part of the picture, and not the floral border I plan to put around it.

From top to bottom: alpha and omega at each corner, monogram of Christ at center; the oval-like shape being a map of the earth; St. Peter's Basilica, with the cross at its peak centered on the world map; figures involved in the council in two rows, encircled by the arcades that reach out in front of St. Peter's, with Pope John XXIII front and center; and at bottom two banners inscribed "Second Vatican Council" and "50 Years--1962-2012."  The Holy Spirit symbolized by a white dove will be in there somewhere too.

As always, I welcome all comments and ideas about this picture as it develops.

St. Isidore-Holy Family Parish Icon

Here's a snapshot of my latest icon, which represents the union of my home church, Holy Family in Ovid, MI, with St. Isidore's in nearby Laingsburg.  The holy family is pictured along with St. Isidore.  I made he figures to resemble statues from the sanctuary at Holy Family Church, and an icon of St. Isidore on the wall at St. Isidore's Church.  I'll be showing the picture after mass es this weekend at Holy Family, and then at St. Isidore's next weekend, with art prints for sale and half of the proceeds going to the parish.  I would like to do similar evnts for other parishes in the future--a special icon related to a parish event or development, or simply an icon of the parish's name saint individualized for a particular church.

St. Hilda Icon

I call it "Holy Woman, With Geese" :-).