Happy after New Year/ Spanish Angel

 Pardon the glare on these photos, still using poor lighting and a crappy old camera. This is the finished product of a piece/gift I did for a first grader at my school who lost his father in a fire. The piece is called "Padre, Heroe", to honor the man who sacrificed his own life saving his family in the blaze. Jose, his son immediately began to draw a male angel with three crosses, and called the drawing his father. I wanted to do something for the family, so the teacher told me that an angel would be a good idea for a card/drawing. The boy has remained a joy to be around, and it was a true blessing to see he and his family's smiles upon receiving the drawing today. I aspired to keep the drawing very child-friendly, almost Dora inspired, but I ended up going with more of a comic book style only slightly stylizing the angel to keep it cartoon-like and a little less realistic. My wife wrote a few verses from Psalm 91 in Spanish, that was appropriate for this piece;

Psalms 91:9 ^ Because you have said, I am in the hands of the Lord, the Most High is my safe resting-place.

Psalms 91:10 ^ No evil will come on you, and no disease will come near your tent.

Psalms 91:11 ^ For he will give you into the care of his angels to keep you wherever you go.

Psalms 91:12 ^ In their hands they will keep you up, so that your foot may not be crushed against a stone.

I really enjoy doing art for reasons like this. Now I'll go back to staring at this other canvas and see what happens...