SacredHeartImages

Hello!! My name is Miguel, and I love creating! Ever since I was little, I had great interest in art and creating! At a young age, I spent a lot of time drawing images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints. I played around with different art media, such as modeling clay, watercolor, and a lot of different kinds of pencils.
As a kid, I loved looking at the Holy Week exhibits and processions put up by the local parishes in my hometowns of Marikina and Antipolo, Philippines. I loved how the statues were dressed in grand clothing with rich embroideries, and woodfiber wigs that flowed down their backs. I always looked forward to Easter morning when I get to watch the Easter processions and festivities involving the statues portraying the resurrected Christ, and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In high school, I migrated to the United States--first to Phoenix, AZ, then to Huntington Beach, CA. At this time, I took a particular interest in East Asian art. I was inspired by the Kabuki performances of Bando Tamasaburo, and I drew a lot of women in kimono. I was also big on East Asian ink arts such as Chinese and Korean calligraphy, and bamboo paintings. I practiced writing beautifully in my walk-in closet. I honestly don't know why I did that, but yes, I stained a few of my favorite shirts and the closet carpet in the process. During my senior year, I took an art class where my professor was very interested in my unusual taste in art. Needless to mention, I also consumed his entire bottle of India ink in one school year.
In early college, I was fascinated with the iconography of Eastern Christianity. I found the stylized depictions of biblical events and the lives of the saints particularly interesting. I drew a lot of these in my free time, and I was also known to have adorned my lecture notes with pencil drawings of the Theotokos.
At this time, I started taking my Catholic faith seriously, and I developed a love for the rosary. I prayed the rosary frequently, and I also made rosaries during my free time. While taking my RCIA classes, the serving deacon of my parish commissioned me to create rosaries for the entire class. I did have a lot of fun with that commission, and I must say my creativity ran wild!
After sometime, however, I thought maybe the Lord was calling me back to religious imagery--so I went back to painting, starting with Byzantine and Coptic iconography using acrylic. I bought paint that was super cheap that was difficult to work with. It did not take a long time before I was tired of using those paints. I made the decision to stop using that paint, switch temporarily to a medium that is less expensive, and save up for better quality acrylic paint. I switched to colored pencil. I bought myself a 72-pack tin of Prismacolor Premier, and continued creating Byzantine- and Coptic-inspired images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints.
From then, I realized that I loved colored pencils, and I have never moved on to something else.
At the moment, I am not creating icons in the strict sense--as the Orthodox Church would have it. Rather, I'm using my art as a means to get more intimate with God. I started Sacred Heart Images that I may share those Divine encounters of God's Love with you.