Domini Canis - Color!

I just did a color version with brush pens, and its brown because the dog next to Saint Dominic is often brown.  And then I put it in grayscale because black and white is the Dominican color scheme! :)

Domini Canis

St. Dominic is often pictured, or sculpted, with a dog beside him with a flaming torch in its mouth. This derives from the tradition that before his birth his mother had a dream where a dog leapt from her womb carrying a burning torch in its mouth and set the world on fire.

What it means of course is setting the world on fire with the Holy Spirit, which Saint Dominic certainly did with his preaching, and writing, and founding the Dominicans, who continue to be awesome like that.

This is my attempt at a Celtic version of this popular motif.  Of course I’m absurdly happy with it.  :D

The dog’s pose and leg tangle are from the Book of Kells originally, although I was looking at it on page 113 of George Bain’s excellent Celtic Art The Methods of Construction.

I hope you like it and would like to wish you all a happy 4th of July!     (whether you celebrate that sort of thing or not), and if you celebrate with fireworks, please don't set too much of the world on actual fire!  :)