
Paradise 17 Mount Athos

by David Luebbert
Title
Paradise 17 Mount Athos
Artist
David Luebbert
Medium
Digital Art - 2d/3d Digital Painting
Description
Mount Athos is an island near Greece that has been the Orthodox center of monastic life for 10 centuries. There are monasteries all over the world whose main purpose is to pray eternally for all the world and all people. Painted from a sketch by David with Corel Painter.
Taken from the Guardian:
Mount Athos is one of the most important centers of the Orthodox Christian world, consisting of 20 monasteries and approximately 2,000 monks. Located on a Greek peninsula, it is home to the oldest surviving monastic community on Earth. The way of life for the monks is practically unchanged since the first monks arrived in the ninth century. Most of the monks live within the walls of their chosen monastery, but others choose to live in complete isolation, away from any distractions.
Women are not allowed within 500 meters of the shore, and even female animals are prohibited from walking on Mount Athos. This is because the Virgin Mary is said to have visited the peninsula and prayed to have it as her own. It is believed that the presence of women might distract the monks, tempting them away from true celibacy and lead them to sin.
For the majority of monks on the holy mountain who live inside one of the 20 monasteries, prayer takes up most of the time. Even when they are hard at work or eating in the refectory, they are in prayer. Services take place in the monasteries’ often exquisitely ornate churches.
The timings of the services vary and can sometimes run for six hours. Most prayer takes place at night, with one of the services starting at 2am and finishing at 6am – this is because the monks believe prayer is easier when the monastery is at its quietest.
It is a common misconception that monks do nothing but sit and pray all day. In fact they spend a lot of the day working on the tasks given to them by the abbot. This can include cleaning the guest houses for visitors, making wine, preparing dinner or building and renovating the monastery.
Every effort is used for whatever job a monk is given as they believe it is a job given to them directly by God and are often reciting a prayer while they work.
The monks eat silently, often listening to one of their number reciting a prayer in the refectory of the monastery. Their food is usually rather simple – consisting of mainly vegetables and sometimes fish, and complemented with water and wine.
Most of the ingredients are commonly grown on the monastery’s farms, and they all have their own vineyard for the supply of the wine.
If a monk would rather not live the monastic life, they can live in a skete, a small community which allows relative isolation. The most isolated part of Mount Athos is known as Karoulia, where cells hang precariously on the cliff-edge with crashing waves hundreds of feet below. Monks may choose this life of complete isolation and simplicity to feel closer to God and be far away from any distractions to their prayer.
Not long ago, hermits (the monks that live in the sketes) could only access their cells by hauling themselves up with ropes or chains that passed over makeshift pulleys. In some of the most inaccessible cells, if the hermit ever needed help they would have to raise a flag which would alert their neighbor – and only then would someone visit.
David finishes his prints in very high resolution, so even large size prints will have great smoothness, sharpness and details. His monitor is color calibrated, so for a person viewing this image with a calibrated screen, the ordered print will look very close to it. Visit the LouBear Pixels gallery, loubear.pixels.com, for many more forms of printing... puzzles, lifestyle, stationery, beach, coffee mugs, apparel. Use the CODE at Pixels for an artist discount.
David has always been good at sketching exactly what he sees and as faithfully as possible, that is, if he can see it first, this has become his ADVENTURE, once he helps that subject become reality, he finds something else he has not created before, something that he yearns to paint. For David, style and technique are secondary in importance to the subject, making them transparent, so the subject can form completely as it should without him interjecting his own personality. The joy of creating, the love of the Creator and appreciation of Creation itself is what drives this whole process, more than anything else. Starting with an idea, a concept, he starts sketching, imagining, studying, creating the subject and composition, then develops the idea into his painting. The adventure of creation is not about David, it is about letting the creation come into existence, and his sole goal as an artist is to experience the joy of creating something fun or enjoyable, and to be able to share those creation experiences with all others.
Uploaded
April 4th, 2023
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