St Eustace

After a very busy week of working my various jobs, it was great to get back into the Studio and get working on a new print. This will be a new saint print for my Everyman series. The saint prints done since leaving Carbondale have mostly either come about when someone wants a particular date or someone suggests a specific saint because of a story or association. This one falls into the latter category, suggested by my brother, who vaguely remembered a story about St Eustachius (also called Eustace) being reunited with his family. That is mentioned in the biography I found in Butler's, but more interesting is the legend that the former Roman general was out hunting when he saw a stag, and a vision of Christ on the cross between the antlers, and converted instantly to Christianity. As there's a well known Durer print of this scene, I decided not to compete, but still wanted to do something related to the hunting. I went with the trophy head on the wall, the proof of a successful hunt. Considered a classic hunting lodge, but instead went with the idea of a hunter's den at home. Over the last couple of weeks I listed various stereotypical contents of such a room, producing some thumbnails and other scribbles. Today I decided on a floor plan for the room and did a paper sketch. When it seemed workable I repeated it in a more detailed form on a block, along with the feast date. The version shown here is as far as I got. There are some adjustments to be made and some details yet to work out, but it's close. I'll cut next time.