Guardian Angel

Angel of God my guardian dear,
To whom God’s love commits me here,
Ever this day be at my side,
To light and guard, Rule and guide. Amen.

Guardian Angel Icon
Watercolor, Gouache and Gold Leaf
8×10
2014

I have been ill for some time now with a concussion but my cousin’s baby shower is coming up and I wanted to paint her something special. I love her very much and I am so happy for her that she gets the privilege to be a mom. I am excited to meet her little baby girl that will be my second cousin.

I have painted small icons before (St. Benedict and St. Francis) but I painted this one quite larger. The smaller ones were on handmade paper from quite some time ago. I know this isn’t  a traditionally painted icon but I think it is still pretty.

It took me quite some time to make this since I had to break for the onslaught of headaches (from the concussion) and nausea. If I sit around and do nothing all day long I would go quite mad. I paint when I can as it is relaxing.

I decided to paint an angel for her because I remember a picture I had for quite some time when I was growing up which you can see below. It makes me think of my little brother and I.

Guardian angel, German postcard, 1900

It also makes me think of the times when I was scared as a little one. I had terrible nightmares as a child that I couldn’t even preclude into adulthood. When I was young the only thing that made me feel safe was being “protected” by religion.  I had to have a rosary under my pillow and would say some prayers including the guardian angel prayer written above.  I would also sometimes say a derivative of the prayer…

Five little angels round my bed. One to the foot and one to the head. One to sing and one to pray, and one to take my sins away. Amen.

The only issue being that I could never quite remember it so I would just ask God to place 5 angels at my bedside. I would say “Please send me 5 angels, 2 at my feet, 2 at my head and one at my heart to hold instead”, which was the only thing I could think of to rhyme with ‘head’ other than ‘dead’.  This did not seem like a good option as you can imagine.

I am hoping that this image lovingly painted by a family member will help her feel as safe as I did when I knew there was an angel watching over me.