Drawing the saints as living faces

I am an Orthodox Christian portrait artist with a concentration in charcoal, based in North Carolina.

I draw the saints — not as distant, stylized figures, but as living faces: charcoal on paper, worked in light and shadow until the person looks back at you. My aim is spiritual quietude in the expression rather than a photocopy likeness. The saints were flesh and blood; a portrait can honor that without pretending to be a photograph.

For ten years I drew almost entirely on small paper with a sharp pencil. More recently, working in compressed charcoal on a large upright surface, I found a freer, more gestural hand — drawing with the whole body rather than the fingers. It was a real moment of growth in my craft, and it is how every portrait now begins.

Since moving to North Carolina I have grown especially fond of the holy figures tied to this place — Elder Ephraim of Arizona, who founded two Orthodox monasteries in this state, was one of the first portraits I completed here. Alongside charcoal I keep a sketchbook in ink, study iconography in pencil and chalk, and am slowly learning oil.

“I found that the combination of a charcoal stick and large upright surface lends the ability to be a lot more gestural. Drawing this way involves movement of the body rather than being restricted to movement of the hands.”

Originals are available by inquiry, prints through my Etsy shop, and I welcome commissions — patron saints, baptism and wedding gifts, and portraits of the holy men and women who have shaped a life of faith.

Clare Elise Lucia is the studio name of Clare-Elise Galloway.