Your vote can help send me to Madrid to study directly from great works by Velazquez and Titian!

My 2023 pair of paintings, Saints Rose of Lima and Martin de Porres, has been selected from 1200 entries from 48 countries as one of the top ten finalists in the Laudamus Award 2024 for Sacred Art. Now it is up to the public to select the First Prize Winner. Voting is open now through June 15. The winning artist will receive 25,000 GBP.

I am surprised and honored to be among the finalists and grateful to John J. Studzinski, CBE for providing such a generous award. Should I win, I would treat it as a kind of Rome Prize like those of the French and American Academies (I applied for the American Academy’s Rome Prize in 2019). Instead of Rome, however, I would use the money to make an extended visit to the Prado Museum in Madrid and learn from my favorite painter, Velazquez.

Copying from the masters has been integral to the development of all great artists. National Museums like the Prado and the Louvre were founded primarily to provide spaces for future generations of artists to hone their craft. It is said that arguably America’s greatest painter, John Singer Sargent, copied every Velazquez at the Prado. I may not be the next Sargent–and given visa requirements, the longest I can stay in Madrid is three months–but I know that making copies at the Prado would transform my work.

Please help send me to Madrid by casting your vote for Saints Rose of Lima and St. Martin de Porres. Then, encourage all of your family and friends to vote too!

St. Martin de Porres was previously awarded 3rd Place in the Catholic Art Institute’s 2023 Sacred Art Prize. St. Rose of Lima placed as a finalist. The pair was commissioned by a parish church in the American Midwest.

Prints are available in the Shop.