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Description
Up near the city of Houghton in the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan, there stands a large statue. It is a statue of Bishop Baraga, also known as The Snowshoe Priest, the first Bishop of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In one hand he holds a crucifix, in the other a 28 foot tall pair of snowshoes.

This shrine to honor a Saint would ordinarily be fine, even mundane or unremarkable, if not for the fact, that in order to keep it from being buried underneath the massive snowfalls that smother the area every winter, the builders of this monument placed it atop a sort of tall pedestal--this pedestal involves a platform and six arched legs encircling it and lifting it high off the ground. These legs, accompanied by the fact that Bishop Baraga's vestments reach all the way down to the pedestal that he stands on, entirely covering his feet, makes it appear that he has spider legs reaching out from underneath his frock! If that wasn't enough, this shrine was built on a cliff, and reaches just high enough to be visible over the trees. If you are driving along the road below and look up, you can see the statue on the cliff staring menacingly down at you. Almost all the locals know about this landmark, and have lovingly nick-named it Spider Jesus.

My sister currently lives in Houghton. I went up to visit her a few weeks ago. When we were planning my trip up, she told me excitedly to "make sure to look out for Spider Jesus." Obviously, I was very confused until she and her roommate were able to find and show me an image of the shrine. (On my trip, I did manage to see it in person on my way back, by the way.) Out of curiosity I looked up the term "Spider Jesus" and to my surprise it doesn't appear that anyone had made any fan art of this small-town local meme. So, I decided to change that. Behold! My take on Spider Jesus!

I was out of the house at the time of drawing this, so had to completely draw and color it with my limited supply of Travel Colored Pencils--a pack of 24 to be specific. In doing so it meant I had to get a little creative with the color mixing in order to attain the effects I wanted, since I only had on me the standard 12 pack of basic colors and 12 more In-Betweens. But, somehow I made it work, and I am super proud of the result!

Description
Up near the city of Houghton in the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan, there stands a large statue. It is a statue of Bishop Baraga, also known as The Snowshoe Priest, the first Bishop of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In one hand he holds a crucifix, in the other a 28 foot tall pair of snowshoes.

This shrine to honor a Saint would ordinarily be fine, even mundane or unremarkable, if not for the fact, that in order to keep it from being buried underneath the massive snowfalls that smother the area every winter, the builders of this monument placed it atop a sort of tall pedestal--this pedestal involves a platform and six arched legs encircling it and lifting it high off the ground. These legs, accompanied by the fact that Bishop Baraga's vestments reach all the way down to the pedestal that he stands on, entirely covering his feet, makes it appear that he has spider legs reaching out from underneath his frock! If that wasn't enough, this shrine was built on a cliff, and reaches just high enough to be visible over the trees. If you are driving along the road below and look up, you can see the statue on the cliff staring menacingly down at you. Almost all the locals know about this landmark, and have lovingly nick-named it Spider Jesus.

My sister currently lives in Houghton. I went up to visit her a few weeks ago. When we were planning my trip up, she told me excitedly to "make sure to look out for Spider Jesus." Obviously, I was very confused until she and her roommate were able to find and show me an image of the shrine. (On my trip, I did manage to see it in person on my way back, by the way.) Out of curiosity I looked up the term "Spider Jesus" and to my surprise it doesn't appear that anyone had made any fan art of this small-town local meme. So, I decided to change that. Behold! My take on Spider Jesus!

I was out of the house at the time of drawing this, so had to completely draw and color it with my limited supply of Travel Colored Pencils--a pack of 24 to be specific. In doing so it meant I had to get a little creative with the color mixing in order to attain the effects I wanted, since I only had on me the standard 12 pack of basic colors and 12 more In-Betweens. But, somehow I made it work, and I am super proud of the result!