It took a while, but I ended up finding the statue, which is outside a church. It was all white and in the middle of two bushes. It's not what I expected. I thought it would be larger and possibly made of marble or something a little more elaborate or elegant. It was made of cheap plaster or poured cement. It was just very plain and sloppy looking. It felt lifeless.

I wanted to give it more of a sense of being, more of a lively figure, rather than just being this stark white statue. So, along with painting a small gold halo, I punched in some skin tones. And I made sure the composition was to the left, so there's room for the poem. I made five copies with different fonts, and ended up going with a one called Rosewood Fill. It seemed to animate the piece.