This is the group that I worked with for the first Icon workshop. This is certainly something very different for me. Rev Joy, the pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Centerville approached me about 9 months ago and asked if I knew anything about teaching how to paint Icons. Well having been raised in the Catholic Church, my mind was immediately bombarded by all those beautiful icons that I grew up with. But paint them…, well “no, but I bet that we could figure it out”
I started doing some research on the web and sent away for about 6 books on painting icons. My first stumbling block was that they are most often painted with egg tempera. I have never painted with egg tempera, I am sure that I could learn and in fact want to learn. But I needed to figure out how to teach a group of women who had varying degrees of expertise in drawing and painting. So I decided that using acrylics would be the less expensive and easiest to work with. Below is my first Icon: In the Style of Our Lady of the Don, copied from a Russian Byzantine artist circa the 14th century. It is painted on a 9×12 panel with balsa wood added for the frame. The panel and frame were gesso’d, then gold leaf applied for the halo. The remainder of the icon was painted with acrylic. Above in the group picture we have wonderful icons that were interpreted and created by each person. All of the icons are done in the ” style of ” . For some of the artists, as we move into the second workshop, are not making a icon in “the style of” but rather from their own heart and vision.
I must say that the entire experience was more than I can describe. If working “in the style of”, once you choose an icon to work with, you begin to examine why you chose it.You learn about the symbolism. The icon really becomes a part of you and no matter how good you are at “copying” the icon becomes your own creation.
We are now starting a second class. Most of the students are continuing on. We have one new student. We are all looking forward to the time together and growing with our next icon.
Susan
