First Highlight, part 1

I've now moved on to highlighting. Since we are having fantastic gusts of wind today, I thought it only appropriate to start with the angel representing the Holy Spirit, the breathe.

 The first highlight represents the cosmos ("cosmic highlight"), and the "light of nature", separating from the dark.                                                                                             
This was magnificently illustrated to me, as I tried to find the right folds in the clothing. Where are the shadows hiding? Where is the light coming from? And yet, still keeping in mind, there is more to come. Now, there are obvious parallels in those questions alone. But, I found myself meditating on God's rest demonstrated here and in all other icons. Icons are not to show action, but a moment at rest. Part of the reasoning for this is the intended use of the icon once written. Icons are tools used for meditation and prayer.

What do you think of when you envision mediation and prayer?
A soccer game? A race car? Nope, me neither.

Meditation and prayer are encountered in stillness, in listening, as much (or more) as in speaking.



p.s.- I'd also like to point out the beginnings of the building up of not only color, but texture! See below!

Finishing lines

I have finished the lines. They have definitely taught me patience. And during meditation of straight lines, I contemplated the straight things of God. His truth. His will for our life. I messed up a few times and had to realize that God uses everything. Even those times when we veer. And when I got back on track, I was relieved to be back. Back in truth.

I've also finished the Curved lines (at least the ones I was going to do in black). In curve lines, we find "the deeper movement of thought". They took more precision, and yet seemed easier to make when allowed. I am in a place in my life where I am being encouraged to think deeply, and ask questions. And often times when I am there, I feel just as I felt in this curve writing, a little hesitant, but eased in the asking/writing. In the same way, Christ invites us deeper and deeper into relationship with himself. It can be tentative. It means doing things you've never done before and letting go of fears, and yet, the reward is wonderful and filled with hope!

I pray you see hope in these lines.

Beginning with lines: Straight

The first depiction of the Trinity/Visitors to Abraham story was thought to be carved out of a cylindrical stone. It included three figures and a small amount of background. And while I'm sure the sculptor(s) were much more talented than I, it had no lines to be painted. And lines are hard. 

At this early stage, lines are added on top of the 2nd layer of Roskrish. The icon I chose has LOTS of lines. So these updates will come in segments. Because lines are HARD. I practiced a lot and still wasn't particularly wonderful.

 Did I mention lines are hard? Don't make fun.

 I thought I'd also talk about the differences in lines. Today-- straight lines. I did some curved lines, but for the most, this first section was straight.

"A straight line represents the straight motion of our mind, and in practicing it we prepare our will to act in the simple straight way, the way of Truth." (Prosopon School)

This truth, we know as the love of God, His unending story of love to His people. The truth, we know, is that Christ came to earth, fully God and fully man, to trample down "death by death".

This phrase is one my favorite from the Eastern Orthodox liturgy. The whole proclamation is...

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death;
and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

Because the unending story continues with the living, breathing, restored relationship, just as is shown in this icon. Today, let the lines give a little more distinction to the hope and truth we have in Christ!

Second Layer of Roskrish: Looking "through a glass darkly"

I applied the second layer of Roskrish today.  It's a little darker, but for the most part, you can hardly tell the difference. It is forming, though. The chiton and himation are the most prominent and easily distinguishable right now (these are the garments they are wearing).

This reminds me of the passage in I Corinthians 13:12, where Paul is going to great lengths to pour out his passion for what Love really is. And the entire time he is outlining God's love. The perfect love. And the love that inspired this icon, which is God at it's core. And in verse 12, he hits the climax by saying that one day, we shall see face to face. Can you picture it? Face to face?
I imagined my face being inches away from another person's. The things you see and experience with another person are completely different when standing at normal distance. There is a comfortability that you feel when you are literally SO close. You know them differently. And creator and creation will meet face. to. face. Paul says.

But for now, "we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror", a foggy mirror. This is what the second layer of Roskrish did for me. It's intensity in color and it's deepness in meaning, invoked a meditation on the "already, but not yet". And as you can see, it's a foggy reflection right now.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, 

but have not love, 

I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy
and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, 

and if I have a faith that can move mountains, 

but have not love, 

I am nothing. 

If I give all I possess to the poor
and surrender my body to the flames,

but have not love, 

I gain nothing.
 

Love is patient, 

love is kind. 

It does not envy, 

it does not boast, 

it is not proud. 

It is not rude, 

it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, 

it keeps no record of wrongs. 

Love does not delight in evil 

but rejoices with the truth. 

It always protects, 

always trusts, 

always hopes, 

always perseveres. 

Love never fails. 

But where there are prophecies, 

they will cease; 

where there are tongues, 

they will be stilled; 

where there is knowledge, 

it will pass away. 

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 

but when perfection comes, 

the imperfect disappears. 

When I was a child, 

I talked like a child, 

I thought like a child, 

I reasoned like a child. 

When I became a man, 

I put childish ways behind me. 

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; 

then we shall see face to face. 

Now I know in part; 

then I shall know fully, 

even as I am fully known.

(NIV, 2 Cor. 13:1-12, spacing my own)

Finishing the first layer of Roskrish

Roskrish is a muddling. It was almost upsetting to me, a type-A, "in the lines" kind of person. But, this world was muddled before it was defined. First God separated out the light from the dark. Then he separated the land from the oceans. And so on. It didn't start with the intricate leaf, or the structured snowflake. It started a little muddled. And so was the Roskrish.

Another thought as clear as mud-- every time I sit down, pray, and paint, I seem to have all this stuff leftover. The bits of dried pigments, the unclean brushes and the water, you guessed it-- clear as mud.
As I was contemplating the trinity and the making of the earth out of chaos, I was struck by God making everything out of nothing. And he had nothing to clean up. Just a declaration, "And it was good, and there was evening and there was morning," that day.

"To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God" (1 Tim. 1.17a)

Roskrish, layer 1

Today I applied the Roskrish colors. Traditionally, the next step would be to do any gilding, or "gold leaf" sections. Since I didn't have any gilding to do, I skipped applying bole and gold leaf. Roskrish colors are dark and muted. They represent the base materials that life (and this icon) are formed from.

So, first off-- mixing the egg tempera. This is prepared, as everything in iconography with intentionality and prayer. The yoke of the egg is separated out and punctured to release the inner yolk, from the membrane. Eggs are such a symbol of new life; and this is no exception. This is one of the first steps to "birthing" an icon, if you will. It is combined with a thinning and acidic agent, which for me was a vinegar/distilled water mix. (Dry white wine can also be used.)

With my egg mixture, I was ready to mix. Mixing is probably the largest mystery to me. I took a tiny bit of the all-natural pigment, and used my dropper to add the egg mixture. I found that I needed about 4-6 drops to get the consistency below:

From here, I started with the background of my icon. Generally, you would first start with the main image of the icon. However, my images are fairly small, so I needed to practice the special brush stroke for icons.

"A long wide brush stroke is considered the
narcissistic 'mark of the artist,' and
unbecoming to an iconographer."
-Betsy Porter

Therefore, the brush strokes are in small circular patterns. I found this extremely serene to paint. It is concentrated and precise. I found myself, while painting the robes, able to meditate on the meaning of each color, and it's attribute of God. I started dwelling on the difference of Christ's Reddish robes relating to Christ coming to the earth as a man, representing the dirt that man was created out of by the father versus the Holy Spirit's greenish robes relating to the Spirit's presence amid creation and life, in a subtly different way. Both have come to earth, and yet each in their own unique way of relation. It reminds me once again of the way that community has such a part to play in the Trinity and therefore our relationship with God. Even when encountering the same thing, we experience and relate to it different than others. We were created as individuals, with different talents and gifts, and it seems precisely in the image of God, who also relates to us in different ways.

What do you see, in the formation of these figures?

Day 2: Tracing

First thing's first. Icons are not art. I am not showing off my artistic eye and putting it on display in a gallery. The roots of iconography come from Judaism where it is forbidden to make graven images of God. With this in mind, the goal of an icon is not to represent an actual representation of the image (what s/he actually looked like), or convey the artist's heart's desire or meaning. The image is made to invoke the life and act(s) portrayed. Let us consider the words from the Council of Nicea:

"...so much the more will beholders be aroused to recollect the originals and to long after them, and to pay to the images the tribute of an embrace and a reverence of honour, not to pay to them the actual worship which is according to our faith, and which is proper only to the divine nature...For the honour paid to the image
passes to its original, and he that adores an image adores in it the person depicted thereby…"¹


To recap-- iconography is not to be used as art, that you look at and put in a gallery, nor is it to be worshiped.  (All protestants repeat this six times before continuing to read.)

In this way, then, we capture the image in such a way that we purposefully neglect our knowledge of proportion and perspective. This is distorted to remind us that the image we see is not the person, that we are not to dwell over the beauty of their eyes. We see this image as a bearer of the depicted, a window to the divine. Now some icons represent Christ, the Holy Mother, or other saints.  The icon I will be walking you through is of the story of the three visitors to Abraham, found in Genesis 18:1-15. In iconography and in traditional interpretation, this passage lends itself to identifying the three angels as the trinity. I will be assuming this interpretation and so depicting it as seen in the Icon to the right.  

Since this is not a display of my own art, I will be, quite literally, reproducing the form and structure as precisely as possible. So, my first step is to trace the image to the board. 

A Song of Creation (Benedicite, omnia opera Domini)

Glorify the Lord, all you works of the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
In the firmament of his power, glorify the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
Glorify the Lord, you angels and all powers of the Lord, 
O heavens and all waters above the heavens.
Sun and moon and stars of the sky, glorify the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
Glorify the Lord, every shower of rain and fall of dew, 
all winds and fire and heat. 
Winter and Summer, glorify the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him for ever. 
Glorify the Lord, O chill and cold,
drops of dew and flakes of snow.
Frost and cold, ice and sleet, glorify the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
Glorify the Lord, O nights and ays, O hining light and enfolding dark.
Storm clouds and thunderbolts, glorify the Lord, 
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
(Song of the Three Young Men, 35-51, courtesy of The Night Offices, by Phyllis Tickle)


1. Henry Bettenson & Chris Maunder, Documents of the Christian Church (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 130