I’ve done the base shading, and now I’m starting to lay in the gold line, which will take awhile. I’m not going to start on the faces, hands and feet till the rest is done, since I’m doing this part in egg tempera, but I’m going to change over to oils for the skin.
I’ve started on another large panel – here are some images of the initial stages. The gold is done, the initial roskrysh done, now I’m working on the first lights.
I’m working on a hanging for a parish in Charlottesville – here are some in progress pictures, and I’ll post more as it gets more detail. It’s 6 by 10 feet, oil on Canvas.
I’ve reordered the photos to put the most recent work first. I’ve been working on the face, hair, and hands.
May 1 – Over the past week I have been focusing completely on the face. As far as I am concerned, if the face is not right, then it doesn’t matter how good or bad the rest of it is. So, what I do is spend a lot of time just staring…and then I decide how I want to change the expression so it conveys what I want. In this case, I decided the eyes were too wide, and the mouth was not gentle enough, and the eyebrows were not sufficiently questioning. I am looking for an expression that is inviting, not scary, but still full of mystery, as well as challenging.
I’ve been adding lines and lettering, working some more on the face. It’s getting close to done.
It’s pretty close to done now. I switched over to oils a bit ago.
I’m working on putting back images of Christ I have painted previously, unfortunately with a big copyright statement across the middle. Things get copied around, and I find images book covers without my permission, so I have to do this.
Here’s a couple of images of the fabric area I’ve been working on in Gabriel’s Robe. All with Egg Tempera still.
Here’s a step 1 image of this icon – it’s rather large – 2 by 3 feet – and it’s based upon a hanging I did awhile back for Incarnation Parish in Charlottesville. I’ll post images in progress. I haven’t decided what I’ll do with it, so if you are interested, contact me.
I finally have gotten a printer and paper that will produce beautiful prints. I’m not going to do them ‘en masse’ but on a single request basis. The best size I have found is on 13×19 inch paper with the image being 12 by 16 inches – and that will fit nicely into a 16×20 frame with a standard size mat. I’m doing these with a border so that the image itself won’t be partially cropped out by the mat, as below. I’ve done a couple for some folks, and they have been very well received! So, if you want one just contact me via the contact page. Each one is $100 plus shipping (which in the US is about $5 to $15). Below I posted (with a watermark that won’t be there, obviously) the trinity icon with the border so you an see how it would be printed. I will work on adding some other pages with prior work I’ve done.
Here are a set of images from a couple years ago that are some details of the icon of Christ meeting some of his disciples by the sea from John Chapter 21. This is the scene where St. Peter, understanding that it Jesus, jumps into the water to hurry to shore to see him. The other disciples are in the boat pulling in the huge haul of fish. I apologize for the copyright on the image, but I have found work pirated all over, so it has to be done.
I’ve been working on this for a few months, and now it’s done. I’m posting just four images, but there are actually many steps in-between each step that I have here. This is my variation of the traditional Eleusa icon (Virgin of Tenderness) – in this version the infant Christ is also looking at the viewer. I’ve also used a combination of egg tempera and oils, because I find I can get very rich colors that way, but I also like the texture of the egg tempera in the base.
The Holy Face 