The Visitation is Finished

The Visitation Icon is Finished! In this photo, the gold has been added, the border lines, the halo rings, and the stars on Mary's robe. I did innumerable little touch ups here and there, and now it awaits being varnished. It will look the same but much more vibrant after being varnished. Then it will get blessed, and added to our prayer space at home.

What a fruitful 5 days!!

I really must thank my kids for all the help in keeping the house running. Everyone did school, everyone ate real food three times a day, got a full nights sleep, kept the house cleaned up and the laundry mostly cleaned.


This icon is from the book of Luke 1:39-56, when Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Upon seeing Mary, Elizabeth cries out, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. "

Mary responds with these words, known as the Magnificat:

My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. 51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. 54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; 55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

Remember, you can click on the photo to get a larger view.

Icon Workshop Update - The Visitation

The Pattern traced on the prepared board
The base colors for the figures of Mary and Elizabeth. This is about 6-10 layers of paint for each color.
Beginning the robe work for Elizabeth's under-robe

Mary's under-robe, and beginning work on the buildings

Elizabeth's outer-robe and more work on the buildings
Mary's outer-robe
Mary's outer-robe with highlights.

There is still quite a bit of final robe work to do, but the structure is all there now. Tomorrow we will work on the buildings, then the faces, then the fine tuning of the robes.

After that will come the lettering, the border, and finally the varnish.

I think I have made lots of progress for about 12 hours of work so far. I am delighted to be doing this again!!

Click on the photos for a closer look!

A December update

Here is a finished icon that one of my workshop participants finishes. Our Lady of Perpetual Help




Another icon workshop participant's work. This one is called "Christ the High Priest"


A different style for me, I am working on this "Visitation". I am having trouble with the itty bitty baby St. John the Baptist and Jesus faces. I am still working on it, but like it so far.

And this is one I did on glass. I am going to have it framed and give it to my husband's grandma for Christmas. I hope to do more of these.

Late June

These images were taken in late June. You can see the progress in them from the last post. I have taken the month of July off, so there will be no more progress until August. I will be having another teen workshop the second week of August, so there will be more updates then. Enjoy!

Early June

These images were taken in early June. I will be posting pictures from late June in the next post. We have Christ the Good Shepherd, St. Francis, St. George, and the Samaritan woman at the well. Enjoy!

Update for 5-15-08

The Nativity icon is finished! This is a case where the student far outdid the teacher. I hesitate to even call myself the teacher on this one, but maybe the color picker outer? Anyway, it is beautiful, isn't it?



And this is the progress I made tonight on the Samaritan Woman at the well icon. I began the mountains. I also did finish the Manylion icon, by touching up a few things and lettering the halo. As soon as it is varnished, I'll take a picture. I have a few more icons to post next week, a St. George that has just been started, and a St. Michael that is on the beginning of the face. Until then...

Same pattern, different iconographers

These are four different Mandylion icons from the last workshop. Isn't the immensity of God amazing!