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!

Some icons from the latest workshop

Update from this week

The first photo is the current Nativity, with more robes complete, the border, and now she is working on the itty bitty faces. The back ground will be gold leaved, and I am so anxious to see the finished product!

The second photo is a bad picture of a lovely icon in progress. This is the Nursing Mother of God, and the robe work is very intricate. I'll try to get a better picture of it next time.


The next two photos are of Christ the Teacher, without and with the gold leaf. She has some cleaning up and a few details to do, then she will be finished.

The last picture is The Good Shepherd, just beginning the face. This is a lovely and vibrant icon.

Update for last week and this week.

The first photo is of a finished, yet unvarnished icon of The Holy Prophet Elias. He still needs a halo ring as well, but other than that, he is finished.


The second photo is of the Nativity. This is from last week, and I'll post an updated photo in the next post. This is a very detailed and intricate icon, and I am in awe of its beauty.

The third and fourth photos are from a beginner, and the faces are in progress. Can you believe this is her very first icon?


The last picture is the face of Christ the Teacher, a detail from an icon I will post in full next post. We had just finished this face at the end of class this week, and put in the gold leaf.

Oops!

I just realized I had restricted commenting on this blog. It is fixed now, so if you have questions or comments, it should work for everyone now. Sorry about that!

Finally, the promised pictures

The first picture is the Nativity, in progress. The mountains are beautiful, aren't they?




The second picture is of Christ the Teacher. The face is about half way finished. It as if the image is rising from a still body of water. Breathtaking process, really.




The third picture is of Christ the Good Shepherd. Aren't the robes vibrant? And this icon is the first one for this student.





The fourth photo is the icon I am working on. Any guesses yet what this icon depicts? No fair answering if you are in the class ;)







The fifth picture is The Nursing Mother of God. The robe work is just begun, and coming along very nicely.









And the last icon is also a first for this student. It is Tender Kissing, and again, the robe work is coming along beautifully.

Due to bad weather, the class has been a little slow, but we'll just keep going once a week until we are finished.

Thanks for stopping by, and you can leave comments here if you wish.

(you can click on the pictures to get a better look)

Week Four

Here are some updated photos from last week. I thought I would get some up now and add more when I had time. The last picture is of my icon studio. I love that place!