New Icon finished and delivered

Sometime last year I was commissioned to paint an icon by a friend for his wife. Since it was not to be delivered until today, I was unable to post anything about it. This is the process and finished piece...

Painting Progress

Many of you might have seen I started a new page just for my studio. Please 'Like' the page and you will get updates as I post photos of works in progress if that interests you.  I was working again last night making more refinements to the 5 Saints for the Narthex Project.

Working again....

Making slow progress through these last 5 Saints. Started background fill in to finish the garments.So many details left to do.

Slowly but surely I hope to be done here fairly soon and get this project off the board and on to something else. Concurrently I am working on a private commission panel. I would love to do about 50 more of these to go all the way around the church but not sure how approach the board or parish.

I would rather the parish choose their own Saints this time and even donate whole 'family' panels. The dilemma comes when we move to a new church and they want to hire a 'real' iconographer. what do we do with all of this?  Anyway, I want to paint a few 'soldier' saints and the like. There is room for about 50 or so and create a real 'cloud of witnesses' around the sanctuary and meanwhile I get much needed practice. This go around they might need to run about $300 each to keep me in the business and still give 1/2 to the altar servers.

Icon Progress....finally

It's been quite a while since I posted anything about his subject as I took most of the summer off to enjoy the weather and back yard. After we came back from Mexico I was reinvigorated to get more painting done and I started working again.

Currently I am working on a private commission and this large canvas for the opposite wall at the church. Folks have not been asking about this much lately and I have become a bit spiritually lazy and allowed the Devil to talk me out of finishing and believe me, he whispers in my ear without end with words of discouragement and eminent failure.

Actually the amount of work itself is daunting and I am trying not to repeat perceived mistakes I may have made on the first canvas.  One of the greatest killers of one's work ethic is to compare oneself to another. When we visited St. George in Kearney early this spring I was so overcome by the quality of the work and talent of the artists I lost my way,  finding that artistic muse so easy to derail. Artist's should only compare themselves to their past, nothing else.

This summer,  after a conversation with the potter I purchased a vase from, I came to realize that working in isolation is really detrimental to some artists as she was complaining about being alone in her studio and missing the input from a peer. Just someone to bounce an idea off of or garner an opinion.

Now the weather has turned cooler and Brenda has a few late nights at work I find myself back in the studio, mildly overwhelmed by what is left to be done but trying to stay on track, paint a little each day and refocus my life back to the church. Currently I have been refining the faces and expressions while filling in large color blocks in preparation for folds and drapery. Why I do not work on hands at the same time is beyond me since you would think I already have those colors available but they are always a separate part of my work.

2nd set of Icons progress

Icon Progress

 

Are you done yet? Hardly, I say with a smile but getting there. Someone asks me every week.

The hard parts? Laying out the cross pattern on the Bishop. Getting some great expressions on the figures. Basing in all this color sometimes multiple times, sometimes not liking and changing color, rearranging garments so they make more sense. It's coming along. 

The good part is that the heavy lifting was done with the first batch. I drew all ten after the research and he research took a few weeks at least. Now its just settling down and making them better than the first ones. 

It seems I am always buying brushes. I look for them every time I go to the store to take advantage of sales and clearance.  They usually only last  for one painting. They lose their point and shape and get relegated to applying background paint. I hate throwing them out so they go into a container of 'gently' used brushes that look to be in pretty poor shape. 

My favorite paint is no longer available locally so I have to buy on online now. It takes surprisingly little paint to cover the figures. I buy paint as I can and have issues with storage and finding what I need  so I keep a box of the current palette handy and together so I don't have to look for things. I have reorganized most of the studio so I put things back instead of wasting 20 minutes looking for whatever. I have a lot of whatever.

So it begins again....the Second Phase of the Icon Project

After our icon installation a few Saturdays ago, I began the second half of the work.A little surprised at the low key response to the first installation. A lot of folks don't even see them when they walk in and very few realize I am the painter, it must be the Lord's way of keeping me in my place. Maybe when the other side is completed?

a few have asked questions about the process. I posted an image of the drawings pinned in their order and ready for transfer. I use large sheets of graphite paper to retrace the drawn image onto the canvas then  outline and refine the drawings with a brush and dark paint to get an idea of where to put the color.

Sometimes I change my mind completely and redraw the garments to make more sense. Sometimes I find a better prototype and change the drawing to match the better version.  On St. Nicolai here, I rearranged his sleeves and outer garment, covered his Gospel hand and generally re draped everything, adding folds and hems. I am mapping out the pattern on his outer garment which takes a surprising amount of time.

Capturing the expression by changing the eyebrows to a more plaintive look.

St Edward the Confessor as a younger man.

First part of the Icon Project is Installed

It was a busy weekend at our house. Saturday I had the opportunity, with the help of John Birge and my lovely bride, to hang the first panel of icons at the church.

Discussing the merits hanging canvas. The 2 icons in the background are also mine.

Final touch ups

The installed project

The second half awaiting transfer

So what's next? After I transfer the rough sketches to the canvas, I will create the final outline with a brush and brown/black paint adding some shading in as I go. From there I will begin the laborious process of coloring in the 'proplasmos' or base layers then large detail then finally small detail. The last panel took a good 3 or 4 months to complete. Since most of the research is finished on this piece, I can begin to paint. Finding several prototypes and then cherry picking the best features from all of them is just a part of the process but takes a while. I may have 5 or 10 downloads of the same saint, looking for common features and unique details I can incorporate.

Icon Commission from the Church

A few months ago, when Fr. Alex came we had to say good bye to Fr. Nick. He was so gracious and kind to us as we transitioned from our old priest to our new one. The church anted to have a special event for him and commissioned me to paint the church's patron icon for him. I also fund out that the board plans to use the icon for all our letterhead and marketing. I tried my best, as the panel was small for so many figures, to get as detailed as possible. The icon is finally finished and we have to have a high resolution photo done before I varnish it to keep down the reflection.

Here it is unvarnished and ready for photos. I hope it shows well when enlarged. 

St Thomas Sunday

Coming right up this first Sunday in October is St. Thomas Sunday. My and Ben's nameday I had painted this icon for him so long ago I had forgotten what it looked like.

Happy Name Day to all the Thomas' out there.

new Icon finished

Just finished for a baptism gift

Saint Alexandra for Brenda and all my nurses

Finally finished after being on the back table since 2010! An icon for my lovely bride who patiently waited while I finished countless other jobs. St. Alexandra Tsaritsa and Sister of Mercy.

Finished icons

I finally finished a few icons and still have a few left. Brenda works late this week so maybe I can get them done waiting for her shift to end.  Unfortunately I was in such a hurry to get them to church that I forgot to photograph them. These IPhone pics are really rough but you get the idea.

For Apostolos. Sadly Paul is in Detroit at a golf tourney so this will await his return.

St. Mark of Ephesus for dear Fr. Nick. We love and miss him so much.

St. Dorotheus for Paul's wife. Not sure about this one. They have the option of accepting it as Doro is unsure about a male patron saint. I checked several times though and according to the feast day, this is the guy.

Another icon finished

Finally an icon for my good friend Paul who patiently waited while I finshed all the "emergency" icons and got caught up with the demands of Baptisms and short notice comissions. He is in Greece these next few weeks so hopefully he will be pleased when he returns.

First week of Lent...busy week

We had the pleasure of Father Nick Klodnicki coming to stay with us this past weekend while the weather threatened his drive from Lincoln. We had some great meals together, fantastic conversation and memorable company. He left on Monday after Annunciation services and we are sad to see him go. He will be back on Wednesday for Pre Sanctified Liturgy and probably Friday's Akathist hymns.

meanwhile, back at the ranch, I was able to complete another icon. This icon of St. Dorotheos was a challenge. I wanted it to look great for a special couple that commissioned it and I must have repainted the garments 3 times before being satisfied with the final result.


St. Dorotheos, June 5th.

I also made Prosphora this week for Pre Sanctified. I usually make a fresh loaf for every Wednesday service. This week some thing odd happened and I simply made too much dough. I knew it would rise over the pan so I placed a collar of parchment around the pan before the final rise. Well, rise it did to a full 4 inches over the top. I baked it as is and with the oven spring it made a loaf about 8 inches tall.

That is one whooping Prosphora!

Icons and Skillet Lasgna

Finished the icon for little Clare (Evangelia) I believe.

Tonight I wanted something cheesy, meaty and saucy so Brenda reminded me that we have recipe for an easy Skillet Lasagna from Cook's Country a long time ago.  We were out and about so I gathered the ingredients on the last stop and started assembling. Fr. Nik might be stopping by to spend the night so I needed something on hand in case he is hungry.

Skillet Lasagna

medium onion diced
3 cloves of garlic chopped
1 T olive olive
1 t Red pepper flakes
1 pound of "meatloaf" mix I used 1/2 hamburger 1/2 ground pork
8 ounces for lasagna noodles
24 oz can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 carton of Ricotta
1/2 Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
fresh basil or Italian Seasoning ( I used a few teaspoons of Italian seasoning in the meat)

Make sure the tomatoes when combined equal about a quart. If not, added water.
Saute the onions with a bit of salt in the olive oil. When translucent, add the garlic and pepper flakes. Cook for 30 seconds. Add the meat, crumbling and cooking till no longer pink. Stir in the Italian seasoning. Break the lasagna noodles over the top and don't stir. Pour the tomatoes over all, cover an simmer 20 minutes till noodles are tender.
Stir in the Parmesan and fresh Basil if using, remove from heat and top with heaping spoonfuls of Ricotta. I actually spread some shredded Mozzarella over the top and covered a few minutes to melt.

Icons are us...

I have 8 commissions on the bench and for some reason I have been working furiously to finish the most pressing paintings. Several baptisms are looming on the horizon and I have to get the work done. Here are just 3, 2 are finished now. Just 6 more to go!

I am hating the wings on this guy so these photos give me a new perspective. Gonna have to repaint these spots that I don't care for,  The rest is OK. These are just 9 x 12 so they are still pretty small  for my aging eyes to deal with and the hotos reveal details from a new point of view. Justian is varnished so too late to change things for him. Pretty happy with Athanasios. So ready to varnish him in the next few days. I have a new commission for the Sts Michael and Gabriel so I see angelic hosts in my future.



New home for some old friends..finally

A few years ago, the parish of St. John Greek Orthodox church came to an impasse and part of the parish left to establish a mission church in the western part of the city. Starting out from nothing with just a few borrowed items, the church did not have the traditional feel of an Orthodox temple.  I felt like it needed a little something to help it along so Brenda and I lent a few icons of our own to the parish. As time went by I was asked to paint the traditional icons for the front of the church which I did gladly. Those icons traveled with us to our new temporary home on 90th and Q.

A year after the move,  the Grand Island Greek Orthodox Church Holy Trinity folded and shutdown. All of their stuff came to us at the All Holy Spirit Greek Church and the priest decided (unilaterally) to remove my icons and replace them with some "real Greek" icons. I don't think anyone in the parish even noticed.

When things like this happen I start to seriously question my mission in the church. I am absolutely sure God meant for me to do this and has guided my hand as best he could in this vocation but these events trouble me more than you would know.  Sadly, I do not have a lot of support from Orthodox clergy regarding iconography and frankly I am a mediocre painter at best.

These, now discarded, works came back into my possession. I lent them to a struggling mission in Ames, IA for a while but the church did not take off and I picked them up again. They have been in my front room for the last few years leaning against the wall. My lovely bride is very, very tolerant. I have a lot of icons in my front room that serve various purposes through out the Liturgical year. She is a saint,  really.

I called the Antiochian Bishop to see if he had a place for them and he did have a mission in Texas that would take them. I had several conversations by email with the mission. The priest was thrilled but the parish  was less so and made a statement to the effect of being "stuck" with icons they did not want to endure for the next 20 years. How's that for a vote of confidence? I could not even give them away....really? *Sigh*

 I debated selling them on Ebay but I wasn't  I could verify they would go to a Christian home and then I finally got in touch with a wonderful Catholic priest (who had commissioned me in the past) and asked if would have a place for them and he gladly accepted the icons from me. I feel like at least the are going to be in a place where they will be used for their actual purpose.  So its time to say goodbye to these old friends who have been standing in my front room for quite some time.  Thank you Father Carl Salinitro for taking these for me. God Bless.

And........done.

Well, probably done. I will live with it a few days and probably add a stroke or 2 before I finalize it with varnish. I see that I forgot the Red Oxide final strokes so those will definitely get added.

Looking at this, I can see the major differences in subtlties that I missed in the original. Standing alone it's OK. Looking for another quick project to do. Perhaps during Lent this year I will see how  many icons I can get done. Brenda says we will have to biuld a room to store them in as I still have the very large church icons in the front room. Not sure what to do with all this practice stuff. Perhaps I just need to sand them  down and paint again.

3rd Highlight and some finishing work

The third highlight really brightens the faces and some darks were laid in. One of the highlights at the edge of the face is a bright apple green that Greek iconographers use to brighten the base tones of the skin. Some of the ground work for the garments is laid in and overall touching up.

The garments get the full treatment in this episode and the face gets the final strokes and touch of uncreated light. I may redo some of the Christ robes since I see them in photo now and am not completely happy with the forms created by the highlights. I still have to finish the border and check for any other undone parts I may have overlooked. Usually I like to live with it for a bit before the final varnishing. I place it somewhere where I will catch it off guard and see it with fresh eyes.