Theophaneia–“Appearance of God”

Theophany commemorates Christ’s baptism in the Jordan—the first time the Holy Trinity was revealed to man.  The Father’s voice from Heaven, Christ incarnate in the Jordan and the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove.

This icon was a little bit of a detail nightmare.  We worked on this one for two hours today.  Alex actually worked on it for 1 hour 45 minutes himself.  I went back later and went over the lines with the marking pen.  So, this is a 2 hour 20 minutes icon.  Of course, I did some other highlighting and details too.  The real secret behind getting this one done and doing it well was patience and mommy making up for the four year old dexterity handicap.  Alex would start on a section and then get frustrated on the difficulty, then I would go in and outline the edges with paint.  Then he would paint in the middle without fear of going outside the lines. 

Whenever we write icons together Alex says that is a gift and decides on who he will give it to, because the first one we wrote together we decided to give it as a gift to Daddy for his birthday.  He decided this one will be a gift to the priest who is coming to Baptize and Chrismate Annie this weekend.  I am kind of sad, because I hoped to keep these paintings and hang as many feasts as we can in his room.  If he remembers to give the icon to the priest (I am so selfish, I want to keep it), I will have to settle for my photos.  I will put a little book together of our year of icons for Alex as a keepsake.