Icon Writing 101: Journey To A Sacred Doorway

The Eastern Church calls an image such as is written in the icon manner a “sacred doorway to Heaven.”  After several years of longing to attempt this ancient, prayerful, meditative art, I began to take steps forward.  I researched to find workshops in my area as I was convinced the only way was to learn from a master.  I found several good ones—one in Austin and Dallas—but as a young, working mother, I determined it was impractical to make hours, days, journeys to other cities for these workshops.  I resigned to making an icon writing amazon wishlist.  Wish is the keyword here, because I had stepped no closer to the threshold.  Finally, I received A Brush With God: An Icon Workbook as a gift.  Other than having two little children, there were few excuses to not begin my icon writing journey.  Still, I was unsure of my ability to partake in this sacred practice.

My friend inspired me to simply “come” with faith.  Others before had encouraged me to attempt icon writing, because they saw I fancy myself a decent artist from time to time.  Of course, I am fully aware that simply because one likes to pick up a paintbrush and paint a pretty picture does not mean one could or should write an icon.  Nevertheless, in April it seemed all the years of longing, researching and encouragement had brought me to a place in which an icon might spring forth.

Since I am not a trained, experienced or knowledgeable iconographer, I will not be trying to teach iconography via my blog.  However, I would like to share my own observations, lessons and tips as I journey along this pilgrimage. 
 
The “work book” I am using to help me with my icon is a good jumping off point.  It will get you from point A to point B.  It gives a short overview of icons.  Which despite the brevity of the overview, I found it dense.  Eventually, I will round out my icon resource collection and learn more about prayer and symbolism.  As the author points out, it will take many years to come to understand.  But, everyone must start somewhere.  This is one thing I appreciate about this book.  It is forgiving.  While some folks make iconography seem lofty and untouchable for common hands, this book meets you where you are.  That’s important, because the grace of praying before, or writing an icon can transform one’s soul.

Despite, owning many art supplies.  I have probably already bought $100 worth of supplies since beginning my journey.  Perhaps I could have done this a little less expensively, but I should be able to use them for other icons in the future.  So far, I really have not found a way around the startup costs.  Tip #1 Be prepared to spend a little money.

I bought the panel from the craft section of Wal-mart.  I am sure similar panels can be found at hobby stores.  I sanded it and began to apply my 10 coats of gesso.  It took a little over a week to apply all the coats (I know some do this more quickly with a hair dryer, but I have small children who demand my time). I began applying the gesso with a larger paint brush as I was taught in my art classes.  I applied in a multi-directional pattern as the book recommended.  This left significant ridges that I found difficult to sand away.  Later I found this site, which has a PDF explaining icon writing step-by-step and it had a great method for applying gesso. 

Tip #2 To apply gesso smoothly on the board, use a spackle knife, and spread the gesso with medium pressure.  Let the board dry for a few hours.  Tip #3 Dip fine grade 220 sandpaper into warm water and thoroughly wet the paper.  When sanding with wet sandpaper it will cause direct contact between paper and gesso-ed board and make the board smooth and flat.  Sand away any ridges and rough places.  Use smaller pieces and change your paper frequently.  Use a towel to dry the board occasionally.  Do not sand too much, only enough to smooth away the ridges.

At first I had trouble choosing which icon I would copy as my first.  I could not decide between the Rublev Trinity or Christos Pantokrator.  However, after a lot perusing of famous icons I settled upon the Virgin of Vladimir.  I did not plan on using an image of Blessed Theotokos, because we already have one in just about every room in our home.  A couple things hit my though.  As a mother, with child myself, Blessed Theotokos is a very fitting image for me to reflect upon during this time.  I adore the Virgin of Vladimir for the same reason as many—the loving embrace of the Christ Child, with His arm around His mother’s neck.  This icon was hanging beside the door above the light switch in our bedroom.  I particularly love this one, in which the Christ’s lips are almost kissing Blessed Theotokos.  Tip #3 Choose an icon that is meaningful to you at your given station in life; or if you are gifting your icon make it meaningful for the recipient.

Tip #4 If possible, print the icon you intend to copy on photo paper, so that the image’s color is deep, rich and easier to trace.  As I traced the beautiful image, I began to fall in love with it.  Every curve and angle began to take on a majesty of it’s own.  Certainly the image is steeped in sacred geometry.  Perhaps, someday I will begin to understand how it is laid out and why.

Once my image was traced from the original to tracing paper, I was excited to transfer it to the board.  I had a dickens of a time trying to find carbon paper.  I never did.  Finally, I decided to buy graphite paper.  I opened the box and realized the graphite was white for tracing on black surfaces.  I was all ready to trace my image!  I sat staring at the icon, disappointed, wracking my brain how I could complete the transfer without carbon paper.  I flipped the icon image over face down on my board and began to trace the back.  I lifted it up and the part I had traced (just a line) had transferred.  I was excited again.  Perhaps this would work.  Then a frown and knitted brow returned to my face.  I could not traced it as a mirror image.  I do not know the rules about that sort of thing, but I had a feeling that would be the wrong thing to do.  So back to troubleshooting.  My little experiment had given me an idea.  Tip #5 Do not buy carbon paper, make your own.  Use a HB grade art pencil (or a common #2 pencil) and color in tracing paper.  Excess graphite will be easy to erase later after the lines are painted.  Tape the graphite-colored tracing paper to your traced icon image back-to-back.  The colored in paper should be placed face down on the gesso board and the traced icon image should face out toward you.  Trace your icon as instructed.

Next, you trace the image for the third and final time as you paint in the lines of your transferred image.  This is the crux of ownership.  The icon is now by your hand.  The image and it’s meaning belongs to God, but your hand has put it there on the board, by the grace of God.  One thing I did not do is test out brushes.  I blindly took advice from the workbook.  But, not all brushes are equal.  Your hand may require a different shape, length or thickness. Tip #6 Use a clay board to test brushes and find a brush that you are comfortable with to do detail work, such as painting in the outlines. 

I was surprised how long it took me to paint in the outlines.  It took 6 hours all together.  That was three days of naptimes.  Tip #7 Take your time to paint in the outlines.  Just take your time in general.  It’s important to take your time, because in icon writing every error shows.  Tip #8 If you make a mistake, you can immediately remove it with a wet cloth or paper towel.  Dip a corner of the towel in water.  Create a crisp edge by folding the towel and use the wet edge to wipe away your mistake.  Be careful to not wipe away other parts of your painting.  This is particularly helpful in the outlining phase.  It is not as easy to do this in later steps, because there is too much risk of damaging other areas of the painting.

I have only completed the base coat stage.  Tip #9 Keep your base coats light.  I was not sure about this step at first, nor how light I should keep my base coat.  In my mind, I insisted upon perfect smoothness of paint application, which caused me to apply a heavier layer in some areas to smooth out the application.  As the paint dried, I realized that in the areas where the paint was lighter, it dried smoother.  The lighter the application the better.  You can always apply more coats later.  Further, the highlights and low-lights will build the color and depth.  I will post the finished icon and further reflections later.

Tip #10 If you think you want to try icon writing, you should.  Do not have fear as I did.  Of course, if you can learn from someone who has done it for a long time, that is best.  There are lots of good books on the subject.  I have not found too many websites, but there are a few.  You will need direction of some kind.  The workbook I have been working from also has a short section on icons for kids, which I think it great for children to be exposed to sacred doorways early on.  Icon writing is a grace-filled journey.  I pray this one turns out well.

Tot Talk: If IHOP Can Do It

Andrew asked Alex what he wanted for breakfast today.  At first he insisted on ice cream.  That was a big fat, “No!” from mom. Then Alex insisted on pancakes and ice cream for breakfast.  To which Andrew replied, “Well if IHOP can do it, why can’t we.”  I gave them both a crooked look.  But, once the pancakes and ice cream had been affirmed, there was no going back.  What a lucky boy.

Kristiana was laughing at Alex eating ice cream on pancakes 

Granola Ecstasy

2 cups of oats
1 bag of peanut butter chips
1/4 cup vegetable, or soy, or canola oil
1/2 cup clover honey
1/2 cup pumpkin kernels 
2/3 cup sliced Almonds
2/3 cup salted shelled sunflower seeds
1 cup sesame seeds

In a food processer, chopped pumpkin kernels, sunflowers seeds, slice almonds and sesame seeds; set aside.  Add oil to a large saucepan, heat the oil on medium and slowly add peanut butter chips.  Fully melt all the chips and stir in the honey.  Turn the heat down to low.  Fold in the pumpkin kernels, sunflowers seeds, almonds and sesame seed mixture.  Once they are covered completely, fold in the oats.  Keep folding until all the mixture is covered.  Cover a baking sheet with wax paper.  Turn out mixture onto the baking sheet (if you like sweet and salty, this is a good time to spread honey and salt over the top); spread evenly; cover the top with equal amount of wax paper; press with another baking sheet.  Let it sit over night.  Use a spatula to spoon granola into a container or zip lock bag for fresh keeping.

(Can’t eat peanuts? Use white chocolate chips.)

Feeling Small

We drove from Texas to Washington last week.  It was a thirty one hour drive.  We decided to break our trip up into four days, plus a one day stop in Wyoming to visit Aunt Sarah—All for the sake of the children.  Kristiana was pretty sweet the whole way.  She screamed a little bit before each nap.  Alex was out of sorts the whole way (that’s a long story), but he returned to himself once we arrived at our final destination—Grandmom and Granddad’s house.  When the first day of the trip ended and we were not at Grandmom and Granddad’s, he was a little devastated.  There is nothing like a trip across the majestic United States to make you feel small.  At least we did not have to do it in a covered wagon.

On the way, we encountered a tornado at the Oklahoma/Kansas border.  We braved the storm.  We barely stayed on the road through heavy rain and wind (the major part of the tornado had already passed through before we arrived).  It was a humbling experience as we recognized we were solely in the hands of God.  There was no way we could exit the road.  We tried and could not even see the exit until we had passed it.  We could not just stop.  We stayed behind a trailer-less big rig without which we would not have stayed on the road.  Andrew said that you could smell our fear ;-)  It was by the grace of God that we arrived safely at our hotel in the middle of Kansas…at 2:00 a.m.  And Kristiana woke us up at 7:30 a.m.  We were not amused.

We had smooth sailing all the way to Cheyenne, Wyoming the next day.  It was a lot colder than we were expecting. There was still snow on the ground.  We had a nice visit with Aunt Sarah.  Sarah had a special event planned for all of us.  We toured her airplane. Everyone enjoyed seeing Sarah’s work.  Then Sarah treated us to a pleasant dinner with her friends.  During dinner we were introduced to a delicious granola from a local bakery.  We ate a whole bag of granola on the remainder of our drive.  After we had finished it, I decided that I could make it.  Last night I bought all the ingredients listed on the package in the bulk section of the grocery store; mixed them up in a heated sauce pan; pressed it flat on a cookie sheet; Voila, granola on steroids for our crunchy con pleasure.  I came pretty close to the bakery version.  I will think a little more about it, write a recipe and post it later. 

The part of the drive I was most looking forward to was the drive through Montana.  We were not disappointed.  Montana is so beautiful.  It even smells good.  Every time I drive through Montana I have to roll down the windows and smell the air.  It smells fresh.  It smells like the trees—the evergreens, sandalwood and aspens.  When we stopped at a gas station Andrew pointed out that it did not smell like a gas station.  The air just smelled sweet.  Our favorite place was Bozeman.  We stopped there for the night.  Bozeman is high, right in the middle of the rocky mountains.  The people were very friendly too.  Andrew and I considered staying, never to leave.  But, we decided to press on through those big, gorgeous mountains.  It was not their size that made us feel small—it was their beauty.

We wound through the mountains, hugging tight to every curve, and we grew anxious for Spokane.  We could not wait to get there.  The first place we stopped in Spokane was our church.  A friend of ours is taking care of our cat while we are here.  Our friend’s family was at the church with her, and her sweet younger siblings played with our kids and we felt at home again.  After a short visit, we drove to Grandmom and Granddad’s.  Alexander was at ease and happy again.  We all settled into our summer home.  I think some great adventures are to come.

By the way, anyone who lives by GPS, I want you to know that we just drove across the country with nothing more than a road atlas, we knew where every rest stop was, every point of interest and we were never lost.  We bought our atlas on our honeymoon to the Puget Sound peninsula and we wanted to take the scenic route home.  It was a good investment.

Love

Then

Betrothal

Day of Eternal Marital Bliss 

Now

May 2010

Here we are after five years of marriage.  We celebrated our wedding anniversary on May 7th. This posting is a little delayed since we were visiting, cleaning and traveling…On our anniversary we treated ourselves to a gourmet dinner out, a walk in the park arm and arm, and coffee ice cream on our back patio.

I must admit I had not really known love until I met Andrew.  I had come to know love through Christ.  I had had a conversion in high school and only then had begun to know more of love.  I think Andrew would say the same.  But, I am not sure I had loved anyone before Andrew.  It’s hard to describe, but if you’ve been there, you know.  Everyday we grow more in love.  We grow and grow and grow.

Then our love grew into all this…

 

Every day we are growing together.  We are trying to find our way to salvation.  We’re leading our little ones toward faith.

(Photos courtesy of Anne)

Tot Talk: Another Baby Sister?

Well, it’s a girl! Boy, were we surprised (pardon the pun). We were certain that we were having a boy.  Now I know all the theories about gender prediction are myths.  Nevertheless, we are as excited about our beautiful little baby as ever.  There is something about seeing the ultrasound that makes it all so much more real—tangible.

After the ultrasound, we showed pictures of the baby to Alex and told him that he was going to have two baby sisters.  He seemed that he liked the idea of two baby sisters.  We asked him what he would like to name his new baby sister.  He looked confused and said, “Kristiana.” 

We said, “Yes that is the name of your baby sister, but what would you like to call your other baby sister. The baby sister in mommy’s tummy.”

He exclaimed, “I don’t know what her name is!”

“Fair enough, little buddy.”

Aroma Du Cafe

I was wondering how long it would take my kids to tell me that my coffee breath was stinky.  I always hated it when adults had stinky coffee breath when I was a kid.  I told my mom all the time that she had stinky coffee breath.  I think I was five years old the first time I told her.  I did have scruples enough not to tell other adults. 

This morning, Alex leaned in to sweetly give me a kiss, and afterward he covered his little nose and said, “Ooo, stinky breath.”  It didn’t take Alex very long into life to make his first exclamation about coffee breath.  I apologized, but I didn’t feel too bad, because drinking coffee is apart of adult life.  I just have to own it.  Love it. Let it wake me up for motherhood.

(Photo credits: Anne Black)

Time Well Spent

 

Other uses for a clothes line

The kids and I spent a lot of time outdoors this week.  Between, hanging out laundry, diapers and paintings; there were also daily trips to various parks; I also allowed/encouraged the kids to play in the water outside. 
We are all a little more tan.

My little scientist has continued his self guided science lessons a few times a week.
Here, he is testing water flow.

The kids playing well together.  It’s happening a little more often these days.

Poor Man’s Play Pool: A white cleaning tub and some plastic cups ;-)  
(At my husband’s request the kids are now wearing swimsuits instead of their birthday suits.  The neighbor girl, who is seven year’s old, kept coming over and peeping through the fence.  Then she would ask me to get them dressed.  “Well, stop peeping through my privacy fence!”)

Alex did not want to get his swim shirt wet. 
It was hard for him to understand that some shirts are made to get wet.

 

Checking out dinner: They couldn’t believe we were going to eat them.
Kristiana said, “Animal!” 

Fool’s Errand

Remember this table that I painted one morning before dawn a couple of weeks ago.  Well since then it has rained a lot and it has not been possible to finish painting the chairs.  But I ran into some problems.

With the first rain some paint chipped off the table despite the fact that I sanded away all the loose paint and wiped the table clean.  The chipping paint is in such poor condition that every time it gets wet, it ripples and chips away.  I have been tying to sand away all the loose paint from chairs, but the mission has proved impossible and frustrating.  I finally decided to go speculate a belt sander to help me in the process.  As I was standing in the power tool aisle at the corner hardware store, feeling sick about the prices of the belt sanders, my eyes dropped down to the floor as I thought, and there I saw the Dremmel Tools.  I thought, “I have a Dremmel!”  I went home with an $8.00 paint remover attachment.  I was ready to blast away these chairs.  I set up the Dremmel, attached my new tool and not only removed the loose paint, but took it down to the bare iron.  Thirty minutes later, the sanding grain on my new tool was completely gone—One chair was sanded, $8.00, poof, gone.  That was an expensive experiment.  I sanded one other chair with the barrel sander attachment.  It worked well enough.

This morning I washed, primed and painted the two chairs.  After I washed the chairs, more paint rippled and pealed off the chair I sanded with the barrel sander.  Yikes.  I cannot win.  As I painted the chairs it took twice as much paint to cover the primer as it did when I just painted straight on to the table.  I guess I was supposed to use brown primer.

We have seven chairs.  I decided I would paint the five best chairs and recycle the other chairs.  Now that I have no more paint and am feeling like a fool for thinking I could save this patio set from rust obliteration, I am thinking that I will paint one more chair and just keep the others out as extras.  I will place the green set altogether.  Did I mention I have to sand and re-paint the table too?  This is certainly a fool’s errands, but now that I have spent the money, I feel I must finish it.  After it is all painted, the set will be placed under the overhang on our townhouse, so it should not see too much weather and will hopefully not bear and further destruction or chipping. 

I share my story in hopes that you too will not fall to this foolish pursuit.  You cannot paint flaking chipping patio furniture unless you have a sandblaster to remove every shred of paint.

And the saga continues…

Life Would Be So Boring If Not For…

Today Kristiana discovered black olives.  Throughout the day she snacked on half a can. 
By dinner time she figured out that they fit nicely on her fingers.

 
This is Alex’s “Take a picture of meeee!” face

We shaved Alex’s head for his summer haircut yesterday.  He always gets so sweaty when it’s warm outside. This morning I asked him if he liked his new haircut.  He said that Mommy and Daddy took his hair, because they were being mean. I tried to explain to him that we just didn’t want him to be hot and sweaty when he played outside.  But, he was still sad, so we both apologized and told him we would leave it next time.

And finally, I made Chile Relleno for dinner.  It was delicious.
I made up my own sauce that made the whole meal heavenly.

A Mother’s Sermon

Thursday, I gave the introduction to my Mom’s Group Bible Study.  I woke up at 4:00 a.m. one morning and could not go back to sleep.  I wondered what to do with myself and decided to read the study for this week (see book here).  The topic was focused on mothers’ sacrifices and sufferings and using the Beatitudes as a guide.  My mind was moving a mile a minute as I read.  And afterward my brain was like a freight train going a hundred miles an hour.  I started writing to empty my head and thought perhaps I should share with the other moms at our meeting.  Here is my mother's sermon on our suffering and sacrifices.  You may recognize some of it if you are a regular follower.

“Why should sacrifice be united with the beauty of love?”  In motherhood, did you find that you finally grew from girl to woman? Have you found yourself experiencing and doing things that you never imagined you would do, or were capable of doing?  Have you been surprised by your sacrifices?  As the author points out, motherhood begins with suffering in childbearing and birth, and a mother continues to suffer through every hardship in both mothering and also the child’s sufferings. Yet, in all this suffering motherhood is beautiful, joyful and desired.  Perhaps it is our suffering and how it transforms us that makes motherhood so great a station in life.

Motherhood brings a special kind of suffering and beauty.  We are all aware of our special kind of suffering.  We have a connectedness to our children in such a way that their every ache and every stumble pains us.  However, the beauty comes in procreation--a gift we share with God.  We are gifted and entrusted with the lives of our children.  We are entrusted their beautiful souls to help mold and guide.  And because this responsibility is so great our burdens are also great.

We should not treat our suffering as an affliction to our lives, but rather as a vessel for our salvation.  Though suffering may bring pain and difficulty, it is in our suffering that we are brought closer to God.  Because we are believers, we are driven to the arms of God, with an open heart and a longing to rest in Him. Truly if you treat all your suffering as though it were for naught, then that is what it will be. 

As mothers it is even more important that we approach our sufferings with love as though they are gifts from God.  It is important to not allow a mother’s suffering to lose sight of our mission.  We must be there for our children and be an example for them.  For our sufferings are an opportunity like no other to step closer to the Lord—to be bathed in His love.  If you suffer with a pure heart, your suffering will not feel like pain, but will be like a moment to rest in the warm embrace of the Lord. 

So, “gird your loins,” and turn to the Lord.  Do not ask Him why you must endure this suffering, but PRAY that it may be offered in communion with the Passion of Christ, that sins may be forgiven and you may be bound to eternal life. The beauty of suffering is that it will bring you to the love of the Lord so long as you do not turn away. 

You may think that this is an impossible ideal to approach your trials with love and even joy.  But, I assure you, as mothers, you already have. You have brought your children this far.  You are raising them to know the Lord.  You have not abandoned your station.  You have held this post out of love and transformed suffering into love.  And it is love that will carry you forth through motherhood, through being a wife and through life, as St. Paul tells us,  “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor 13:13)

Scientist in the House

Alex saw some observation science experiments on one of his favorite PBS morning cartoons.  He explained to me that we had to get a magnifying glass and scissors and do the experiment.  So we went and collected leaves one day and learned how they give food to the plant by collect sunlight and oxygen.  We also looked at the veins and I told him how the veins carry water and nutrients. 

The next day we looked at rocks.  Underneath a big rock we found leaches and snails.

 

A little belly progress with baby #3.  Ultrasound in two weeks.

Read My Blog?

I am always surprised when people tell me they read this blog. Today, I am having a follower drive.  If you read this blog and like it, please sign-up to be a follower.  Let me know who is reading along.

Follow Claytonopolis

Tot Talk: Good Boys

Alex and Daddy go and brush their teeth together every evening.  We have one toothbrush that flashes blue light for one minute.  We have another toothbrush that flashes red.  Alex’s toothbrush is the blue one.  Alex and Daddy go to the restroom and turn on the two toothbrushes and turn off the light.  The two flashing lights look like police lights. Daddy sings a song while Alex brushes.  It’s the Daddy disco.  Daddy usually beat boxes or makes up a song. Tonight Daddy began to sing, “Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha’ gonna do, whatcha’ gonna do when they come for you.”  Alex giggled and said,
“Daddy, we’re not bad boys. We’re good boys.”  But, that’s not the funny cute part.
After he finished brushing Alex started singing, “Good boys, good boys, whatcha gonna do…”  too cute.

An Easter Luxury

Mmm, I have been enjoying lots of butter lately.  My husband and I both agree that the thing we missed most during Lent was butter.  Everything tastes so much better with butter smeared, or melted on it.  One of my favorite foods for Easter this year was our Pascha Bread.  Every time I ate a slice of our blessed Pascha bread with butter on it I would say a little prayer, because I was reminded of the Sacrifice.  I felt holy eating it. 

Banana bread and butter

Proud of One’s Station

“In the eyes of his contemporaries, he was a man who had committed the one unforgivable sin: he was proud of his wealth.” Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand. 

I am still working on reading Atlas Shrugged.  It’s been a year since I began reading it.  I have been trying a little harder to read it this spring.  Still I only have a little time in the evening to read it.  I read about five to ten pages a day. I still have other reading I have to do too.  At this rate I will finish in four or five months.  Oh well, such is life.  I have really loved this book so far.  It’s especially intriguing when I see reflections of our current affairs in this book.

The above quote really hit me.  At first I thought as the heroine, Dagny Taggart, implies, that’s right, he should be proud of the wealth he has earned.  He should be proud of the GOOD work he has done and for which he has been monetarily rewarded.  He does not have to share it, but if he does, then that is a noble good for the neighbor he shares it with and his good deed will benefit his own soul…

This got me thinking though.  It is perhaps easy to be proud of wealth, especially if one earned it.  But it is also important to be proud of where ever one finds himself in life.  So long as one lives nobly, honestly, works hard, lives the good life, then there is much to be proud.  I think in this case the definition of  “proud” is owning one’s station in life.  If one is poor, then take pride in living simply, being frugal and not being ashamed of poverty.

I am not rich, famous, or on the fast track to corporate leadership, but I have much.  I am proud of being a good wife and not only making my marriage work, but making it beautiful and part of our salvation.  I am proud of nurturing and teaching my children.  I am proud of slowly, but surely making my way in the world, nobly, honestly, and you should be proud of your station in life too.

Blue Babies

 Alex was not too keen on this activity – Until mommy offered a lap
(I was not planning on being in pictures).