St. Mary’s Icon School – Weeks 5 and 6
At the end of the day an artist has to get down and get dirty, so that is what my students have been doing for the past few weeks.
Week 5 – I showed them how to gesso some panels. I use oil painting boards as practice panels rather than wood, as they are quick, cheap, easy and remain nice and rigid. It is a good place to start and students can relax and feel okay about making mistakes or messes. I also make mistakes and messes still, but part of an artist’s work is learning how to overcome the difficulty and weave it into the whole. More often than not this brings a new beauty to the work and much more humanity and depth, sometimes something unexpected.
So, using my tried and trusted recipe from Daniel V Thompson’s translation of Cennini’s Il Libre dell’Arte, we mixed up rabbit skin glue with whiting from my never ending sack that I have had for nearly a decade.
Whilst coating panels we also made some tinted papers as used by early artists – according to said manual above. The students experimented with numerous colours from my pigments and enjoyed themselves immensely. ‘A’ commented on how wonderful it felt working with all natural materials. And our young married couple worked together in this delightful harmony that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.
Week 6 – An Encounter with Mary.
After all the cavorting about with jam jars and brushes brimming with whiting the previous week, week six was a departure into more quietude. The panels created are to be for their first attempt using egg tempera and we are going to be doing an image of Mary Eleousa, mother of tenderness and lovingkindness.
To set the scene I determined we would spend the first half of the class in silence. So a sheet of instructions was prepared, a coloured image of the Virgin of Vladimir, a sketch prototype, a Bible reading about Mary and a Psalm – different readings and psalms for each student.
They all had a single des
k, a cushion on the chair and a candle, with icons of Mary on the board.
Reverence was the first aspect of Mindfulness in my weekly themes for the classes and I am determined that the students of St. Mary’s Icon School follow an example of reverence towards the holy icons as much as possible. just as if we were working in front of Christ Himself. This is one of the rules of the iconographer.
They all do this naturally but there is no harm in reinforcing it in our work and making a special atmosphere – an encounter with Mary is something beautiful in itself.
During feedback, they felt the silence was truly conducive to bringing the work inside themselves and creating a special focus. ‘S’ particularly liked the study of the texts.
One of the exercises was to sketch the prototype freehand using silverpoint on the tinted papers they prepared last week.
We are travelling back in time in this class and revisiting all the old skills – how marvellous and wonderful it is. The tender and delightful results are pictured here.
Albrecht Durer used this technique extensively.
Silverpoint looks like pencil but it has a quality that is unique and you cannot describe it unless you have a go. There is a softness and naturalness to it.
