Icons on Display at 2013 Diocesan Synod

From July 9th - 12th my my icons will be on display at our annual diocesan synod. This year the synod takes place in Annapolis, MD, which is right in my backyard. Consequently I will have a large number of them on display. Please do come and check them out!

(Pictured: St John the Evangelist, based on a Russian icon of the Novgorod school, 9" x 12", egg tempera on panel)

Holiday Reflections

We recently were on holiday at a posh resort in a villa owned by my dear in-laws. While I should have found it relaxing, I was eally more stressed than ever. Honestly, I have no use for vacations. I absolutely love what I do, and love my life... why would I want to take a holiday from it?

Holiday means, among other things, that I do not have access to my library and my studies, I cannot paint in my studio, I cannot practice my classical guitar, I cannot celebrate Mass, and I cannot work in my gardens. To be separated from all that I love (minus my family, of course, who is here with me) is stressful... not relaxing.

Whenever we go on holiday I can't wait for it to be over. I loathe all holidays... unless they are Church holidays (holy days), such as Christmas and Easter.

Copying Other Artists

Last night I spent some time looking at the websites of a number of artists, known and unknown, whose work I enjoy. It had been while since I'd done that, and I really enjoyed myself and felt excited afterwards... full of new ideas and ways to think about things and look at the world.

For the longest time I stopped studying at other artists' works because I would become so enamored with it that I would unintentionally (or 'intentionally') begin to copy it, or mimic it. That was a good thing for me to do, because I am the type of person who loves to be influenced by others. But that mentality can be problematic for those, like myself, who desire to hone their own technique and build their own body of work. So that is why I took a break from studying other artists for a few years.

It was very helpful. Now, after this "fast," I think I can look at other artists' works and enjoy it, and be influenced by it in positive ways, but not try to emulate it or copy it and thus be "unoriginal."

Facets of Artistic Discipline: The Painting Schedule

This winter my studio has been so cold that it simply has not been fun for me to be over there and work. It is sort of insulated, and I have a space heater, but it is still freezing. So finally at some point in January I decided to just not do any work over. While I used to able to stand painting in a freezing place, or sweltering place, the older I get the less I can tolerate it.

So until I can better insulate the studio, or build a new one (preferably with a wood burning stove), I will reserve the coldest months of the year for smaller work that I can do in my nice, climate controlled office. By this I suppose I mean icons... and maybe some smaller watercolors.

One of the most important aspects of the artistic life is discipline. And part of discipline is knowing what to do when, and what works best in a given situation. That's what this is for me. I simply can't do my best work if I am physically uncomfortable, so there is no point in me painting anything in the frigid cold or sweltering heat. It will just be a waste of time, energy, and supplies, which is stuff that I cannot afford to waste! Best to paint the oil canvases during a more agreeable time of year.

Egg Tempera Icon Painting

Lately I have been working on a bunch of icons lately and hope to have at least 20 for sale at diocesan synod in Annapolis, MD this summer. These are the best icons I have ever done. The really exciting, though, is simply working in egg tempera. Today I realized just how much I enjoy this medium. I have to say that were it not for iconography I probably would never have tried egg tempera. It is a great medium in which to work because it is both rigid and flexible... sort of in between watercolor and oil. The amount of detail you can get is staggering, and I really like the matte look of the paint. For now this medium is so closely aligned with iconography in my mind I would never use it for anything else. I once painted some landscapes in tempera and only one of them came out okay. The problem was I was not painting icons! It just didn't work. I love egg tempera, so that means I will be painting icons for many years to come. Perhaps one day I will branch out and try some additional subject matter in this medium once more.

Subversive Icons

It occurred to me recently what the most controversial art I have ever created has been. It has been my icons! Never, when I began painting them, would I have thought that these works would be so controversial.

In the shows I have had with them and my secular work, and comments I have received from people who have looked at my work online, the icons have always provoked the strongest reaction. Not from icon "purists," mind you, who don't approve of my technique, but from non-religious and atheists! The reaction has never been negative... just a strange sort of... "I am really drawn to these icons for some reason," sort of thing. Invariably the person cannot explain why he is drawn to them when he should be repulsed at them. Even those with no interest in religion find them to be fascinating and intriguing. Does this point to some inherent grace and power in the language of the icon? Who knows.

(NB: I should add that my icons also get many positive reviews as well from spiritually-minded people who are seeking God's will in their lives. To me it is simply fascinating that these simple works that have been around for centuries and centuries can still generate such powerful feelings in people!)

Preliminary Drawings

The traditional academic way of making a painting entails doing many rounds of preliminary studies and sketches. Even those who were schooled in the contemporary manner like myself, where traditional methods and disciplines were downplayed, were still encouraged to do preliminary studies in preparation for final paintings.

But I have never liked working that way. After graduation from art school I would do a number of preliminary studies for a painting, but found that I aways liked the rough, loose studies over the finished painting. So at one point I decided that it was best to just sketch the drawing on the canvas... just do the studies there, as it were, and let what happened happen in the painting. I've never gone back to the old way. While I appreciate the discipline and craftsmanship that the traditional method involves, for me painting is very visceral and emotional process, and what I find is that the traditional way of working dilutes that process and guts the painting of energy.

This process even finds its way into my iconography. The traditional way that people paint icons these days is to draw the composition on a piece of paper and then transfer it to a panel, whereas I draw it directly on the panel from scratch. Even though icons are copied, working in this way gives my icons - for me - a greater sense of dynamism and vitality than working through different stages of transfers, etc.