Icon workshop

There has been much ado here in Middle Earth! In reviewing my photos for this blog I realized I have left out so very much that has been happening in the studio. I have totally rearranged my little studio area, attempted to impose some sort of organization on my class materials and, on top of that, been painting madly. It has been a wonderful whirl and I will catch you up over the next few days.

To begin with, last Saturday I taught the Alchemy of Icons class at the St. Louis artists' guild. We had a wonderful time. This first piece is my demo for the class. Start to finish with no additions afterwards. I love how her face developed. The collage layer is pretty wild. You can see some of the paint textures and a dictionary page behind the figure.There is gold gesso both behind and on top of her. What a tale she could tell with her round sun harp and unusual breastplate. Her halo actually started out as a photo of bowl of roses! Her gown is an image of the queen's room at Versailles!

The most important definition of an icon is that it is created as doorway to another world. They were created to amaze and focus our attention and lift us above the everyday to a place of wonderment. The soft and timeless glow of gold underlines the other worldliness of these faces and figures. Our more modern touch is the layering of paint, collage and more paint and maybe even more collage to make an icon for our times and place. Everyone took that inspiration and ran with it to places no one else had ever been to build images no one else has ever seen. ALCHEMY!!!! Turning the everyday into the amazing. A joyful wonderment for me as well as for the artists that joined me that day. We centered ourselves by drawing our way into a labyrinth, a mystical journey to that level of openness and a path to the place where we can find the courage to let loose our visions. What fun!

The above photos are Marsha and her icon beneath. Marsha has never really painted before and I love her colors, her originality, her absolute courage. The details are amazing. Everyone was amazing! You can see Marsha's labyrinth on her worktable. Marsha...paint some more!

This is Mike and his icon. Mike is usually a sculptor who does a lot of work with kids in third world countries. Mike, you have a great future as a painter, collage artist, icon maker and whatever else you want to be. I can't say enough about how wonderful everyone was. I will post more of the work that was done at the workshop. We actually had TWO men participate... both Mikes ! Each work was amazing. Some folks even skipped eating to keep working on their icons. I tried to encourage them to keep up their strength with coffee and chocolates...next time we may need to call out for pizza! I hope everyone was inspired enough to keep on creating their very own icons.