The annual change in the weather, from Summer to Autumn that moves swiftly to Winter, is definitely much warmer the past few years.  The change isn't nearly as abrupt as in years past!  Though my icon studio is on the second floor of my carriage house, and there is hydroponic heat in the concrete floor so it's always warm in the winter, it's a lovely change to not have to put on extra layers - and my fingers don't get cold!
I'll try to post some photos of my latest icon, The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in my next set of comments.

Icon progress notes

As I work on an icon (or two, or three, or more) I shoot photos as the work moves through the various stages from preliminary drawing ideas (it's so much easier to fix mistakes on paper than during painting!), to under painting, to gilding and final details like the lettering on the icons.

Nearly the end of October 2016!  I think there's a time warp out there that I walked into!  I've been very busy writing Christian Orthodox style icons in my studio, Holy Trinity Icon Studio.  You can see my icons, AND the super cool full color greeting cards - now available with genuine 24K GOLD LEAF gilding!

It took a bunch of experimentation to come up with the formula to make the gold leaf BOTH stick AND be brilliantly shiny!  But, I did it!  Follow the link to see what I mean. My ETSY web page   You can order on-line directly from me, the icon writer, and I can usually ship greeting cards in one or two days.