St. Elizabeth of Hungary

Icon of St. Elizabeth of Hungary

St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 12.5" x 10" x 1", egg tempera using natural pigments, 24K gold leaf, on genuine gessoed board with raised edge.  Note the Wartburg castle in the background - that was her own castle (!), her own coat of arms and the icon of the Virgin & Child on the walls.  This was presented as an ordination gift to Rev. Joy Gonnerman because she did her clergy internship under my supervision along with my colleague Rev. Judy Gustafson at the Kenyon Area Internship Committee (8 ELCA churches working in a co-op for this purpose.)

This is a larger icon of The Annunciation, it measures ca. 20" x 16" x 1.25 " and is done on cherry plywood using acrylic paints.  Hopefully you can zoom in to see details.  The final lettering will be added when everything has dried some more, only the monograms of the Blessed Virgin Mary are in place right now.  Here the Archangel Gabriel greets Mary, who is holding her drop spindle in her left hand.  The red thread on it matches the canopy above her head, which symbolizes the veil in the temple.  I'm thinking I will integrate a silver "gilding" into the ray of light shining on Mary's head.  Everything is gilded in 24K gold leaf.

  So, another icon of the major liturgical events of the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is now ready.  To purchase this icon, or to commission one similar to it, please contact me for details and prices.

This is a close up of a processional cross that I am working on.  As you can see the basic colors have been laid down now, and I've just begun doing the detail work.  This has a ways to go, and then the gilding will be added - and that's only the first side!  The other side will be some version of the "Tree of Life" - lots of green, blue and golden brown - the very colors of our precious little planet itself!  The whole icon is about 24" tall by 20" wide by 2" thick.  All of the yellow areas will be gilded, and there's lots of detail gilding to be done before it's ready.

This is a view of the icon corner in my home, front hall, first thing you see when you enter the house.  I moved the icon lamp for the photo so all the icons could be seen.  Normally it hangs right in front of the large icon of the Mt. Sinai icon of Jesus - which faces the front door.  Just below that icon is a new icon I've done of the Presentation In The Temple.  It's one of the few I've done using "silver" instead of gold for the background.  If I can get a good photo of that icon, I'll post it here.  Genuine silver quickly tarnishes, of course, so these days I use a non tarnishing metal instead.  I'll try and add some new icons I'm working on these days.

And, finally, here are a few close-ups of several of the icons ...

Of course, the angle of the iPhone has to be skewed in order to cut down the glare from the silver or gold, but at least you can see some of the details of the holy icons.  Enjoy!

This is the icon "Hodegitria" or One Who Shows the Way - it was done as a 'teaching icon' for a class I taught for the Cannon Valley Elder Collegium, September to November 2012.  It measures about 9x11 inches on 3/4 thick plywood.  Acrylics and 24K gold leaf painted on gesso.  Merry Christmas!

Blessed Advent, and Merry Christmas!  This is my icon that I posted here last year!  I hope you can zoom in on this icon to see the details ... it's tricky to photograph gold (as I have complained before) because the reflections are not easily controlled ... so I apologize for the amateur photography.  

This icon is based on prototypes from the 13th and 14th centuries.  There are two common types of this icon - in this one Mary is facing and touching the baby Jesus.  In the other type, she is facing away from him and contemplating what will become of this child.  I prefer this one.  The midwives are in the lower right hand corner, Joseph and the nameless figure (The Tempter?) are in the lower left corner, the three wise men approach from the left side and the many shepherds and their sheep are startled by the three angels appearing in the gold sky.  The texture of the sky is deliberately different than the texture of the ray of light and the area of the sky it comes from as it shines on the new born Jesus.

 This is the exterior of a new icon I'm "writing"

the ICXC are the Greek abbreviation of JESUS CHRIST.  There is some more color to be added to the cover, and some gold too.  Below is the icon when it's open.  The labels identifying St. Mary Theotokos, Jesus, and St. John the Baptist have to be added.  The icon stands about 7 inches tall and 4 inches wide when closed.  When it's complete, I'll post another set of photos.

You might have to zoom in on the Seraphs which are lightly painted in white and black on either side of the seated Jesus.  The prototype model for this triptych is the "Diesis" type of icons - where the central icon is of Jesus, and the side icons are of Mary his mother, and John who was the forerunner of the Messiah.  Both of them are gesturing toward him with their hands and inclined heads, saying, "Don't look at us, look at him, for he is the Messiah, the Savior of the World."

The Annunciation to Mary - 

Hopefully you will be able to zoom in on Mary's left hand.  She is holding a drop spindle and was busy spinning when the angel showed up and really changed her day!  There are two traditions concerning where she was, and what she was doing, when she encountered the angel; one is that she was spinning, which is the one I've chosen here; the other is that she was at the well drawing water to bring home.  I'll probably do that icon soon.  

This is a "practice" icon - in that I did it on a lightweight "Claybord" (tm) and then framed that, and also I experimented with some of the 23.5 Karat gold leaf I used.  It seems to have worked, but we'll know for sure in a couple of centuries whether or not it is a good idea.  Stay tuned!  This is the icon I was working on when I hosted 4 middle school age girls and their home schooling teachers and mothers a couple of months ago.  Now the icon is complete and ready to be blessed so that it can contribute to the spiritual growth of all who come before it as they read this story in the gospel according to Luke.

As usual, the photography of gold leaf is tricky because it is so highly reflective at certain angles.  It's almost like taking a photo of a mirror!  It's with good reason that genuine gold represents the mystical spiritual dimensions of theology - it's constantly changing, yet it never changes at all.  

The Incarnation of Jesus Christ, or The Nativity.   This is one of two traditional views in the Incarnation icon - one view (my favorite for theological reasons) is where Mary is facing and holding the infant Jesus; the other view is where Mary is turned away from Jesus who is sleeping in the manger.  I like all of the figures in the icon, the shepherds, the angels, the midwives, the visitors from the East bearing gifts, and Joseph and the "strange character" talking with him.  COME AND SEE THE ICONS at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 4100 Lyndale Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN during Advent 2011.  The exhibit will open with an official announcement - expected to be just before the first Sunday in Advent, 27 November 2011.