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.)

Icon of "The Holy Brothers Apostles - Andrew the First Called, and Peter the Rock" written in acrylics and 24K leaf on an edge glued board with oak reinforcing on the back, set in a hand made maple frame that is also gilded in 24K gold leaf, measuring ca. 18.5" x 14.5" x 5/8" (not counting the frame.)
The model for this icon is the original icon presented by Athenagoras the Patriarch of Constantinople to Pope Paul VI on the occasion of Paul's visit to the Holy Land.  You can find this image on the internet, and then note the unique details of my icon, i.e. the framing, lettering and colors I chose.  The square knot, crosses, and expanded lettering are unique.  This is not a copy, this is an original, and as such it's protected by copyright, as are all of my icons.  Email me or call for price and terms.

GUARDIAN ANGEL, done in egg tempera, natural earth pigments and 24K gold leaf, at St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral school for iconography, NE Minneapolis, MN in October 2013.  The board is solid ash? imported from Russia measuring ca. 13" x 10" x 1 1/8" routed out and coated with marble dust gesso.  My instructor was Dimitri Andriev.  Est. time to write this icon is ca. 55 hours.  To get an idea of the price, call up your plumber or electrician and ask them how much a job lasting 55 hours will cost, then add ca. $200 for "parts" (gold, pigments, board, etc.) :-)   Then, call me or send me an email and we'll discuss terms - remember we have to allow for drying time so the total time from order to delivery is about six weeks.

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 icon of PENTECOST is quite large, ca. 25 x 11x .75 inches!  It has 33 figures; with Mary the Theotokos in the center, flanked by Mary Magdalene and Peter and dozens of disciples clustered around.  Done in 23.5K genuine gold leaf and acrylic paints and inks.  A similar hand written icon can be yours for $2,500.00 whereas prints are available from $50.00 up to $300.00 depending on size.  Prints can be gilded with gold leaf for an additional charge.  Hopefully you can zoom in on this photo, but if not, let me know and I'll give you another link that will blow your socks off!  :-)

 

Summer of 2013

North wall of my icon studio

311 Manitou St., Northfield, MN

The very top icon is my copy of Rublev's "Holy Trinity" or "The Visit to Abraham"; right below it is a copy of "Pantocrator" that I did in a class with Philip Davidov & Olga Shalamova (teachers from St. Petersburg, Russia); below that is an egg tempera icon in process - The Virgin of Czestochowa ; next to that is my icon processional cross - more of that later as I work on it; and above that is my icon of "Pentecost" with 33 figures.  I'll try and post details of all of these icons.

Close up of central icon, reverse side, processional cross

Summer 2013

The cross itself is ca. 26 inches tall by 24 inches wide, double sided and 2 inches thick at the edges.  I made the wood cross and gessoed it with acrylic gesso - based on the premise that genuine gesso is too brittle to be used on an object that someday is almost guaranteed to smack a door frame or lintel when being carried around!  I'm no fan of acrylic gesso, but it does have the virtue that it's almost bullet proof and simply WILL NOT ever crack!  

There will be a lot of detail added to the cross - the theme of this side is the last chapter of the Book of Revelation - The Lamb (out of sight at the very top), the River of Life, the Tree of Life, the Twelve Fruits on the River of Life, all of which flows over the whole world (out of sight at the very bottom of the cross).  Beside Jesus' head will be four symbols of the Four Evangelists.  

The edges that are beveled toward the icons will be gilded in 23K gold leaf, the River of Life will be "gilded" with "silver" and the river itself will have some textured gesso behind the silver.  

The obverse side is the Cross of St. Damiano - the traditional cross associated with St. Francis of Assisi.  That side is almost complete except for the gilding.

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!

Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles!

Mary Magdalene icon in the process of being gilded with 23.5K gold leaf!  This icon of one of my favorite apostles is smaller than the last one I did.  After the gilding is done I usually let the icon rest for at least a week or so - that way the varnish under the gold can really set up hard.  Then, when I begin painting the details it's not as likely that my sleeve or buttons will scratch the gold.

Detail of one of my icons of St. Mary Magdalene.  This icon was purchased to be presented as an ordination gift to a Methodist minister.

 I'm laying out the drawing of the icon of Pentecost.  To get the scale of the figures right for the icon board I placed a sheet of white paper on the board, then I drew directly on the vellum with pencil, then I traced over the pencil with India ink.  After that I put a carbon under the vellum, removed the white paper, and traced the drawing directly onto the gesso of the board.  It's a bit round-about, but since the drawing is ca. 24 inches long and 14 inches high, the icon board was the best surface I had to work on!

 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.  

This is the preliminary design for an icon of "Haakon the Good" who as a Viking king of Norway caught between the powerful pagan interests of some of his nobles, and the increasing popularity of the Christians.  The great dragon on his right represents the culture around him.  The Christ figure is taken from an ancient stone cross.  He's in the middle.

He was a Christian.  When he was elected King over Norway he asked his nobles if they would convert.  They refused to change.  He refused to abandon Christ.  They worked out a deal - the first recorded instance I'm aware of whereby "freedom of religion" was extended to all parties involved.  The net result ... many years of peaceful co-existence.  As his death approached he was asked if he wanted a Christian funeral or a pagan one.  He chose a pagan one, saying that he did not feel worthy of being buried as a Christian.  His modesty prevailed, even to the end.  His was a wise and fair reign.  Long may he be remembered - as a Christian!

The original icon was presented as a "naming icon" to my grandson, Haakon Erik Olav Homstad on his 10th birthday.  Long may he live!

Icon work & hay fever (weird combination)

I always got a kick out of irascible John the Baptist, a.k.a. John the Forerunner.  What a preacher he must have been to hear, that nearly the whole population of ancient Jerusalem hiked through the Judean desert going east to the Jordan just to hear him!  The prototypes of him that I like the best show him as a deeply sunburned hippie, carrying a scroll with a single word on it ... REPENT.  If you haven't listened to Leonard Cohen's "The Future", look it up on iTunes.  REPENT is the repeated phrase in that one.  In its vulgarity, its naked truth telling, its preaching to power ... it is the incarnation of John the Forerunner.   Strong stuff.   Sort of like hay fever that forces me to see everything through blurry eyes, hacking coughs, and sneezes - no matter what I had in mind originally!

There is an equally strong stuff sculpture of J.B. that is in the Baptistery at St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, MN.  Tall, gaunt, rugged and oozing power ... I can imagine him on stage singing Cohen's lyrics.  I can imagine this icon doing the same thing.  Not a comfortable being to have around.  But then, remember Leonard's poem and song, "There Ain't No Cure For Love" - look it up.  You'll find them both in his "Live From London" album.

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.

First draft of icon catalog is done!

O.K., the first draft of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church icon catalog is done - this is the descriptive listing of the 24 icons I've written that will be displayed in their gallery during Advent 2011.  It's off to the editor for the usual stuff like proof reading, clarification of stuff, etc.

Icon preparations - Advent 2011 show at Bethlehem Lutheran, Mpls

I'm currently preparing the catalog of about 24 of my icons for a gallery show at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 4100 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN.  The show will open during the week starting on 7 November 2011 and remain up until January 2012.

Each of the icons will have a description and scripture link associated with it - so that's what I'm working on today.  Once those are prepared, then I'll prepare a description to accompany the icon "writing" process - from the text in the Bible, or the life of a saint, to the drawing, to the preparation of the board and painting surface, applying of genuine 23K gold leaf, colors, final varnish, and dedication.

Stay tuned.  This will take awhile!