Every icon is a unique piece of personal artistic and spiritual expression within the framework of traditional orthodox iconography established at the height of Byzantine culture more than a thousand years ago. Great iconographers of the past have added new symbolisms to the Byzantine mannerism and have become the new standard. I was raised in culture of the celebrated early 15th century Russian master Andrei Rublev, whose asceticism has added a unique calm to his images and still provides inspiration to iconographers throughout the orthodox Christian world.
The icon painting technique involves painstaking application of several layers of paint on a wood board. I apply up to 7 layers of egg tempera with natural pigments from Egipt and Europe on gesso board, with liberal use of 22 karat gold lief. Lower layers give richness and depth to each color, while the top layer gives the body to the color. For blues I use exclusively azurite pigment, for reds the hematite and caput mortuum. And for the purples, the most valued in Binzantium, I use caput mortuum, burnt umber and Alizarin crimson.
Feel free to contact me (link on top) if you would like to learn more about the symbolism of colors in Eastern Orthodox iconography.
Below is the slideshow of most of my currently available icons. I have painted two icons after Andrei Rublev (St. Michael and The Trinity) and one after a traditional Byzantine icon (Eleousa).
I hope you find the same spiritual inspiration as I did when I painted these icons.
The icon painting technique involves painstaking application of several layers of paint on a wood board. I apply up to 7 layers of egg tempera with natural pigments from Egipt and Europe on gesso board, with liberal use of 22 karat gold lief. Lower layers give richness and depth to each color, while the top layer gives the body to the color. For blues I use exclusively azurite pigment, for reds the hematite and caput mortuum. And for the purples, the most valued in Binzantium, I use caput mortuum, burnt umber and Alizarin crimson.
Feel free to contact me (link on top) if you would like to learn more about the symbolism of colors in Eastern Orthodox iconography.
Below is the slideshow of most of my currently available icons. I have painted two icons after Andrei Rublev (St. Michael and The Trinity) and one after a traditional Byzantine icon (Eleousa).
I hope you find the same spiritual inspiration as I did when I painted these icons.