It's not often that a Saint intervenes and expresses their opinion on how they want their icon. but that is precisely what happened with this icon of St Maria Skobtsova of Paris. The commissioner asked for a full gold background and halo. Something told me that was not what St Maria would want, but as the the customer wanted gold, that is what I would do...but St Maria had other ideas! I had laid down the shellac and started with the glue size, but it behaved strangely so I wiped it off with white spirit and decided to try again but the cup of gold size fell over spilling everywhere. So I started over from scratch. I started laying on the size again but as soon as I reached the halo it suddenly became thick and unworkable! Again the cup of gold size fell over! I tried a third time and the same thing happened! The size became thick and the cup fell over again! Finally the bottle of white spirits fell on the icon! St Maria was adamant. She did not want gold on her icon! So I sanded off the shellac and painted  the background red for the blood of the Holy Martyrs. St Maria pray for us!
For a detailed explanation on painting black garments see my blog post about Painting St Porphyrios.

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Course includes:​

1. Introduction to Line, Rhythm and Drawing the Face
2. Drawing the Face in Dynamic Frontal Pose with Curved 
   Axes 
3. Drawing Ascetic Faces and Beards 
4. Drawing the Face in ¾ Pose Part 1 (Reverential Pose) 
5. Drawing the Face in ¾ Pose Part 2 (Upward Facing 
   Pose) 
6. Drawing the Face of the Infant Christ

Course includes:

1.  Drawing hands (Part 1)
2.  Drawing hands (Part 2)
3. Drawing the Half-figure in Frontal Pose 
4. Drawing the half figure in ¾ pose 

Course includes:

1. Basic Folds
2. Hanging Folds
3. Creating Volume with Line

Course includes:

1. Basic Structure of the Full Figure
2. Drawing Feet
3. Drawing a full figure Christ (Apostles & Prophets) 
4. Drawing Women Saints
5. Drawing Monastic Saints 

Course includes:

1. Drawing Hierarchs
2. Drawing Priests 
3. Drawing Deacons

Course includes:

1. Drawing Imperial and Noble Saints
2. Drawing Martyrs
3. Drawing Holy Unmercenaries (Basic Composition)

Course includes:

1. Drawing St John the Forerunner
2. Drawing Angels
3. Drawing Soldier Saints

Course includes:

1. Drawing the Basic 3/4 Figure
2. Drawing the Bowing 3/4 Figure
3. Drawing a Dynamic 3/4 Figure

Course Includes:

1. Drawing the Frontal (Enthroned) Seated Figure
2. Drawing a 3/4 Seated Figure (Introduction to Vertical or Relative Perspective)
3. Drawing a Reclining Figure
4. Drawing the Burial of Christ 
5. Drawing a Kneeling Figure

For this icon of the Extreme Humility I wanted the create a sense of peace and serenity. I had toyed with the idea of a red background, but decided instead to paint the icon using the under-painting technique and keep the colour palette calm an neutral. As usual I'm working with a limited tetrachrome palette of black, white, yellow ochre and ercolano red (plus some mars red for cooler tones).

​This is the sketch I made onto the panel. I later adjusted the position of the head before I started painting.

​Painting the outline with yellow ochre and black, the same colours that are used for the under-painting. This gives a unified tone to the whole icon.Not that I used a lighter colour for the loincloth that will be white. 

Then I build up the darker areas with the addition of black.

The light background is white, ochre and a touch of black.

I then work on the cross in the background and the tomb. The brown is red ercolano, yellow ochre and black. The tomb is mars red medium,white and black.

Note here that I have made the lines of the cross the tomb move in transverse diagonals. This helps create the optical cone in front of the painting surface that brings person depicted into the icon into the same time and space as the viewer and into communion.

Here I have done the grapsimata and darker areas on the cross and tomb with the addition of black. I also added a little more mars red to the tomb. 

The lighter layers on the cross are created with the proplasmos plus yellow ochre and the a touch of white.  For the tomb I added more black  to the proplasmos and then white. This creates a cooler tone which helps project the form off the surface.

The halo was painted first with a glaze of yellow ochre and then with white plus a little yellow ochre and a touch of black, and then in subsequent layers white was added. The  cross on the halo is black and white, which when seen in relation to warmer tones appears blue.

The loincloth was painted with a warm peach coloured tone made of white, yellow ochre and ercolano red. This warm tone contrasts with the cooler tone of the tomb. Remember that one of the basic principals of Byzantine iconography is the contrast between warm/cool and dark/light.

Here I start building up the grapsimata and hair with ercolano red and black.

The flesh tone is yellow ochre and white. More white is added to subsequent layers.

Here I have added the cool glaze between the flesh tone and the proplasmos in the broader/lighter side of the figure (flesh tome +black+ white). On the narrow/darker side of the figure I use a warm glaze made of ercolano red and yellow ochre. Normally this would also be used on the cheeks, bu t because Christ is dead in this icon, I haven't used it.

The first layer of psimithia/highlights is flesh tone and white.

The second layer is pure white and is only on the light/broader side of the figure.

"St Porphyrios has the most difficult face to paint". These were the words of iconographer Fr Justin Venn when I started work on this icon of St Porphyrios....and I wholeheartedly agree. There are not many photographs of him and it seems that in every photo he looks different. So most iconographers fall into the trap of painting is face like a naturalistic portrait collaged onto a byzantine body. So I almost have a sense of dread when someone commissions an icon of him and especially when they say we want his face to look like this or the other icon and for him to be smiling etc. Inevitably the icons they have sent me show a naturalistic portrait-like face. This means having to explain what I did in the previous post on St Sophrony. 
Besides the matter of the naturalistic face is the matter of wanting the saint to be depicted smiling like he is in his photographs. The icon is not supposed to show any emotion, it is not meant to influence or manipulate our feelings in the way that Western art does from the Renaissance on. Once the western image lost the ability to create a relationship with the viewer by projecting the figures into the same time and space as the viewer, the only way left to create a connection was through sentimentality, through manipulating the emotions. The Byzantine icon doesn't do this. Rather it leaves the viewer free to enter into the relationship or not. I have written in more depth about this subject here (Revisiting the Patristic Theology of the Icon Part 1: Setting Aside our Western Assumptions)
Another difficulty we face when painting contemporary saints is black garments. Byzantine iconography is essentially colour given form and hypostasis by line. The whole byzantine painting language is based on the contrast between warm and cool, dark and light colours. There are no black garments in Byzantine or post-Byzantine iconography, but now we are faced with contemporary saints who wear contemporary black clerical dress and the expectation to paint them that way, which most often results in dead lifeless garments. So how can we paint black garments without them looking dead and lifeless? By painting them in color. I will explain the process below.
So for  the initial preparation to paint this icon I found a frontal photograph of St Porphyrios with a fairly neutral expression on is face and where his eyes aren't squinting from the sun or a smile and I overlayed the line-work for the icon, finding the form of his beard and trying to create a sense of rhythm. 

I then made a rough sketch based on those forms.

Then I sketched the icon onto the panel.

After gilding the halo I paint over the basic forms using black and yellow ochre.

I paint the initial layers for the background so I can see how the colours work together while I'm painting. I chose a red background so that will contrast with the cooler "black" of the garments and make them more alive. 

I cover the garments with a dark olive proplasmos made of black and yellow ochre. In other icons with black garments I have used different coloured dark proplasmos for the different garments, but here, I'm sort of "breaking the rules" because of the intense warm red background, and not using a warm background for some of the garments. 

I then build up the grapsimata and dark areas with the addition of black to the proplasmos. Already we can see the figure is beginning to contrast with the background.

Now with the addition of white and a tiny bit more black to the proplasmos we have a cool bluish colour with which I build up the lighter layers. The proplasmos is actually warm in relationship to the lighter blue layers and this helps project the form and also make the black colour seem more alive.

Here I have completed the Gospel book and belt and have laid down the proplasmos for the face and hands (yellow ochre, ercolano red and black).

I then start building up the grapsimata  and details on the face and beard with red ercolano and black

I create the grey for the beard using the proplasmos for the face plus black and white and first lay down a glaze before building up the forms.

Then with the addition of white I build up the layers of the forms, each layer being smaller than the previous one,to create the sense of volume that projects the forms off the surface and towards the viewer.

The final white highlights are only added on the broader side of the face which projects towards the viewer.

Now I start building up the flesh tones with yellow ochre and white.

Each consecutive layer that is built up with the addition of white creates the volume and plasticity of the face.

And now to bring the face to life I add a cool glaze which is blended into the proplasmos on the broader side of the face which helps project towards the viewer  (white, yellow ochre and black). On the narrow side of the face as well as on the lower lip, cheeks and nose I add a warm glaze. This contrast of warm and cool suddenly brings life to the face that seemed quite flat and lifeless.

I continue building up the flesh with another layer of white. Here you can see that when the face is in the dynamic frontal pose (where the head moves in one direction, and the gaze in the opposite direction) now matter where you stand in relation to the icon the person depicted will be looking at you. 

Finally we paint the psimithia with the addition of more white.

The final white psimithia are only painted on the broader side of the face.

​Are you interested in learning Byzantine Iconography? I have numerous tutorials available on

One of the difficulties iconographers  face today is painting contemporary saints precisely because we have photographs of them and everyone knows what they look like down to the last wrinkle. So we have to deal with the expectation  of the faithful  that the icon will look exactly like the Saint as they know him, like a portrait. So many iconographers will paint a naturalistic  looking face on a byzantine style body which ends up looking like a bad Photoshop mashup. On the other hand if we paint the Saint in the byzantine manner we are  often  told it doesn't look exactly like the Saint!
So how should we portray contemporary saints? Should  they be painted as naturalistic portraits  so that they will look exactly as people have come to know them  or in the traditional byzantine manner? The real question however is which manner fulfills the function of the icon?
Let us start by defining what the icon is. According to the Church Fathers the icon is the physical form of a person, be that of Christ or the saints. In order for the depiction of a person to be an icon it must bear their form and their name. 
" Therefore it is in this form, seen by men, that the Holy Church of God depicts Christ… what the icon shares with the prototype is only the name, not what defines the prototype." (Acts of the 7th Ecumenical Council)
So the icon is one thing and the manner or style of depicting the icon is another. In Greek the distinction can be made between the icon as the form of the person (eikon) and the painted rendering of that form (eikonisma). The traditional forms of Christ and the saints are passed down by the church and belong to the Church, the artistic manner in which those forms are rendered belong to the painter: " Only the art is of the painter, whereas the disposition is certainly of the Holy Fathers" (Acts of the 7th Ecumenical Council)
The  Church fathers never defined the manner or style that this depiction should be in. So technically a naturalistic depiction that bears the person's name is an icon. But can it fulfill the function of the icon and what exactly is that function?
The icon is NOT a "window to heaven". That is a modern understanding of the icon that originated in the west and bears no relation to the teachings of the Church fathers; St John of Damascus. St Theodore the Studite, and others. The purpose of the icon not to lift us up out of reality into another world, but to make Christ and the saints present in the same time and space as the viewer and bring them into a relationship with us. 
Iconography is an expression of the body of the Church and not an expression of personal spirituality or a means of meditation. It is first and foremost liturgical art. In the Divine Liturgy we do not leave reality and  enter into or ascend to another world, God descends to us; the Holy Spirit comes down upon the Holy Gifts. The whole architecture of the church with the Pantokrator in the dome emphasises that "God is with us". He is present here and now. The "Kingdom of God is at hand". In the Divine Liturgy past, present and future are united, as events of the past and the future are made present. This is why the hymns speak of past events as happening "today" and we remember the second coming of the Lord. Everything becomes "now"; everything becomes present, and It is this presence in the same time and space as the viewer that the icon reveals to us, not by opening up a so-called "window to heaven" beyond the surface of the painting, but by projecting the persons and events depicted off the painting surface and into the same time and space as the viewer with the aim of bringing them into communion. The icon makes visual what we experience in the Divine Liturgy. The saints depicted on the wall are not  in heaven that we look at  or are "lifted up to" through a window, they are alive here present with us in the here and now.
The byzantine manner of painting was developed because of its ability to do this through the use of line, rhythm, colour and movement. It is able to project the figures off the painting surface and into the same time and space as the viewer. In order to do this the forms are simplified. St Photius the Great tells us that the icon must be rendered in a manner befitting holiness, with a sense of solemnity. The image is purified of elements that are secondary or of "human curiosity" -eye colour, every single wrinkle, scars etc; things that have no spiritual or sotiriological reason. The abstract simplification of forms helps create the sense of calm and solemnity. The rhythmic use of line and the bright luminosity of the colours in byzantine iconography creates a sense of harmony and tranquility and also projects the forms towards the viewer.
The figures are depicted in' a dynamic frontal pose as this pose is able to project the figure off  the painting surface. The head moves slightly in one direction and the eyes in the opposite direction. That way no matter where the viewer is standing in relation to the icon the person depicted in the icon is looking at them and they are brought Into a relationship. There is a sense of both movement and stillness in the icon and it is this that creates the sense of presence.
So this is what we as  iconographers need to do when painting contemporary saints and it is no easy task. We need to take their familiar form and purify it of unnecessary elements. We need to give the form the rhythm and movement that will project it off the surface and into Communion with the viewer.   The biggest difficulty we face is the lack of understanding not only on the part of the faithful, but many iconographers that creating the sense of rhythm and movement that will bring the saint into communion with the viewer is more important that the exact photographic likeness of the saint.

So in order to paint St Sophrony I studied several photos of him to find the natural rhythm in his features in order to translate them into byzantine rhythm. Fortunately his features lend themselves very easily to this. So I made a few preliminary sketches of his face and the basic layout of the icon. This is a small icon which makes maintaining the likeness of the features even more difficult.

I decided to go with fairly dark blue  background (made with black and white) as I wanted his figure to appear radiant. Colour in byzantine iconography works on the contrast between warm and cool and dark and light colours. So the cool dark background will contrast with his light warm phelonion. The olive border (black, oche, white) is a warmer tone compared to the blue.

Black garments are the most difficult to paint and not have them look dead and lifeless. I start of with a warm toned dark  proplasmos of  black and ochre and make sure that the colour is semi-tranparent and not opaque as the white shining though will keep the colour lively.

I build up the grapsimata and dark areas with the addition of black.

I then add white which created a cooler toned colour that in contrast to the warm toned proplasmos will make even the black garments look lively and not flat and lifeless.

Although the phelonion and sticharion are "white" in byzantine iconography everything is colour and even white garments will start from a colour base. The phelonion is a very light peachy colour made from white, yellow ochre and red ercolano to contrast with the cool background, and the sticharion is a very light cool blue made with black and white to contrast with the warm phelonion. 

I build up the grapsimata with the addition of yellow ochre and red ercolano and a touch of black in the darker areas.

The lighter layers are pure white which is cool in contrast to the warm peachy proplasmos and that contrast of warm and cool helps project the figure off the surface.

For the grapsimata on the sticharion, I added a touch of mars red making a purply mauve colour that will help project the blue/white towards the viewer.  Byzantine iconography works the in the  opposite way to naturalistic painting. Warm colours are used in the background (proplasmos, grapsimata) and cool colours on top of them to project the forms off the surface.

The proplasmos for the face and hands is made of ochre, red ercolano and black. I cover the hair with it as well as the warm undertone makes the beard more lively and it gives a more organic  look. The beard is made with the proplasmos from the face plus white and black. I first cover the whole beard with a glaze and then start building up the forms. The grapsimata for the face are made with ercolano red and black and built up with more black.

The flesh tone is ochre and white. Again I start with a semi-transparent layer and then build up the forms. In the subsequent layers more white is added.

This is where the face starts coming to life. On the wider side of the face, which is projected towards the viewer, I blend the skin tone into the proplasmos with a cool glaze make from the skin colour and a touch of black. Again this cool colour helps to project the figure towards the viewer. On the narrow side, which is further from the viewer I use a warm glaze made with red ercolano and ochre.  This is also used on the lower lip, cheeks, the darker side of the nose and the bottom of the nose as well as the darker parts of the hands. 

All the lines of the face, from the eyebrows to the cheeks to the psimithia and the hear create a rhythmic movement and harmony that create a sense of tranquility.

​Are you interested in learning Byzantine Iconography? I have numerous tutorials available on