Free Projects

Our lady of Odighitria or of the good journey
Our Lady of Glicofilussa or of the tenderness

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Dear Friends, here I am to give you some details on how to paint these icons. Particularly these ones are executed using the Mount Athos Greek monks' antique technique. I tried a couple of times the Russian subjects but I didn't find the same sweetness as with the Greek ones. Let's start from the wood: it can be made of pine, fir, oak, but cherry is the best! It has to be dry, without worms, flat and cut in the size of your choice - 20cm. x 20 could be a good start for beginners. The wood has to be cleaned, smoothed but not wet. Then you will prepare the warm (and not hot) gelatin (if you don't find the gelatin you can replace it with isinglass) that has to be applied on both sides of the wood with a broad and flat brush. Now it has to dry up for at least two days in a dry place, away from sun and dust. After these two drying days, you can start the real preparation with the primer: on the space you want to paint you will first have to spread several layers of plaster and after these will be perfectly dry you will be able to apply the gold-foil with the help of egg. Once you have chosen your subject you will paint with precision avoiding errors, using only natural products as coloring earths and vegetal colors, all of them always thoroughly diluted with egg yolk and vinegar, adding also just a bit of salt that will help fixing the color better.
These colors are quite difficult to find, but in Fine Arts' shops it shouldn't be impossible to find them. Anyway if you are in Greece you will still be able to run into shops carrying them at a reasonable price. Otherwise, if you have friends over there... The result will be an icon that immediately will have an ancient look even if it has to dry up extremely slowly... but it is just this slowness that will give your icon such an archaic and mystique aspect! Naturally the work is long (from three to five weeks altogether following the atmospheric factors), but at the end your satisfaction will be great!

Lucia ellegi07@libero.it