On Painting Icons

In the event you are not a reader of Books & Culture, I recommend you consider it. The most recent online edition has a review of a book about making icons, and the review is by Frederica Mathewes-Green, and here’s a valuable clip to whet your appetite:

During the entire time the iconographer prays and fasts. She will maintain an inner gaze toward Christ and the brothers or sisters in faith whom she seeks to present; she will abstain from meat and dairy products, or follow whatever fast her spiritual mother or father has advised. Her task is not creative, in the usual sense of being an exercise of self-expression. She is more like a Bible scribe of ancient times, aiming to faithfully pass on the truth she has received. For this reason, the art of making icons is often termed “writing” rather than “painting”; an icon presents the figures and events of the Bible and church history in paint rather than ink.