Experiments in Iconography, Part I

When many people think of the Byzantine Empire, they probably think of one of these shiny things:

I am not a religious person mundanely, but I’ve always found the artistry of Orthodox iconography to be hauntingly beautiful. Icons have been a part of the religious tradition of Greece and Russia since the Byzantine Empire, and come to find out, the techniques used to create them are pretty much spot on to what have been done in period as is used today.

So today, I spent quite a bit of money on supplies to get started on attempting to paint my first icon, using period mineral pigments and composite gold leaf (No way I can afford the real stuff right now.) I did cheat a bit with getting gesso boards instead of preparing my own with poplar wood, rabbit skin glue, and natural gesso, but I only have so much money for this, and I’d rather not spend hundreds on creating something that I may completely screw up. Even the pigments I got, although natural, are not top of the line. I will be mixing them into egg tempera, the period method of using egg yolk and white wine to create a paint medium.
I’m pretty excited about starting this project. I’m also scared to death. So this will be the next multi-post series here on ye olde Anachronistic and Impulsive.