Icons
Christ Fresco Study, Macrina Lewis, 2003. Done in a class with Fr. Simon Doolan.
Please enjoy the resource links and articles we have collected on iconography. If you have suggestions or would like to add content, please contact us using the form below. At present we have no icons for sale, but when we do you will find them listed and pictured here.
Iconography 101
- The Icon: Theology in Line and Color
- Bright Icons The Iconographer’s Handbook contains a wonderful little blog of iconic tidbits.
- The Holy Icon by Leonid Ouspensky is a good theological introduction to why Orthodox Christians use icons.
- Christian Art: Icons, Murals, Mosiacs…”A highly informative site with many photos, abstracts, academic studies, and resources for the study of Orthodox art.
Iconographers
All the iconographers we provide a link to are Orthodox Christians painting in traditional style who have achieved a significant level of artistry.
- Leonid Ouspensky: A lovely online tribute to a great iconographer of the preceding generation. Includes biography and gallery pages.
- Fr. Andrew Tregubov, Master iconographer, student of Ouspensky.
- Fr. Simon Doolan & Workshop of St. Gregory of Sinai, Master iconographer, student of Ouspensky.
- Anna DuMoulin Daughter of iconographer Fr. Andrew Tregubov. One of the best of the up-and-coming iconographers. A lovely website, too!
- Nicholas (Brian) Tsai Another promising iconographer becoming active in the Bay Area. He is doing the new icon for Orthodox Circle.
- St. Isaac of Syria Skete Yes, they do more than print icons; not all of their hand-painted icons are technically mature, however there are a number of lovely and accomplished ones for sale currently.
Technique
- Fr. Simon Doolan and St. Gregory of Sinai Workshop Here you can view pages on panel icon painting technique as well as a photo log of the evolution of a face and an article on the use of olifa (varnish).
Theology
- The Holy Icon by Leonid Ouspensky. A brief article introducing the basic theology behind icons.
- Return to the Purity of the Icon and subsequent pages: see below at “Resurgence of the Traditional Icon”
History
- Resurgence of the Traditional Icon in 1930’s France This is a foundational and lengthy essay detailing the movements of a critical time in the modern history of the icon. One of the primary actors in this drama was Leonid Ouspensky, the father of many of the best iconographers painting today. While the first three sections mainly deal with ecclesial and theological issues, from the page entitled “Return to the Purity of the Icon” to the end is an excellent and most important treatment of the icon and iconography.
- Blago Treasure A Serbian website dedicated to recording and archiving all iconographic material in the many older churches (some 13th - 14th C) which are damaged and/or disintegrating. A fascinating site with lots of pictures. Getting used to the navigation is well worth it. Click on “Blogo Archives” in the upper left corner and you will see a list of churches you can choose to view. Lots of frescos.
Mosaic
- Active Mosaic Workshop of St. Gregory Sinai Monastery, Fr. Simon Doolan.
- Tatiana Zlobina is presumably an Orthodox mosaicist working in Russia. Her icons are beautiful; make sure to click on the photos to enlarge and see the entire image.
- ClassicalMosaics.com This is a great collection with photos of the major Byzantine and ancient mosaics from throughout Italy and Istanbul. The greatest thing about this site is that you can click on the individual icons and get a larger image so that you can see all the tessarae. A great compendium you can really get lost in!
- MosaicAtlas.com Another fascinating site which lists photos of mosaics by country. Most of these shots are taken on-location by a variety of contributors. You can look up, for example, mosaics in Greece, and then choose from a list of cities.
- Brian McMorrow This man has been extremely busy taking photos of mosaics from all over the world. He has a great collection of Orthodox images pulled from Russia, Greece, and many other countries.
Fresco
- Photo Journal: Dormition of the Theotokos in Santa Rosa, CA. Use the left bar to scroll through these many, many photos capturing the process of creating a wall fresco. You will see some of the best icon drawing in the world on these pages. It feels like you’re there watching it appear!
- Technique of Fresco by Fr. Simon Doolan, a technical article.
- Active Portable Fresco Workshop of St. Gregory of Sinai Monastery
- Fresco Painting an Orthodox Church A long article on the painting of St. Seraphim of Sarov Church in Santa Rosa, CA. Gorgeous pictures and informative text.
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Architecture
- On Earth as it is in Heaven: Form and Meaning in Orthodox Architecture by Andrew Gould. An excellent article by an Orthodox architect. Highly recommended: informative and illuminating. Also, visit his website and see the gorgeous designs he and colleague George Holt have done.
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Embroidered Icons
- Matushka Galina Tregubov a highly skilled and experienced Orthodox embroiderist in the US.
- St. Elizabeth Grand Duchess Monastery in Etna, CA do lovely embroidered icons.
- Fr. Dimytro Blazheyovskiy Brief article on a renowned Ukrainian embroiderist.
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Other Liturgical Arts
- Orthodox Tombstones by Fr. Andrew Tregubov. He offers both unique hand-carved tombstones and very lovely iconographic etchings that can be put onto a standard tombstone slab. As he writes: “There is a noticeable lack of traditional iconographic imagery in our cemeteries. The profound meaning and beauty of Orthodox burial are not matched by standard secular tombstones.”
Materials
- Iconofile The largest company in the US dedicated to materials for iconography: pigments, books, gesso, brushes, gilding. They were producing a magazine and you can backorder old copies, but it appears they haven’t produced a new one since 2005.
- Sinopia.com A great shop for German-made Kremer pigments and other icon supplies. Located in San Francisco.
- Smalti.com A good resource for smalti used in Byzantine Mosaics. This supplier carries smalti manufactured in Mexico – the only manufacturer in the Americas.
- WitsEnd.com Another source for mosaic materials from a company with small town values. Especially interesting is their TREND Karma line which has a nice-looking and less expensive substitute for gold smalti.