On The Art Desk

My art Dest

This last month has been buissy. or at least that is how i like to thing of it. the truth is that i just haven't been drawing. i have been wanting to but between getting sick and lisa's wedding there wasn't a lot of time and i am just that lazy. however i have gotten my art desk a little more set up. as you can see. or kind of see. it is now against a different wall because we moved a table in there that will be used for other stuff, like bill paying. the room is a study or office not an art studio. but i have also got the use of my bulletin board which makes me very happy. with it i can tack up all of the sketches and what not that are connected to whatever i am working on. and know that it is in a study it is no longer in danger of being over taken by cards and what not that people sent me. it is not just for art and that is a nice thing.

people at the right end of the Cross

 Now I have gotten a very little drawing done. I have once again been working on the Icon for my church it is making slow process. mostly because it is a lot of people and I am taking my time and not working on it like i should. I really wanted to get it done by the feast of the cross but that is not going to happen. Anyway. One thing that really is hard for me is that I was trained in the western and modern style of art, at least that is what I am going to call it. if Mr. Prozinsky has a problem with that then he can tell me what it was really called.

part of the crowd of witnesses, there are 5 more. 

But the icon is in a completely different style. The faces are not organized they way portraits are organized, which sometimes makes it hard to figure out where they are looking or how to make them look like there are looking at where that are supposed to be looking. the foreshortening is for the most part ignored sometimes making the bodies look contorted. this is why I hate infancy icons, I think they are ugly. this has really been a problem with the cloud of witnesses, or at least that is what i am calling them. I think some of them are apostles. I would have to double check.

original sketch of resurected jesus

there are ten portraits surrounding the triumphant Jesus at the top of the cross. Some are looking and gesturing towards Jesus and some of them are conversing with each other. it is actually a very cool scene, it has just been hard to render. It was what i was working on last night. It is fun but slightly frustrating. in the icon some of the people have their eyes placed too high, and it looks strange to me.

This brings me to my worry about this drawing. drawing an Icon is not like drawing just any picture. An Icon is used in worship to help draw the worshiper deeper into worship. To give them a sense that they are no longer in the world but in the kingdom of God. Into heaven. the strangeness of the faces and foreshortening are meant to be seen as the saints are seen from heaven or in heaven. that is why icons sometimes look strange.

Resurected Jesus at the top of the cross

 It is a big endeavor and I worry that because of the way I draw I will stray from that tradition. That some how by adding my own style and method to the icon it will not be an icon. that it will be something else. I think in some ways this is most definitively foolish. but to add to a tradition that has been around for thousands of years is a little arrogant. or at least I worry about that.




Any way that I my drawing and thoughts on art for the month. till next time.