traditional Mother of God icons now showing in group exhibition

Two of my traditional Eastern Catholic icons are on exhibition in Incarnation Icons at the Cloisters Gallery, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Portland, Oregon from November 1, 2009 - January 2, 2010.

if you're in portland, it's worth a visit to this beautiful exhibition. many of the icons are written by my vancouver, washington teacher, virginia barber! sally wooley did a great job organizing and hanging the show.

the icon pictured here, Kykotissa Mother of God, is based on a prototype from St. Catherine's monastery in the Sinai. the feel of it is so Arabic, very different than the typical russian prototypes, and the appeal was very strong. when i visited the Getty Museum in december 2006 and saw the amazing iconography exhibition from St. Catherine's monastery, i was inspired to write this icon. on a recent trip to LA and a return to the Getty, i saw these two icons from their collection, but i failed to note the artist's names, dates, and other crucial information...just was snapping away (without flash, of course!) while chatting with my LA illustrator friend, Gail.

KYKKOTISSA MOTHER OF GOD ICON

this icon was NOT done in a day. it was a long process, just completed (except for the final stage of olipha, or oiling the icon to preserve it), on friday. the medium is egg tempera on gessoed wood panel with 23k gold leaf and shell gold. it measures approximately 8 inches by 10 3/4 inches.

the original Kykkotissa Mother of God icon which was the prototype for this one comes from St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai. in December i viewed an exhibition of icons (not including this one) from St. Catherine's at the Getty Museum in LA—wow!

this weekend i was away at the oregon coast visiting dear friends from RAIN magazine days, and so i did not paint, but will use some of the beauty and inspiration in my daily paintings this week.