Waiting

"Hark, for the night is coming..."

Christmas Ornament

This little girl and her sisters will soon be on the way to the grandchildren and should arrive a bit before Epiphany. 

Still things to do, but there's an excitement to all the last minute preparations.  Come tomorrow night, nothing more will be done. 

A time out

For now I am putting aside Saint Paraskeva to prepare for Christmas. I have to order some more pigments so the timing is right.

One of the pigments I use frequently, and is most gone, is one our teacher referred to as nipolin white: a semi-transparent white. I believe Lithopone may be the white he was referring to and noticed I can order it through Kremer.

Evenings will be used to catch up on everything I should have started weeks ago.  Twelve days of Christmas though.  Phew!  

Saint Nicholas' Feast Day

My husband took this photo of Saint Nicholas on one of our recent visits to the Russian Icon Museum in Clinton, Massachusetts.

A number of years ago I turned to Saint Nicholas when there was uncertainty about a situation that would impact our family. So typical of our brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone before us, he interceded in a way that I wouldn't have thought possible.

John Singer Sargent

Life would be a whole lot easier if we had been made stick-figures.  About the only thing to do is practice, practice, practice. 

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin

Light from the television illuminates the face in much the same manner as the highlighting of icons. 

I wish I could recall what blogger had referenced Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, and been able give credit to his site. Petrov-Vodkin's portrait of Anna Akhmatova had such an iconic feel that I wanted to know more about his  background.  It came as no surprise to read he was first introduced to painting by two iconographers.

Iconography is a lense through which you view the world around you. It gives a deeper meaning to everything that you see and always points back to the Hound of Heaven.

To Every Season

"Time moves faster the older you get."  Not quite the words I hoped to hear from my father as the grand children's visit was nearing an end. 

There are days when I wish time would move more quickly until they are back in the area, but I have to remind myself each day has its own bidding and offers exactly what it's meant to.  In the meantime, we have been left with rich memories and endearing artwork. 

Fall Boquet

With all the excitement in preparing for family's visit, I forgot to pick up flowers for the kitchen table.  Before it was too dark, I headed outside and gathered some fall foliage. Not flowers, but just as colorful.   

Beyond Icons

Mental memory just doesn't kick in when rendering the human head. I hope a life drawing class is something I can enroll in come the new year.  Using yourself as a model has its drawbacks. It's difficult to ignore your eyeglasses where they magnify and distort the eye and cheek area. Eventually you have to take the glasses off--things are far from100% without them.  One drawing was an attempt to make a more iconographic self-portrait.  

Evenings I've been looking through YouTube for iconography and egg tempera demos.  Intrigued when I found this video of George Kordis's work, I went Googling his name further.  His illustrations and watercolors are as beautiful as his icons.

Saint Paraskeva Piatnitza

I've been procrastinating, yet now the time appears right--and all the more because she is remembered in October. 

Feast of the Archangels

I am completely disarmed by the beauty and gentleness of Fr. Gregory Kroug's icons. 

No painting, but a little time for reading and sketching from the book The Light of Christ by Andrew Tregubov. 

Color Mixing

Can't be sure which I appreciate more--the color, or the taste.

I've been referring to this book lately before beginning another icon.  So much is about the color.   

Solidago rugosa

I planted rough-stemmed goldenrod towards the back of my garden years ago.  Some consider it an invasive species; I enjoy it for the insects it attracts, especially monarch butterflies, and the color it brings to the garden when all other summer flowers are fading. It does rapidly spread--this fall there will have to be some weeding out.

Snowberry Clearwing Moth

Fall is near. Insect activity is slowing down now, and this is when you come across ones that are reaching the end of their lifespan.

What to do with  those you find that are too weak to fly.  It was leave this Snowberry Clearwing Moth for the birds to snack on, or to be inadvertently crushed underfoot.  Inside it came to finish out its days.

Father D

I nodded when Father Duddleswell groused, "And I thought this was going to be one day without thorns!"  Few of us will ever have our faith tested as did St. Catherine of Alexandria--I wince at the thought of having to bear the smallest of thorns.

When thorns are removed and another eventually takes it place, I forget my resolution to embrace the unpleasant, as readily as I do the pleasant, and sputter right along with Father D, "And I thought this was going to be one day without thorns!"

Dog Days

You know daytime temperatures are going to soar when the Dogday Harvestfly begins his song early in the morning.

I came across this one in the road on one of my morning walks. It's a bit trampled, but to see one is rare, at least for me.  If  you can get over the creepy crawly aspects of bugs, they are always a marvel for either their color, form, patterning, or all three.

The University of Michigan page has recordings of cicadas' calling songs.  The Tibicen linnei's  is described in the handbooks as the sound of a buzz saw.  As children, we thought their sound as that of a dentist drill--and none of us wanted to be reminded of that. 

Nature's Elements

Inspired by the decorative use of plants and animals at the Shrine of Sainte-Anne de Beaupre and this book, I attempted to create an embroidery pattern from one of my favorite wildflowers.  These little guys appear repeatedly in my sketchbook pages.

Each year bluets are one of the first spring flowers to emerge, and the amount of light they receive, and condition of the soil seems to affect their color. They can range anywhere from a pale blue-purple to an almost turquoise-blue--and each with a radiant little sun at the center.

Breaking down the elements was fun; finding the right stitches is another matter. 

Pilgrimage

Sometimes you need that mountaintop experience.  Ours was a two-day pilgrimage to Sainte Anne De Beaupre, 

"When one undertakes his visit to Saint Anne, he is conscious of doing something different from the ordinary practice of a believer" (Your Visit to the Shrine of Sainte-Anne de Beaupre--Samuel Baillargeon C.Ss.R).

The Christian walk is a lopsided one with one foot firmly planted on earth, the other seeking a toe-hold in heaven.  For the time we were there, we gratefully hobbled along.

Is You is,

or is you ain't? I think the red berry I have drawn is the fruit of a pin cherry; the green berries and blossoms are chokecherries.  Ah, well, a trip to the library will help sort things out. 

Garden Visitors

My garden is frequented by insects which are either very beneficial, or those that could have sprung from the pages of Exodus.  With a well, what are you going to do--and even if we had town water, spraying is not an option. 

Hmm, "This too shall pass."

In Paradisum

My husband had given me a sacred music CD to listen to as I worked on my icon studies: one of the pieces was Faure's In Paradisum.  The mystery and beauty of this piece has me hitting the replay button many, many times. 

Life Happens

I  watched these little goldenrod spiderlings climb from their nursery to the top of the plant.  When a steady breeze came along, the little ones became tiny hot air balloons: the silken thread they released would allow them to become airborne.  And who knows how far they travelled to a new residence. 

Their activity continued on for nearly and hour. When the wind became still, the activity in the nest slowed down and they all seemed to huddle in a mass once again.  How many days will it take for the nest to be completely empty?  

If you don't think life is happening all around you, just give it a few minutes.

The Senses

That added beauty to this day.

The smell of lilacs.

...of homemade bread.

...of line-dried sheets.

And later tonight, ...of a woodfire.

Dwarf Ginseng

It would be bad manners to pass by the same people years on end and never know their name.  I feel the same way about the animal and plant life that lives among us. Thank goodness for the Audubon field guides that help make identification easier.

"Dwarf" is the perfect name for this plant, and after struggling with magnifying glasses and microscope, I've come to the conclusion that some things are better left to a camera.

Saint Paraskeva

It may be because she is regarded as the patron of domestic well-being and happiness that I find myself drawn to Saint Paraskeva.  There's a saint for every aspect of your life.

A Holy Color

If you can't hold a rainbow in your hand, embroidery floss is the next best thing.  Confession--I removed some of the other blue hues that I had purchased before snapping this photo.  Blue is my color of choice, a color I have always been attracted to more than any other.

Blue, for me, always conveyed a sense of mystery, holiness, and after reading about the symbolism of color in icons, I realize it's something that's known, without being known.  Hmmm, does that make sense?

A Quiet Get-Away

Some of the more memorable get-aways, are those that are close to home.  My husband and I headed out one morning with a thermos of coffee and made our way to the local nature reserve: a 1,600 acre piece of land comprised of woods, meadows, salt marsh, and two barrier beaches.

The wind as it blows through the leaves of the quaking aspens mimics the sound of rain.  There's no desire to hurry along the trails.  Everything within you tells you to slow down--it's a time to listen and give thanks for the beauty that surrounds us.

And mother nature is her own artist.  Her handiwork, the forms, the patterns, the light.  There for us to stop, to marvel, and to enjoy.