St Benedict's School of Iconography

St Benedict's School of Iconography runs workshops at Galong Monastery once a year.
Our Master Iconography is Patrick Bernard.

Allan is a very  passionate artist, he loves to experiment

 with new and old techniques.

Jeff is a very capable artist, he is writing the Baptism of Jesus at the moment. He recently attended a workshop  in the States.

Allen does magnificent icons on a slightly larger scale. He is working on the Agony in the Garden

Mick as a number of other members joined our group last year. We gather 12 times a year and Patrick guides us in the Byzantine method of Iconography.  We are very grateful to have Patricks expertise.

63rd National Cherry Festival at Young NSW December 2012

We went to Young today to buy some of the delicious cherries in season at the moment.

We had orders for cherries from several of our Canberra friends and have eight kilos awaiting delivery.

Fresh from the farm they seem to be much more juicy than we are able to buy in the shops.

We bought 'Van' cherries - they are a large, juicy, flavoursome variety - yum.

 We did enjoy the Cherry Pip Spit Competition.

How does anyone spit a cherry pip 11.55metres!! - ask Nick from Young NSW he can - amazing

There were many different cherry spitting techniques

And the Champions of the Cherry Pip Spit - Nick, Lara from Germany and Nick from Young are with the Young Cherry Queen Maddison O’Hara

Well done guys - I don't know how you did it.

St Michael the Archangel Icon

 At the moment I am writing the Icon of St Michael the Archangel.

As you can see from the process pictures below it is not completed yet.

I am using Egg Tempera on a prepared gesso board. 

I will add gold leaf and gold assist.

I have a great devotion to St Michael.
As you will see earlier in my blog I went to 

Saint Michael the Archangel's Cave in Italy - Mont Santangelo- in the Gargano, a wonderful experience.

St Michael the Archangel Icon

St Teresa of Avila Icon

St Teresa of Avila, Icon by Sue 2012
Feast Day 15 October

The Trinity Icon, by Andrei Rublev

Based on The Trinity Icon by Andrei Rublev circa 1410

This is the Icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev. I have almost completed writing this Icon.

It has been a wonderful journey, I started 6 years ago - not  a wise choice as it was the third Icon I commenced to write.  The journey has been pains taking each step of the way.

Trying to capture what Rublev was conveying has meant a lot of research, soul search, looking at other works of the same image and deciding what to keep and what to discard.

A query I had - was do I guild the sky or leave it ungilded. I was delighted to find that when the sky was gilded the figures became more prominent. This surprised and fascinated me as I thought the gold would be over whelming, but as you can see it 'makes sense' of the composition.

There are so many symbols in the icon.
I hope it will bless you as much as it has me.

Mother of Tenderness Icon

This is the Icon I have been working on recently - Mother of  Tenderness.

She is from the book - A Brush with God - an Icon Workbook by Peter Pearson.

I has been a joy and blessing to follow the instructions in this little book and write such a beautiful Icon of the Blessed Mother. 

Canberra in Autumn

Nara Peace Park in Canberra ACT is beautiful in Autumn

          Just one of the many beatiful vistas in Canberra.

Canberra is a colourful sight during autumn. Because of the cooler weather in Canberra we are blessed to experience all the colours and autumn season can bring. The streets are lined with a numerous variety of trees just bursting with colour.

Clear blue skies highlight the autumn shades on the trees

We have planted a number of Liquidambars, Claret Ashes and Silver Beerches in the hope of having a garden which is restful and cool in Summer, magically coloured in autumn and fresh and life giving in Spring. Here's hoping.