Icon Diploma Student

Grinding Azurite

This time last year, I bought a small lump of azurite from the Lapidary shop in Burslem, Staffordshire. I made a start at grinding it up in a pestle and mortar but since I didn’t need it at the time, saved the last stage of fine grinding to a powder with a glass slab and muller till later – ie now.

I am working on a triptych (see previous post) where I would like the two standing angels to be painted in a heavenly sky blue so it’s been back to the grindstone to extract this gorgeous colour.

Lump of pure Azurite, approx 2cm cube

Aidan Hart, demonstrated how to grind Azurite during class last year which I filmed. You can watch the process over here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-FHvAxwg9w.  It is an amatuer video so not very good quality, but it captures the process.

First crunch of azurite

This was last years work, crunching up the rock with a small hammer. It’s surprisingly enjoyable as you see the blue emerge.

I bought a slab and muller from Patricia Lovett at her Gilding and Traditional Illumination Skills workshop some years ago. It really has come into its own now as I still have malachite, haematite and chrysocolla to grind up.

Use a glass slab and muller to grind up the pigment

I placed about a tablespoon of pre-ground up pigment on to the slab and added just enough water to make a paste then ground it up, clockwise and anti clockwise, scraping the pigment back into the middle until the paste glides smoothly under the muller.

 Mixing with a little water makes the paste

Ray offering a helping paw

Mopping up every last bit of paste with a palette knife and mop brush

A variety of blues emerging as you wash or levigate the pigment

Large particles give a deeper blue

Drying out the azurite pigment in the sun

Pigments at last! Samples show mine on the left and the darker pigment of a pre-bought pigment on the right.

This took the best part of a morning but I’ve made enough pigment to easily last me a year or longer. Next post will hopefully show some of this azurite in use on my triptych.

Thanks for reading,

Ronnie

Students concentrating on their work. L to R Lee, Joan, Ekatarina, Janina, Martin

Hello again!

Like buses, two posts come along in a row. Whilst Aidan Hart demonstrated the membrane technique for our Mandilions, I made a few video clips so that we can refer back to the method and help it sink in. These are all posted on You Tube in the same folder/channel as the Gilding demos.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuoKiOeoJ–X7JkVpvuCOqQ

First transfer the monochrome or drawing, then underpaint the mandilion in terre verte and yellow ochre. Protect the gilding before starting.

Aidan’s demonstration icon,  with membrane layer washed over the face. Hair will be done with the proplasmos technique.

Fran and Lee in class with Susan’s Mandilion taking shape in the foreground.

Aidan applies first layer of highlights using yellow ochre light with a touch of white.

Aidan’s Mandilion: Second layer of highlights

Aidan’s Mandilion: Highlights and hair

The method, demonstration and the rest of the stages are all on the You Tube clips. Hope this encourages you to pick up your brush again!

Thanks for reading.

Ronnie

It’s been over a week of good intentions but I have not settled down properly to brush practice until today. Norman has arrived, three months old and so full of beans that whatever I try to do, he wants to do it better. There’s been little in the way of stillness with our new three pet dynamic at loggerheads. I’ve been asking for help from St Frances, but I think he is enjoying the entertainment too much.

On top of this, my first exhibition at Newcastle-under-Lyme library, for ‘Drawing the Street‘ has been quite a hit. ‘Seeing with the eye of the heart’ applies to our wider surroundings too and it is wonderful that people are starting to look at their town with renewed interest. 

For those who are interested in the icon course content, I am going to see if I can upload a pdf of my notes. If they don’t appear on this blog and you would like a copy, please get in touch with me and I will send a pdf over to you.

28 Oct 13 Day 1 29 Oct 13 Day 2 30th Oct Day 3

I have been practising brush strokes, with one or two which came out ok but more practice required on the exit part of the stroke. We are aiming at being able to complete a hundred or so consistently even calligraphic lines, straight, curved and diminishing, all in one go. 

Brush stroke practice

We have four monochrome studies to complete. This is proving much harder to do than I thought. We all made great progress at Moele Brace, no distractions and fellow students supporting one another, but home life however is another matter. 

I have made a start on St John, which is taken from that compellingly beautiful and moving icon “the Holy Virgin Kataphigi (Refuge) and St John the Theologian” which came from the Poganovo monastery c1395. I am starting early with my practice on this as I would love to have this as one of my finished pieces.  As you will see from my efforts below, I have a long way to go. That’s ok, I am looking forward to watching things unfold from these early hesitant efforts. 

St John in rough pastel sketch

As a warm up, I did a rough pastel sketch. Looking at it a little later I could see St John’s face was too wide, the tilt of his head up a little too far. A helpful exercise though. Please ignore my messy strokes, I did this quickly to try and get a feel for the proportions. 

I then did a rough sketch in red earth light tempera wash to establish the structure. Again, it’s not quite right, but I will keep at it. I hope that in my next post, there will be a little more progress. I have also got to get better with my brush strokes. 

St John, first wash in very dilute egg tempera

Thats all for now. Thanks for reading and all the best with your own icon studies. R