Icon Diploma Student

Learning to see with the eye of the heart

Posts tagged ‘Thessaloniki’

Living up a Tree (St David pt 2 of 3)

study on watercolour paper of st david of thessaloniki

St David offering food to a bird

Before I began to paint an icon of St David the Dendrite, I sat down to draw him. There are many lovely icons of St David, but there is one fresco in particular which really appealed to me.  The saint is depicted as an elongated figure with a toe-length beard wearing a light ochre garment set against a green background, amidst a leafy almond tree.

I haven’t been able to find the name of the iconographer to acknowledge him or her and would love to hear from you if you recognise the original fresco image.

pencil sketch of st David

Pencil sketch of Saint David up a tree with print of fresco image alongside

I used this fresco image as a reference to make my own drawing sketched on watercolour paper. Adding colour was the best way of seeing how it would look on the long thin icon board which I had already gessoed using a thick 25mm birch ply.

pencil sketch of st David

Pencil drawing of St David the Dendrite

I referred to my library of icon images to find male saints which helped me to construct the face.

 

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English ochre and black - colour palette

Colour palette – English ochre and black

Here’s the overall study with some more icons of this tree dweller.

st david of thessaloniki icon

Drawing and study on watercolour paper together with reference images

This icon study is now available to buy in my Etsy shop here. I will sign off with an image of my finished study in black and white.

drawing st David
Drawing of St David of Thessaloniki

Last part of this article will be about the finished icon…to be continued soon.

Thanks for reading,

Ronnie

 

St David the Dendrite (pt 1 of 3)

Mosaic of Christ in Majesty at Hosios David, Thessaloniki

Mosaic of Christ in Majesty at Hosios David, Thessaloniki

I’d like to dedicate the next few posts to my brother David, in Canada who will shortly be celebrating his 70th birthday. This will only be a matter of weeks after my nephew Joe marries Yasmin, so it’s a momentous time for the Canadian Sharps.

Reflecting on our icon diploma trip to Thessaloniki in 2015, one place remains firmly in my mind – Hosios David; Hosios/Osios is the title used for a monastic male saint in Greek. This was the first place we visited, climbing up the hill, looking out over the city and sea, then finding it was closed!

Janina, Keith and Susan climbing the streets aof Thessaloniki

Janina, Keith and Susan climbing the streets of Thessaloniki

The church is dedicated to St David, one of the patron saints of Thessaloniki, a 6th century Dendrite or ‘tree dweller’ and renowned ‘holy fool’.

Thessaloniki has a lot of happy memories for our family. We first heard about it when David drove his new Hillman overland from UK to Bahrain with Mum in 1975, forty years before our diploma trip. We lived in Bahrain for a few years and David taught at Gulf Technical College.

 

 

Long road ahead
David’s car on a dhow with Mum to the left
David keeping a hand on steering
David in 1975
Mum in 1975
Entrance to the church of St David the Dendrite of Thessaloniki

Entrance to the church of St David the Dendrite of Thessaloniki

We went back to Hosios David later in the week and this time we went inside this late 5th century church which has a full mosaic of the vision of Ezekiel made in the late fifth/early sixth century.

St David the Dendrite came from Mesopotamia and became a monk at the Monastery of Saints Merkourios and Theodore outside Thessaloniki.

From Wikipedia he was: ‘Famed for his sound advice, he was hounded by crowds seeking words of wisdom and prayer. Wishing a quiet, contemplative life, David fled to the seclusion of an almond tree, where he lived for three years.  He left the tree to petition the Byzantine emperor Justinian the Great in Constantinople to send soldiers to defend Thessaloniki from attack. David died in 540 as his ship was en route to Macedonia.’

Hokku writes: ‘After that time, an angel appeared to him (David), saying that God had heard his prayers, but that it was time for David to climb down and live in a monastic cell like other monks.  Because of his eccentric asceticism, David gained a local reputation as a holy man and healer, and was visited by many people seeking his help.’

The church is full of wonderful mosaics and frescos. The lighting was low but here are a few photos.

first glimpse of the mosaic in the apse

First glimpse of the 5-6th C mosaic in the apse with an icon of St David the Dendrite at the right

Hosios David Thessaloniki sketch

Sketch of the mosaic of the ‘Beardless Christ’ in the apse of Hosios David

Detail of a fresco of the nativity

Detail of a fresco of the nativity

detail of mosaic

Glimpse of mosaic in the apse, St David’s church, Thessaloniki

thessaloniki cat

Thessaloniki cat

St David is commemorated on June 26 by the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church on July 17.

To be continued…

Thanks for reading

Ronnie

Sketching Thessaloniki – a glimpse of an ancient land

Terracotta jars in Thessaloniki

Amphorae used in the wine and oil trade, 3rd to 6th Century, Thessaloniki, Greece

I’m not long back from our field trip to Thessaloniki, Greece; a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Travelling with a small group of icon diploma students, all passionate about our subject, we visited the mosaics and wall paintings in the ancient churches of Thessaloniki, led by Aidan Hart and supported by the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts.

The places we visited didn’t allow flash photography so most of my photos are a little too fuzzy to share here. However, I kept a sketch book and though most of these pen and ink drawings were done in 5-10 minutes, I hope they give you a flavour of the trip.

If you are really interested in looking at the wall paintings that we visited, here is a link which is well worth bookmarking and which I only discovered on my return, it’s a database of Byzantine art: Princeton University.

Hospitality from Harry at the Vlatadon Monastery

Hospitality from Harry at the Vlatadon Monastery – Greek coffee and ‘Greek Delight’

pen and ink sketch of 5th Century mosaics

Fragments of rich greens and blues of 5th century mosaics in the Church of Acheiropoietos

pen and ink sketch of Greek icon

500 year old icon of the ‘Hope of the Hopeless’

pen and ink sketch of Thessaloniki

Sketch of the apse and iconostasis in the Church of Archeiropoietos

pen and ink sketch of Greek cats

Basking Greek cats and a fragment of Roman archaeology

pen and ink sketch of Greek balcony

Balcony beside the Ecclesiastical Museum, Thessaloniki

agia Sophia pen and ink sketch

Looking toward the apse of Agia Sophia, Thessaloniki and the glow of the golden mosaics.

pen and ink sketch of Agia Sophia

Detail from the ceiling west of the dome of the Agia Sophia, Thessaloniki

tree sketch

Shape of a Greek tree in a planter

Well in the Crypt of St Demitrios, Thessaloniki, where the saint was martyred

Well in the Crypt of St Demitrios, Thessaloniki, where the saint (an officer in the Roman army) was martyred in AD303. The 7th C basilica was built on the ruins of a Roman bath complex.

Nicholas Orphanos

Nicholas Orphanos – wall paintings attributed to the school of Panselinos.

Hosios David Thessaloniki sketch

Mosaic of the ‘Beardless Christ’ in the apse of Hosios David, depicting the vision of Ezekiel, late 5th C

Finally, I will leave you with a few more sketches of life from the Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki.

sketch of greek necklaces

Necklaces and bracelets – delicate and fresh colours from the 2nd to 6th centuries.

oil lamp Byzantine

5th century lamp of Thessaloniki – approx 80mm x 60mm

column capital

Cube capital engraved with a cross which is formed by four diagonally carved oil or wine amphorae.

Thanks for reading.

Ronnie