| Painting an icon begins with plywood. Plywood is
used to prevent warping. Gesso is applied in several coats. I used
twelve layers of gesso on the Virgin Mary and nine on Saint
Michael. The difference is due only to my forgetfulness as to the
number of coats when painting my second icon. The photo below
shows the finished gessoed plywood. It has been sanded until extremely
smooth. |
After sanding, the sketch is made. I drew the icon
onto paper then used the method of punching holes in the drawing
and transferring it to the board. For the Virgin Mary, I used
graphite in a sachet to transfer the drawing. For Saint Michael, I
used an awl and punched holes through the sketch onto the board. I
am not sure I will like this second method. It is too soon to
tell. The photo below shows the transferred drawing in an early
stage of incising. Incising the sketch makes channels for the
paint. You can somewhat see the punctured drawing. |
