Prayer & Worship Buying hand-painted icons

[Roosh]

Where is a good source to buy hand-painted Orthodox icons? A web search did reveal several sources but I wonder if there are any other recommendations...

Icons painted with egg tempera in Catalog of St Elisabeth Convent

Icons which are painted in the ancient style using egg tempera paints, can be custom ordered from the Icon painting studio. High Quality Hand-Painted Orthodox Icons

catalog.obitel-minsk.com

Hand-Painted Orthodox ICONS | Online STORE & Catalog

Hand-Painted Orthodox Icons for sale. Best balance of quality and price. Large catalog of icons for sale, hand-painted with tempera on wood. Orthodox and Catholic images.

hand-painted-icons.com

Jesus Christ Icons Archives

Original hand-painted Christian Jesus Christ icons for sale. Byzantine icons written by experienced iconographers in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania.

www.blessedmart.com

Hand-painted Orthodox icons by Zefir Kukushev

Hand-painted Orthodox icons made in old technique, painted with egg tempera on wooden panel in Byzantine, Russian and Greek styles. You can order icons from the orthodox iconography or custom made icons.

orthodox-icons.net

Hand painted Greek Orthodox icons of Jesus Christ- Hellenic Art

Greek Orthodox Icons of Jesus Christ handmade & handpainted by expert Greek hagiographers. Exact reproductions of antique Byzantine masterpieces, 24k gold.

www.hellenic-art.com

Jesus Christ Icons from Mount Athos | monastiriaka.gr

Rich collection of icons of Jesus Christ from Mount Athos.

www.monastiriaka.gr

Gallery

© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

www.pd-icons.com

 

[Hermetic Seal]

St. Elizabeth's Convent makes nice stuff.

I also really like these iconographers:

Fr. Paul Drozdowski (ROCOR) (Probably my favorite contemporary iconographer I've seen)
Brian Matthew Whirledge (AOA)
Aidan Hart

There are probably other iconographers like them, but those are the ones I know best. Expect high prices and long wait times, but the results will be worth it.

 

[budoslavic]

There are some USA-based Russian Stores/Shops that sell items from Russia. You will find some nice hand-painted icons.

The Russian Shop Maison Russe Gifts online and brick and mortar in Lisle IL

We specialize in unique, vintage and artistic Russian gifts. We are Maison Russe (The Russian Shop) in Lisle IL. In business, and family owned for nearly 50 years. The Russian gifts that we sell includes Lomonosov porcelain, traditional "matryoshka" nesting dolls, miniature painting on lacquer...

therussianshop.com

Russian Icon Store - We Buy & Sell Antique Russian Icons, Holy Relics & Orthodox Artifacts

Russian Store - We buy and sell antique Catholic relics and Russian icons. Shipped from the USA since 1994.

www.russianstore.com

Edit. Off topic...check out this cool cookie cutter tool to bake your own cookies, cake, etc.

Products

Bring Orthodoxy to People through Icons and Art, Orthodox Night Lights, Orthodox Icons, Christ, Theotokos, Baptismal Towel, Burial Shroud, Cross Cookie Cutter, Icon Cross Stitch patterns

easterngiftshop.com

 

[Cervantes]

He prays and fasts during the painting of each icon and makes his own paint according to traditional methods:

Holy Images

Welcome to the online home of Holy Images, Iconography by Christopher Gosey . Christopher creates Ethiopian and Byzantine Icons; teaches workshops in the creation of these beautiful images and...

holyimagesnh.weebly.com

 

[tractor]

I recently bought an icon here: https://www.etsy.com/de/shop/TheHolyArt

These are also handmade but too "vintage": https://www.etsy.com/de/shop/VanasCollection

 

[PaulC]

Iconographer Brendan Kulp makes icons in the traditional method. His father is the priest of St. John the Baptist Church (ROCOR) in Blue River, Wisconsin. His brother, Fr. Dimitri Kulp has a workshop where he makes the gessoed icon boards and makes other wooden items.

https://www.stjohnsblueriver.org

http://www.stjohnsiconstudio.com

https://stjohnsworkshop.com

 

[MKE-Ed]

I would visit any city or area that has a small to medium sized Russian community. They usually have small shops that sell Christian figurines and small religious statues. There is a small Russian community in the Midwest city where I live and at one time a few years back, they actually had a store that sold those types of items. They had some very interesting items . Sadly, the store is now out of business.

 

[wayfaringstranger]

Slightly OT but sometimes icon makers offer workshops on how to make them; if they really teach it the traditional way, this can help you understand the process and how it's actually a spiritual exercise as much as an artistic one.

 

[Roosh]

Here's another iconographer:

 

[Hermetic Seal]

I finally got my custom-ordered icon of my patron Saint, Saint Edwin. Took a while, but I'm extremely pleased with the result, so it was well worth it.

 

[Easy_C]

Another option: find an artist who is Orthodox or Catholic and email them asking for a comission. Or ask around. I've taken up a new practice myself where every Christmas I paint a new statue which is rotated between family members as a gift.

 

[Philonous]

As an artist, I’m born with the odd ability to paint my own icons, should I chose to do so. However, any fine art is time consuming, and unless I feel I’m called by God to do religious artworks (or any artworks—political editorial artworks), then I don’t veer from my existing portraits and projects.

Most icons are done with multiple transparent layers of egg-tempera on wood panel, gradually building a deeper color. A coat of translucent white is then laid overtop, giving the saint’s portrait opacity (this can be changed if the saint was of a dark-skinned extraction). Finally, highlights and shadow details are laid over this.

Traditional icon painting in an Orthodox convent:



I prefer the work of this iconographer. I like how he geometrically highlights the slender folds of the Theotokos’ holy garment, and then even adds crystal-like shards of light to the face and the hands:



A little less sleepy than the ones done by the nuns. Interesting, yet not irreverent.

I do have an oil painting of the holy mother and child I’m working on, but she’s not an icon, nor even made to look like one. Nonetheless, I found myself buying a small bag of “premium gold leaf flakes” when I was at the art store, and I may just do the halos in these (that, or the trim of her garment—or both).

Gold flake creates a surface that seems like rippled water, whereas gold leaf creates one like still water. I think the rippled effect will work better with my naturalized Mary.

Let me also say something about the longevity of fine artworks, including icons.

We live in a dimension where all man-made things wear out. The pyramids of Giza seem to be the oldest architectural structures in existence, yet up close you notice their gigantic external stones are cracking and disintegrating, starting to look like indistinct boulders.

The same with icons. “Lasting a long time” isn’t the same as being eternal. Over decades the egg tempera will absorb the soot of sanctuary candles, darkening the saint’s portrait and eventually turning the whole thing black. It’s not uncommon to see centuries-old icons that look like solid black silhouettes, everything shadowed except the gold leaf (or silver leaf).

Ergo, if you can accept the temporariness of man-made things you’ll be more content than those who can’t (or at least you’ll stop expecting artists to create works that last a million years, which is impossible).

 

[Roosh]

I ordered my first two hand-painted icons from a Greek artist on Etsy. He uses an aging technique that I prefer. I'm very pleased!