Byzantine Iconography Painting Series 1: Painting Basics (2)

Welcome to Part 2 of the Painting Basics Series of Byzantine Iconography Tutorials. In these tutorials, we will continue the journey of discovering the magic of the limited tetrachrome palette while also learning to paint several types of garments that we will typically paint in icons. It is very important for beginners to practice painting different types of garments before jumping in to paint a complete icon. Often beginners place so much emphasis on the face thinking that if the face looks good, no one will notice that the garments don't. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that... as I myself learned the hard way!

Who would have imagined that black + white = blue? Well, that is precisely what we will be painting in the first lesson where we paint two garments in a  contrasting warm red and cool blue. These garments are also an opportunity for us to learn how to paint simple hanging folds.

In the next lesson, we will paint the white loincloth worn by Christ in the Theophany and Crucifixion icons. This is an opportunity not only to paint a white garment but also one that includes several different folds including drop folds, hanging folds, and a knot.

In the third tutorial, we will be painting a garment that many beginner iconographers struggle with, the head covering,  which has tricky curved lines that require a lot of practice. So we will start with a warm-up exercise. so you can build up your confidence with these lines before trying to paint the head covering. You will also discover how versatile the tetrachrome palette is as we will use the same colours that we used to paint the mauve sleeve in Part one to paint a dark burgundy head covering with cool photismata.

The basic material you will need for these tutorials are:

1. Pigments

   • Yellow Ochre (or Iron Oxide Yellow)

   • Iron Oxide Black

   • Light Mars Red (or Red Ochre)

   • Medium Mars Red

   • Titanium White

   • Zinc white (optional)

2. Egg Emulsion

   • Egg

   • White wine

   • Lavender or Basil essential oil

3. 2 Plastic dropper bottles for egg emulsion and water

4. Paint brushes (rounds with a good tip, flats and riggers)

5. Palette for mixing paint (a sheet of glass or plexiglass is optional)

6. Container of water for cleaning brushes.

7. Paper towel

8. Hot press watercolour paper for painting exercises.