I‘ve been making more of those icons.
I round their edges with a knife and oil them, and now I’ve been adding some gold leaf to the halos, it really takes them up a notch. Father Mark, the priest of my parish has been speaking to a few of his friends that make icons. They don’t seem to approve. Icons are meant to be something you make while fasting and saying specific prayers, they’re meant to be done in a specific way.

I think that that’s a nice thing, but not everybody can afford a hand-made icon like that, and further, some of the most beloved icons in history were made with methods totally outside of the ultra-strict tradition. In fact, that’s exactly how they became so beloved, they showed people something new. 

I don’t think mine are in that category exactly, they’re not that exciting. But maybe some day they could be. Maybe some day the religious art I make could be inspiring. 

Perhaps the most inspiring piece of religious art I’ve ever seen is the farm-implement Jesus I have in my yard. It was in my house while I was growing up, and his beatific look of outsider-art has brought me considerable comfort and food for thought over the years. 

Suffice it to say, I do not believe that religious art should be reserved to those specifically trained ot make it in precisely the same way I do not think secular art should be reserved to Fine artists trained in the classical way. That’s how you get stagnation.