I am not a very patient person. It’s something I’m working on, and it’s something that’s working on me. There’s more silence in the New Skete service than I’m used to. After they first read a work of theology, and then some of the Gospel, they sit in silence for what feels like a minute or two, not too long. Long enough to meditate on the writing, then to meditate on something else you’ve got going on in your head, at least that’s what I do, but that might be because I’m impatient. 

This iconography class also is a study in patience. We’ve been given very hard pencils, so we can’t make confident marks, so that we are required to build and build and build on the page, letting our image coalesce out of our intention, rather than singular choices or mistakes. The allusions to ongoing creation are obvious.

We start with the paints tomorrow. Famously fickle, egg tempera demands patience. Over-quickness will tear up deeper layers of paint and ruin your work, putting too much pigment down likewise ruins everything. You must sit between strokes for minutes at a time retaining attention, because getting distracted will confuse the painting. This will not be easy for me. 

That’s probably a good thing, it’s probably why I’m here, even if that isn’t why I chose to be here.