Byzantine Iconography Painting Series 1: Painting Basics (1)

Introduction to Painting Byzantine Icons

What you'll learn
Materials and Workspace for painting icons
Preparation of the egg emulsion.
Mixing paints
Basic painting techniques
Theory of Colour and Light in Byzantine Iconography
The process of painting garments
Painting a variety of folds and garments
Painting various colours with a limited tetrachrome palette.
Requirements
Byzantine Iconography Series 1: Drawing the Face
Byzantine Iconography Series 2: Drawing the Half Figure
Byzantine Iconography Series 3: Garment Basics
Byzantine Iconography Series 4: Drawing the Full Figure (Part 1)
Description
In Part 1 of Series 1 Painting Basics where going to start our journey of learning to paint icons. In Section 1 you will learn about the workspace and materials needed to paint with egg tempera. Then you will learn how to prepare the egg emulsion and the painting surface and how to mix the colours. This is followed by several exercises for learning brush techniques needed to paint icons. In Section 2 we will go into the theory of Byzantine iconography and how colour and light function in the icon as well as the question of colour symbolism in icons. In Section 3 we will start with a basic garment exercise to understand how the photismata are build up rhythmically by first building up the forms from light to dark. In Section 4 will start discovering the magic of painting with a limited tetrachrome palette, by painting a mauve sleeve, this time working from dark to light.In Section 5 and 6 you will  discover one of the trickiest colours to paint in  tetrachrome: Green. You will learn to paint it using two different techniques. The basic material you will need for these tutorials are:PigmentsYellow Ochre (or Iron Oxide Yellow)Iron Oxide BlackLight Mars Red (or Red Ochre)Medium Mars RedTitanium WhiteEgg EmulsionEggWhite wineLavender or Basil essential oil2 Plastic dropper bottles for egg emulsion and waterPaint brushes (rounds with a good tip, flats and riggers) Palette for mixing paint (a sheet of glass or plexiglass is optional)Container of water for cleaning brushes.Paper towelHot press watercolour paper for painting exercises.

Overview

Section 1: PS1T1 Introduction to Painting

Lecture 1 Introduction

Lecture 2 Workspace and Materials

Lecture 3 Preparing the Egg Emulsion

Lecture 4 Preparing Colours

Lecture 5 Preparing the Surface

Lecture 6 Brush Exercise 1

Lecture 7 Brush Exercise 2

Lecture 8 Brush Exercise 3

Lecture 9 Brush Exercise 4

Lecture 10 Brush Exercise 5

Section 2: PS1T2 The Function of Colour and Light in the Icon

Lecture 11 Creating Volume with Colour

Lecture 12 How Light Functions in the Icon

Lecture 13 Approaches to Modelling Forms

Lecture 14 The Counterpoint between Dark/Light and Warm/Cool

Lecture 15 Do the Colours in Icons have Symbolic Meaning?

Section 3: PS1T3 Garment Exercise 1: Creating Rhythm with Light

Lecture 16 Introduction

Lecture 17 The Sketch and Grapsimata

Lecture 18 1st Photisma

Lecture 19 2nd Photisma

Lecture 20 3rd Photisma

Section 4: PS1T4 Garment Exercise 2: Mauve sleeve (Discovering Tetrachrome)

Lecture 21 Introduction

Lecture 22 Preparation and Sketch

Lecture 23 Proplasmos

Lecture 24 Grapsimata

Lecture 25 1st Photisma

Lecture 26 2nd Photisma

Lecture 27 3rd Photisma

Section 5: PS1T5 Garment Exercise 3: Green Folds 1 (Discovering Tetrachrome)

Lecture 28 Introduction

Lecture 29 The Sketch

Lecture 30 The Proplasmos

Lecture 31 The Grapsimata

Lecture 32 1st Photisma

Lecture 33 2nd Photisma

Section 6: PS1T6 Garment Exercise 3: Green Folds 2 (Discovering Tetrachrome)

Lecture 34 The Sketch

Lecture 35 The Proplasmos

Lecture 36 The Grapsimata

Lecture 37 Green Proplasmos

Lecture 38 1st Photisma

Lecture 39 2nd & 3rd Photimata

Beginners in Byzantine Iconography