b) Technique and Creation
Various kinds of wood were used for an icon painting, depending on vegetation. The preferred kinds, however, were basswood or fir. Several boards, held together by embedded and superposed stakes and crossbars on the back, were used to create an icon of some size. On the front a shallow pit was lifted out so that a relief frame formed. After that a canvas was glued to the board’s surface. Then, this was brushed with Levkas, a mixture of animal glue and alabaster or pounded chalk. On that the painting was outlined until “a tempera” (lat = correct mixing) the picture was coloured with colours mixed with bond (egg, honey, beer, whey, fig milk). The colours were either pure or mixed in various nuances and the artists were generous where gilding is concerned.
The greatest challenge was the colouring of the “incarnate” (the parts of the body not hidden by clothes). The colour was added layer after layer until the best radiation was reached.
The icon was covered with a colourless oil coating mixed with amber, to protect it from weathering.
Here are some explanations, since all colours have a special meaning in icon painting:
Alongside with red, white, green, blue, yellow, brown, and black a lot of gold and gold silver was used.
Gold had an exceptional position anyhow: it meant light and brilliance.
Oftentimes the entire background was gold; a fine line of gold created a special effect in the colouring of clothes; this way of painting is called “chrysography”.
Red was the colour which the Slavs liked especially. Apart from that it is a holy colour since it is connected with the thought of the Passion.
Vermillion, which originated in Persia, could often be found as the basic colour of the kings’ gowns. Other tints of red were scarlet, purple, and a bluish red. Blue – the heavenly colour which is also a symbol for purity – was used as the opposite of red. Indigo, lasar (ultramarine), and wisson (dark blue/violet) were other known colours.
“Parcelen”, a transparent green (coppery extract of peas) was also a very important colour. It was used for clothes and for reflection.
Black was the colour of fear and death, yet not that of desperation. It was at the same time used as a symbol for salvation.
Precious or highly valued icons were covered with an Oklad, a protective cover or binder, consisting of silver and another metal.
What once was thought as protection and appraisal for the icon became an end in itself during the 19th century. Famous gold- and silversmiths created elaborated Oklads, sometimes even gemmed ones, and had had icons made for them.
Icon painters did not come up with their subject themselves but followed biblical parameter. A diligently made icon was a work of many months, due to its many working steps, and the needed patience and craft.
And since, in the end, creating an icon served as a Godly revelation, the artist was expected to lead an exemplary life and continue his prayers, no matter whether he was monk or layman.