temaicon 103 Print

Both my husband, Markus, and I are fine artists, although he tends to make abstracts with mixed media, while I have always painted portraits, as I love faces! One day Markus came to me with a painting that he had done - a wonderful raw background of scorched, painted and sanded wood, which had a primed space in the middle. He asked me if I could put a face into that space, painting with oils. I happily obliged and since then we have been on a roll! We both so very much enjoyed this experience, we have since painted many more 'icons' as we call them, which you can find on our website and which we are slowly adding to this site too. When Markus gives me the background painting, I sit still with it until it inspires me and I know exactly what face to paint to compliment the background - then it flows. This painting flowed, as all the others have since, as it came from somewhere that is a natural part of our psyche. Both Markus and I are soulmates who have been on our spiritual journeys for many years, until we now sit very comfortably in the knowledge that the Universe is benign and wants the best for each of us humans, flaws and all. We wish to transmit this through these Icon Paintings, which are loosely inspired by the format of the Byzantine icon paintings, but without any religious connotations or messages - we just want to celebrate the great variety of human beings, with all their strengths, foibles and flaws. In fact we celebrate the flaws by adding 24ct gold leaf to the apparent flaws of the wood, symbolising the preciousness of our apparent flaws and how we often judge ourselves too harshly. We also add the gold to imply the emerging qualities of our inner value, no matter who we are or what we do. The lack of expression on the face in this painting leaves room for you to imagine and emulate, and find the essence of it - what it means for you Much like the conventional Byzantine icons these Icon Paintings are more like the moon, reflecting the light and expressing the qualities we may want to foster in ourselves, or find for ourselves, rather than giving off their own light like the sun. We hope it can help you to pause and reconnect to your own inner inspiration, to that which is the best of you! This picture does not need a frame, but is complete in itself, like a piece of wall sculpture, mounted a little away from the wall. It comes in a beautiful black box, with a ribbon and tissue paper. As environmentally conscientious artists, we are very aware of the need to consider sustainable work practices, so Markus, while creating the icons, uses only repurposed wood and surplus household paints - material that would otherwise end up in landfills. Tessa completes the process with some thin glazes of oil paint for the faces. The box is also 60% recyclable, but more to the point, it can be re-used many times. For the collector, each painting has its own certificate of authenticity, displaying a title, date and signatures of the artists.