Artandicon's Blog

  • Icon of Christ the Redeemer

    My latest icon of the face of Christ is based on the Napkin of Christ or The Image Not Made by Human Hands. The tradition tells us the Lord washed his face on a cloth and the image of his face transferred directly to it. King Abgar took the image bearing cloth to Edessa and…

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  • Day of the Dead Altars

    Some things I take for granted, since I had the great privilege of knowing my great grandmother in her last years. I knew all but one of my grandparents, since my daddy’s father died when I was only a year old. Even my daughter knew both her Nana and all four of her grandparents. Growing…

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  • Ripples in the Water

    After all is said and done, the taste of victory will not be sweet for the winning side. They will be eating a roast beast cooked to ashes. It will feed them, but it won’t nourish them for the long haul. The agony of this latest defeat for the survivors, who came out of hiding…

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  • The Spa Life and Righteousness

    As a gal who loves her spa days, few and far between though they are, I enjoy the pampering these small forays into indulgence involve. The friendly staff, the luxurious soft robes, the warm scented tubs, the cold needled showers, and even the brief stints in the steam box. Most of all, I live for…

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  • Now For Something Completely Different

    If we do the same thing over and over again, we’ll get the same results. Most of us will take the same road to our favorite restaurant, choose the same menu items, and call it a night at about the same hour. We are that predictable. A certain structure in our lives is necessary to…

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  • Perfection in Life and Art

    The life of one who pursues Art and Faith has many overlapping points. One of these is the search for perfection. The French artist Marcel Duchamp quit painting to play chess, saying he couldn’t create a greater work. However, he was still working on one last piece in secret in his studio. Artists are driven…

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  • Apples and Starving Artists

    Famous artists throughout the ages have chosen apples for their still life paintings. Apples are known for sitting still, they have a long shelf life, and they work for cheap. Moreover, when the painting is done, they make an excellent pie. We can’t do this with our human models, since this involves non ethical principles…

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  • Dinosaurs and X-acto Knives

    I must be the last dinosaur on the earth who still hand cuts with an X-acto knife and a mat knife. Fair warning—this is an old codger rant of sorts. I still have the knife I used in art school. It’s the same one that took a slice off my left index finger when I…

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  • Crossroads and Callings

    Nine years ago…how time flies when you’re having fun! I was at a crossroads in my life, however, with a preexisting health condition I’d managed to live with successfully through three high stress careers since 1977. Accumulated stress isn’t good for the body, so my seizure disorder began to make itself visible. When my neurologist…

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  • PLANNING TO FAIL MISERABLY

    How to do it as an artist or any other professional. Or lollygagger in the workplace. I personally like #8—Why don’t you ever paint landscapes in normal colors? I get this question all the time. How do we know our greens and blues of today are “normal?” We live in creation after the fall, not…

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