Tags
el greco, holy family, john the baptist, john the forerunner, landscapes, russian landscape, st. andrew, van gogh
September 2008
Pictured below are a few landscapes that I have worked on. I like the color usage and style of painters like Van Gogh and El Greco. A favorite modern painter of mine is Vicki McMurry. Her book “Mastering Color” is wonderful.
Welcome to the blog site of Sabrina Samuel. I am an iconographer/artist. On this blog site you will find some of my icons and landscapes. I enjoy doing both.
This is a study of Van Gogh’s 1889 painting
“Cypresses with Two Female Figures.”
This is a study of a painting by Paula Modersohn. The stormy gris clouds are a striking color contrast to the happy yellows. This stormy-happy theme is repeated in the blackish surging waters with the calm green meadows. For me this color combination expresses what many of us experience in life a combination of bitterness and sweetness.
“Russian Landscape”
Pictured to the left is an icon of the HOLY FAMILY. Many churches use this particular icon during the Advent season. The touching hands of the Holy Family expresses the tenderness of the love found in families. It was for this reason I was attracted to this version of the Holy Family.
Pictured below is an icon of St. Andrew. His scroll reads in Greek and English (We have found the Messiah which means Christ.) The face of Andrew is very thin and gaunt looking. This is to express to the viewer about the type of life Andrew lead; that is, one of suffering. Notice the thin red line at the very top edge of the icon. This red line testifies to the viewer that admission to the heavens comes only through the shed blood of Christ. This icon currently belongs to St. Andrews Charismatic Episcopal Church in Covington, Georgia.
JOHN THE FORERUNNER
“Here John holds a diskos “eucharistic footed dish) containing the nude infant Christ, symbolizing the Lamb of God of the Eucharist. In many examples a zvezditsa (“little star,” a liturgical implement that supports a cloth cover) is placed above the diskos, just as is done in the Eucharist, in which a portion of bread is called the “Lamb.” (Pg. 134, THE ICON HANDBOOK A Guide to Understanding Icons and the Liturgy, Symbols and Practices of the Russian Orthodox Church by David Coomler.)