What is an icon? How is one written? Why is it “WRITTEN”??? What is the process? Why are icons so important? And why do so many friars and monks write icons? Journey with us as Father Filiberto writes an icon for us from preparation of the surface to the application of the gold leaf. Hear and see what it means for him to write an icon. Understand that it’s more than just putting paintbrush to surface. Along the way, Father Filiberto will explain and pray with you as he writes the icon.

This video is the full process which is sort of an introduction to writing icons (Icons 101, so to speak). But if you wish, there will be markers throughout the video where you can jump to the various sections or you may use the time markers in the YouTube description that you can click on.

NOTE: At the bottom of this page are Fr. Filiberto’s Good Shepherd Sunday videos – in English and Spanish – Reflecting on the Gospel of Jesus, The Good Shepherd, and Religious Life.

TRANSCRIPT OF ICON WRITING VIDEO BEGINS HERE:

Today we are not only going to paint, we are going to pray with colors. In the tradition of the Church, we do not say we paint an icon. We say we write an icon because an icon is theology in image. It is the gospel made visible. So before we touch the brush, before we touch the wood, we do the most important thing.

Silence.

We take a deep breath and we remember that we are not alone. The iconographer is not an independent creator. He is an instrument. So we offer a prayer.

Lord, source of all light. You who enlightened St. Luke the evangelist with your spirit so that he could represent holy mysteries. Enlighten my mind, my heart, and my hands. Guide this work so that what is written here may be for your glory and for the building up of your Church.

We call upon the Holy Spirit because without His light, gold is only metal and color is only dust. We remember St. Luke whom tradition considers the first iconographer. And in doing so, we join a living line that goes back to the apostles. We accept with humility that we are servants. This work is not so people admire our hands. It is so they may contemplate Christ.

On Athos, where prayer never stops, Monks write icons with fasting, silence and thoughts focused only on what is holy. Because an icon is not manufactured. It is prayer.

And now, with a quieter heart, we begin.

Here is our wooden panel. Simple, humble. The wood comes from the tree. And the tree reminds us of all creation. God enters into matter. But this wood also whispers something deeper. It reminds us of the wood of the cross. Before we paint a single line, we are already proclaiming that salvation happens in matter. God does not reject matter. He transforms it.

Now we cover the wood with Gesso, layer after layer… patiently. So this is the Gesso preparation. It is like the soul preparing to receive grace. It covers imperfections. It smooths the surface. Like baptism, like purification, God’s always work with that. Grace prepares the heart so Christ can be formed within it. Nothing is rushed here. Each layer is silence.

With gentle lines, we begin drawing all these lines because we will write Jesus. Jesus’ body is in the good shepherd. So that’s why we are doing this in our own pace to understand how God is working in our icon. We have to remember that we are people who works for God and God is the one who works in this icon. Always we get the inspiration from the Holy Spirit.

We understand and visualize all the things that we want to write here. So we have to write as God did in the Bible. Is God who is working. Is God who is inspiring us. Our brush is working. Yes. So is working too. And that is part of the inspiration today to understand how God is working step by step, brush by brush, line by line.

Maybe it’s important also to understand that this color represents the light. Technically we use Gesso for two reasons. The first thing is that all the colors could be in the same place and the wood is not absorbing all these colors and that is why we use Gesso. Gesso is to keep all the colors on the top and the wood panel is covered with all the Gesso with precision but also we have to be calm with all these things. So something that helps us to understand when we apply Gesso is to be calm to understand that God is working. But the most important thing is to be calmed down. God is working. And we have to understand that when we pray is because also we are in that contemplation, understanding how God is in this moment working and the Holy Spirit is inspiring us. That is beautiful. That is the beautiful beginning here.

So maybe you can see only this color… black white and more white. But, you know, hey, this is very important. And the second thing is when we apply Gesso, guess what… we are working as God work when he created all the things visible and invisible things. So here we are doing this work today. We are working like God did in Genesis, the creation. So that’s beautiful. That’s nice. God said in the [Book of] Genesis that all the things that he created [were] good.

And what exactly we are doing now? We have to think and to keep in mind that all the things that we are doing now, it is good. It is beautiful. Since the first project we are doing this we can say God is inspiring me. God is moving my hand. God is moving the brush. God is saying to me where to put more Gesso. Yeah. Here is the creation. The beginning of the creation is here, too, in the icon.

We are not painting.

Remember, we are writing the Gospels. We are creating and we are doing the same with the icons.

While we are doing this, it’s important to think how the Good Shepherd that we are now writing will be here. So, I see the dimensions, I see the colors, I see maybe I am now putting my mind from which part to start. That’s beautiful too. That is important because during this silence sometimes some iconographers listen to music… some of them work in silence… and that is exactly how God works in your mind… in your hands… in the brush… in the Gesso.. in the wood panel. God is there. Remember that.

One of the important thing is not everything will be covered by the Gesso because, hey, we are not machines. So this is homemade, right? So it’s a handmade thing that we are doing… that is also important. So that’s why always when we work with iconographies we have to understand that it’s our time… it’s how God is working… and that is beautiful… that is amazing… this is awesome.

Once we finish to cover all the wood panel with the Gesso, we have to wait until it dries. That is another way to see patiently the hand of God working in these iconographies.

We are not inventing an image. It’s important to understand it. We are receiving a tradition. The proportions speak theology… the head slightly larger because in Christ lives divine wisdom. And we will see all these things step by step. But now we have finished the first step, putting gesso in our wood panel, and then we will continue with this.

Now that our wood panel is dry, it’s the time to sand it. We have to remember one thing. In the Genesis, we read, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” This helps us to cover all the wood, but also there are imperfections.

We are humans, right, and we are imperfect. But when we are creating an icon we will see these imperfections always. But remember I said at the beginning [that it] is God who is working patiently. We are working too and that is a time to do this. So very gentle we move in circles this sand sponge. We can work with sand sponge, with sandpaper, [or] something that help us to see where the imperfections are.

So with this gentle movements we are creating other important thing… to see how the icon is taking this beautiful shape. And so we can see that even [though] it’s not perfect we have hidden some of these imperfections.

So this will help us to do even our movements with a brush… to see how this is better because sometimes when we use the pencil or when we use brushes… so we see this imperfection that maybe sometime is a little complicated to work. So sometimes the paint is hard to penetrate lines but with this technique that we use right now the iconographer can see how to work with the pens and with the brushes too.

So it’s not only technique, is also to see this theology in it. So God is working even in our imperfections.

Once our wood panel is dried, it’s time to do our traces. As I said at the beginning, so we are painting technically [but] we are writing the Good Shepherd. So that is fascinating. Every time that you take a pencil, that you use all these important tools like eraser, a paper… all these things… you are also creating in your mind how exactly are the size that you want to to start.

So, for example, in this case that we are writing the Good Shepherd, let’s start for the face.

So technically to do this it’s simple but, at the same time, takes time because it’s part of the technique. So your hands, your shoulder… all the things that you are doing is a motion. There is a motion here. And the most important thing is not to be [disturbed] with all these things… to understand that God is here. The Holy Spirit is with you.

So here the first thing that we have to do is to trace a line here. This line will help us to see the size of, in this case, the size of the face. Normally we do like ovals… not circles… ovals. And if you see we are create[ing] something that is similar in each side.

So, let’s do that. Sometimes you can do like twice to see that oval that can help us to see the proportion of the face. Then we had to divide this in three parts. One, two lines. And we see three parts here. The first line corresponds to the forehead, then the eyes, the nose, then the mouth.

If you see in this line or in this portion in the middle we have a good line here. This line will help us to create the hair. Yes. Because is the same measure that is here that we will use here. So let’s see that is in this side.

Okay, we have now the other part of the iconography. Although there are only lines and ovals here, the iconography can see, or the iconographer can see, now the face of Jesus.

You say how come?

Well, what we discovered right now that first of all we have to understand that there is a beautiful motion here. Let’s start doing this line that is helping us to see the eyebrows, for example, and the other one to see the mouth, the chin, the neck, the ears.

So, here, let’s start with the eyebrows. I have to trace this part of the nose. And I will start doing the first line of the eyebrows. You see there is a motion there. There is nothing I am stopping. That’s beautiful.

It’s important to remember that lines are not equal. They are not the same. And we are not looking for that. We have to understand how God is working in this image.

And then we can start with the nose. We have this line here. And we will start doing this. Sometimes the nose is completely different in a male and a female. When we, for example, are writing Mary, we see a different nose because it’s a woman. And normally in all the male faces, we can see this differences even to see one is a woman and one is a male.

Okay. When we have this, we will try to do the nostrils here and the other here. Now the same nose we will divide it in three parts just to see where exactly the eyes will be. For example, we have the nose here and we divide it in three lines, too. One is here in the middle. The other one is here because with these two lines we will see the size of the ears, too.

So let’s start with the eyes. The eyes have to be the same size where the nostrils are. So we will do this just to see where the eyes have to start. And this is beautiful because this is like kind of ovals. And the other line that I will create here is like invisible one to see where the eyes have to be. How the eyes have to be big.

Sometimes you see in the iconographies all the eyes of the saints are big because they are watching us. So let’s start doing that one thing here.

Now, with these two circles, like draft circles. So we now re-mark a little bit to create these lines and it will help us to see how big the eye is. Remember we are trying to do the same size but it’s important to understand that our lines will be different. So that is the beautiful thing [about] iconography. And we start from here to here.

If you see now we have almost completed the eyes. We re-mark here another one just to see how the eyes are open. We have the eyebrows and the eyes and this will help me… this line that I did even here… will help me where the mouth and the chain will be.

There is another internal oval that is helping me to see how the face is. Now for the mouth, very easy. Two lines below the nose. Then we will draw like an “M” shape. Something like this. And also, I am working with the same lines that I drew at the beginning that I drew on the nose. This is one. This is the other one. This, I create two lines. Then I will close it. One, two, and voila. Here is the mouth, the lips… then the chin.

Okay. Now the ears. Remember that we drew two lines at the beginning. One is close to the eyes and the other is here, close to the nose. That will help me to create the ears.

Oh my goodness. You know in iconographies always the eyes and the ears are big because we have to see how the icon transmits the symbols to understand the saints, the martyrs, Jesus, Mary… you know always we are ready to listen and the iconographies show us what exactly is this… How to listen. How to listen.

I will do the same here. Trying to do the same shape in these ones.

Then I will try to do the hair. The hair, as I mentioned it before, I’m taking the same length here – the same length – so I will try to do another oval following the same space that I have here and the other one here. Sometimes we have to use our eraser because the proportion of the hair is important to do that. There you go.

Mhm. There are some lines here. Now we have the neck. The neck always will start beneath the ears. And this is a… remember that this is a sketch. This is a draft to see how we can start drawing the faces. Right?

And Jesus, of course, he had beard, right… and mustache. So that is another way to understand how Jesus is in the iconographies, with some lines to create the mustache. Of course, because we are, you know, now sketching this or doing some traces with a pencil, it’s hard to see with all these lines the clear face, but you will discover it with time.

Then is a bad one here. Here. This is one of the techniques that iconographers use to see how the traces are working. Um, of course we need to correct it. That is normal. But you see with these techniques we can see how the faces, the clothes, the hands, the halo… you know all these things are integrating you know itself with all the things that we are doing and at the end we will see what other things to correct.

Remember it’s okay if we have to use our eraser to modify things but at the end the most important is that [it] is an inspiration. God is inspiring you. And this is part of our iconography, to see these traces and modify them.

But the most important thing is the colors that we will use doing this iconography. When I am sketching this one with my pencil, I am doing some references. It doesn’t mean that the things that are now with the pencil will be in the same way. So maybe I can modify some things here while I am also painting. That’s why I mentioned it before.

So all the things that we are doing with our hands and with our pencil [are] to see how the icon is taking this shape. So that’s also important in iconographies.

Well. we’re almost finishing all these traces. So but now maybe looks simple but at the same time it’s important to see how the hands are, the faces, the eyelash, the lips, the… all these things… even part of the hair.

So but this is only a reference… what about the iconography is taking… this beautiful image now. So this is apparently simple but it requires time to do all these things.

But you know always I am listening to music every time that I do all these things because it’s part of this process to understand how you have to be calm and also you can pray. I like to pray. This is one of the most important things in my life as a Carmelite… to pray, to contemplate what I am doing while I am praying. So, the Holy Spirit always inspires in that way, too, and I like so much when, for example, I am praying how all the trace is taking these shapes… these forms.

Always I advise you or suggest you to do anything that you want to create, to pray, to contemplate, to be in silence or to listening to this kind of music that will help you to create all these beautiful things.

Today we are not only going to paint, we are going to pray with colors. In the tradition of the church, we do not say we paint an icon. We say we write an icon because an icon is theology in image. It is the gospel made visible. So before we touch the brush, before we touch the wood, we do the most important thing…

Silence.

We take a deep breath and we remember that we are not alone. The iconographer is not an independent creator. He is an instrument. So we offer a prayer.

Lord, source of all light. You who enlightened St. Luke the evangelist with your spirit so that we I want to repeat it. Lord, source of all light. You who enlightened St. Luke the evangelist with your spirit so that he could represent holy mysteries. Enlighten my mind, my heart, and my hands. Guide this work so that what is written here may be for your glory and for the building up of your church.

We call upon the Holy Spirit because without his light gold is only metal and color is only dust. We remember St. Luke whom tradition considers the first iconographer and in doing so we join a living line that goes back to the apostles. We accept with humility that we are servants.

This work is not so people admire our hands. It is so they may contemplate Christ. On Athos where prayer never stops. Monks write icons with fasting, silence and thoughts focused only on what is holy. Because an icon is not manufactured. It is prayed.

And now color.

We place red on the tunic. Red – humanity, blood, incarnation. The word became flesh.

Then blue on the outer garments. Blue – divinity, eternal mystery.

The infinite red first, blue over it. Humanity assumed, wrapped in divinity. Here we proclaim the mystery of Christ. True God and true man.

We place a small lamb on his shoulders. It is not just a sheep. It is each one of us carried with tenderness. But it is also him, the lamb offered for the world.

In this hand, the staff. Not a symbol of control… a symbol of guidance. The good shepherd does not push, he leads. He does not wound, he protects.

Finally. We write the letters IC XC, the Greek abbreviation for Jesus Christ. A simple confession in two strokes. Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, the Lord.

And Now the gold. The golden background doesn’t represent the sun. It represents eternity. There is no time here. No shadow. No human perspective. Gold is the uncreated light of God. Heaven is not behind Christ. Christ is heaven.

And now we step back. We contemplate. We have not simply painted an image. We have opened a window. An icon is not decoration. It is presence. It is theology in color. It is the gospel in silence.

Thank you for writing this icon with me today. And remember, every brush stroke can become a prayer.