Greetings unto the Knowne World!
My name is Anna Dokeianina Syrakousina hypatissa, of the Barony of Castlemere in the Kingdom of Trimaris, and it is my honor to have been chosen as a champion of Gulf Wars XXIX: The War That Wasn't!
My project is a spotlight of my work from my ongoing explorations into Byzantine iconography. As my persona is 11th/12th Century Constantinopolitan during the Komnenian Dynasty, a renaissance period when Byzantine art made a full comeback and expansion 200-years post-iconoclasm, I felt that learning the art of iconography was vital to the enhancement of my SCA persona.
I started iconography in 2013, this is my most latest piece, from 2019. The icon for this project was initially started as one for myself, since I have a penchant to give most of my finished work away as gifts or scrolls. St. Michael the Archangel is the patron saint of Constantinople, as well as fighters, fencers, and warriors of any kind. He is a good, well-rounded figure that is admired across multiple faiths, which I felt was a compassionate choice for both my first, and most recent, icons.
The piece is made from a professional grade icon board purchased from a specialized seller based here in the United States. It comes already gessoed and ready to paint, which eliminates a major, messy, and smelly step on my end that is still a bit out of my skill set. I have made my own panels before, but nothing beats the professionally made ones. The prices are steep, however, with an 11"x14" panel running me upwards of $60, without any frills whatsoever, but it is a worthwhile investment in order to produce a quality painting.
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| My display at Trimaris ArtSci, and timelapse below. Note the timelapse does contain modern music for your enjoyment. :) |
All of my icons use egg tempera paint, hand-mixed from natural, earth-derived pigments, and the gold leaf on this particular piece is 23.5Kt loose fine gold leaf.
One of the choices I made in regards to my display at Trimaris Arts and Sciences Champions, was the inclusion of technology to make the display more approachable and engaging for a variety of learners. As such, in addition to the pieces I had on display to show progress over the years, and my folders of documentation, I also had tempera made on hand to paint with, and, a small tablet that was used to show a timelapse video of my painting of the icon over the course of seven days last June. This timelapse, I feel, allows viewers to get a better grasp of the amount of work that goes into an icon,and provides a visual learning "hook". I capped it off with a QR code that allowed interested individuals to "take home" the video from Youtube.
If you'd like to learn more about my process, please visit my website's blog article on this at:
https://annasrome.com/2019/09/09/icon-of-st-michael-for-meeeeeeee/
My documentation for Gulf Wars can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lPphpAg8-mJMXof5RGZNAUGoZ-UXcZWr
You can see my previous work, and follow an "Icon-a-long" from this page here:
https://annasrome.com/iconography/
The photos below are care of a very kind and generous soul that offers free photos at Pennsic during the Knowne World Arts and Sciences Display. If you'd like to contact me about my work, please feel free to email me at syrakousina@gmail.com, and check out my website in its entirety at www.annasrome.com!
