Although I didn't post my progress on the Mary icon on the usual date, I did go in on Monday to paint. I got around to scanning the progress today. I think her face is about ninety percent complete. In the last stages, the facial features seem to "pop out". Her face is no longer a mask, and is taking on a serene quality. I do have to refine a few details, though. Next, I will be working on her robes and her framed area. That will add some vibrant, highly symbolic colour to the picture, and paint over the splotchy parts that crept out of the edges of her skin.
Note how the whites of the eyes are not painted in, although I might add a very small white highlight in them. I've learned that non-orthodox icon painters will paint the whites in, but that those following the traditional technique will not. Looking back on some Byzantine masterworks, as well as those of the early Rennaissance, I can see that putting too much white in the eyes will make them stare with too much intensity. We do see that sometimes in medieval art, as well as post-modernism.
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