Another day at the salt mines. Today was very colourful. I began laying down the colours for Our Lady's robes. For the first time (I think), the icon is starting to look like a composition rather than a collection of parts.
The colours I have to choose from are fairly strict, from the orthodox point of view. Blue represents humanity, so Mary wears blue closest to her body. Red (not shown) represents divinity. Icons of Christ will have Him wearing a red tunic with blue robes over top. He is divine in nature, but He cloaks Himself in the form of Man. Yesterday was Palm Sunday, when we commemorate nailing Him to his cross. It's an ugly, bloody, gruesome story, but neccessary to the prophecy. I can't help but think that humankind could have found a better way to treat one poor man from Galilee, but a even cursory check of our civilization would indicate that we learn our lessons very slowly, if even at all.
I digress. Mary wears no red, because she, like us, is completely human. However, she does get to wear purple, which is unique among the icons. Traditionally, purple represents nobility, and Mary is Queen of Heaven. Purple can also be seen as a mix of red and blue. In orthodox religion, purple is also reserved for "holy creators", if I am allowed to paraphrase the idea thus. Since Mary bore Christ, she achieves a holy creator status of Theotokos. This is a very difficult concept to translate into common English. The term "Mother of God" is frequently used, but is unfortunately imprecise.
Many layers of paint will make Mary's rubes look fuller, as well as paint for the background. The trim will not remain white, but instead will be painted golden orange and gilded. Finally, I will need to add three gold sigils to respect Mary's virginity. There's still a lot of paintwork to do!
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