Russian Icons

One of the things I wanted to complete on my "bucket list", other than places to see, was to paint a perfected piece of religious art.
I have been fascinated by religious art work from rennaissance Italian and Dutch painters as well as early Russian iconic painters.
How did they get the right color tones to create this mood? What was going on in their minds? How did they envision these portraits? What inspired them? What did they use for paints? Did they actually get a message from God?
I would just stand there and just stare at these painting trying to get in the minds of these artists.
I've made attempts to try to copy Dutch painters but I was not successful in getting the right color, feel and mood. I was missing something.
A year ago, the Newburyport art association was sponsoring a class on Russian Icon painting. I signed up for it ASAP. The teacher was a official Russian Icon painter. She was cannonized by the Russian Orthodox church to paint holy portraits. She had gone to school to study painting perfection for as many years as a surgeon. She brought in some of her paintings to class to view and I was mesmerized.
They were just beautiful.
I probably learned more about painting and technique within one hour of her class than I have in 40 years worth of other art classes I've taken. I asked alot of questions of why certain colors were used, the different use of brush strokes and to why some of the images seemed out of perspective. She simply said this is the way it is suppose to be. Icons originated from art work done by St Luke the apostle of the way icons are done.
To be honest, I had no idea how difficult and involved it was to paint an icon. Everything is done by painstaking perfected stroke layers. Each color and stroke means something. It is a process. In the instructors painting she used tempera paints (from ground powder), used rabbit skin glue, garlic juice, age wood as done similar to early century painters. Modern icon painting still using old techniques are just as stunning and inspiring as age old painters.
The teacher brought in samples and large colorful books of icon paintings. I was riveted by one modern icon artist who painted a russian soldier as a saint. This young solder had died fighting in Afghanistan in the 1980s'. I wanted to know what the artist was thinking. I couldn't stop staring at it.
In the town of Clinton Massachusetts there is a museum of Russian icons. I took a ride out to check it out. I amazed at the varied collection of artwork ranging from the 8th century to mid 1400's to modern times. Some of the icons were worn and scratched due to patrons touching and scratching them in prayer to recieve some kind of holy blessing from them.
The power of the icons.
I had completed a couple of of my own icon paintings. I have to admit I am pleased with the results however, painting an icon is not like just a landscape or a portraits. I found myself completely exhausted upon completing an icon. It took months of driving devotion to perfect the works.
Many of the Greek churches have Russian icon paintings. I would love to check them out. I never knew the Russian people were so religious. I would just love to study in depth more about these paintings. I took two courses from this teacher. I had hoped she would continue to teach these classes in Newburyport. I was surprised at how lame and inattentive 90% of the students were in the class. Most failed to show up for class or do their homework and research. Maybe they just weren't as inspired as I was.

* portraits shown above is of : Yes, Saint Atlantis!, Saint Lucy, Mother of God, and archangel Gabriel