​

I am a painter and Christian iconographer based in Folkestone in Kent.  I have enormously enjoyed teaching over the past quarter century. During the pandemic it was sadly impossible to teach in the "hands on" way I believe to be most valuable, so I concentrated  on various commissions, some of which you can see here on the Icons page. I go back as far as 2011, when I started full time training with Irina Gorbounova-Lomax in Brussels. It is useful to see one or two pieces produced before that for comparison. In the early months of 2023 I was asked if I would start a school of iconographic technique at Ealing Abbey. You can read more about this  on the dedicated page on this website.

 

The rest of the website is intended to give an insight into the way an icon is conceived and produced. An iconographer strives to understand the effect of natural law on matter; but always has in mind that God is the Creator of that matter, and that natural law and all things are subject to Him. We train our minds to accept, and our hands to draw, objects defying gravity and water flowing uphill, perspective turned inside out and flesh emanating light. The great challenge is to do this in a way which both convinces the viewer, and is beautiful and noble enough to honour God, and hopefully bring us closer to Him.

​

Prayer helps but practice is essential, hours and hours of drawing and brush technique. I’ve published here some of the exercises devised by Irina and some that I have devised myself over the years. Do feel free to use them yourselves if you feel inspired to. I hope you will. 

 

Good luck and God’s blessings on your work.

​

​