Icon Painting with Joy

Amazing what can happen when you ask God for help.

I was grumbling and procrastinating about whether I could or should continue with Icon Painting with Joy and Iconography in general. I feel I am Too rebellious, always bending a beautiful tradition Too much. What is the point of such desire and obsessive painting every day? After 20 years of study and practice who will I leave any of the knowledge to? The answer has always been simple; do not grumble or be concerned, pray and paint for love and that is sufficient. The truth is, I was getting lonely and filled with doubt.

Out of the blue,

A beautiful lovely woman from Riga, Latvia, Elita Sica Vavere strolls up beside my path, through one of the workshops at the Monastery of the Soledad. After one workshop with me she says she wants to learn what I know and could she come to work with me in the studio! Her style and demure is quiet, reverent, kind and still, nothing like me! How could I say no, ill probably learn more from her. I hemmed and hawed and waited for her enthusiasm to abate, thinking this will not work and then bamm! I proposed she come for a few days and we would see how we fit. First day of her arrival she says she is here in SMA for 2 weeks and planned to work every day! She is a delight and so easy to work with. Elita now has an apartment in town, she comes nearly everyday and we continue to learn and study together. She has become a grace in my life, she is a great listener as we both unfold our stories and insights. I never expected to appreciate someones company and assistance so much to continue with Icon Painting with Joy.

I want to thank the universe for pairing up our relationship, without Elita perhaps I would not have had the time or commitment to go so much further, designing New Byzantine style icons representing and including the Mystic Women so often forgotten. When you teach someone, explore with them, stroll down new avenues, you inevitably learn an awful lot about your self. A journey in awareness. Next month we begin to explore the pigments, hers, mine and others.

Thank you, Elita

Elita, Sica Vavere Studied at Latvijas Mākslas akadēmija / Latvian Academy of Art, went to Rīgas Lietišķās mākslas koledža She is a advanced calligrapher, with obviously a fine hand and good sense of space. I hope she will continue to be content living between San Miguel Allende and Mexico City.

The Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, one of the three Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, and Belarus to the southeast.Here they do continue to this day to do Icon Painting with Joy.