Venetian Plaster and Religious Icon Art

I have been noticing other artists playing around with a product called Venetian Plaster, and ever the art supply junkie, I decided to give it a try myself. As I was scraping it onto cradled wood panels, the texture made me think of the ancient religious icons I had once seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the much more recent replicated style in the works of the late Lester Raymer. I made some quick marks with a wooden skewer in the still wet plaster of some of the boards to hint at a frame.

I opted to leave the surface on these pieces a bit rough, though they can easily be sanded smooth with sandpaper. I found the Venetian Plaster very nice to work on, and I loved incorporating some old style symbolic meanings into these contemporary works. “The Messenger” focuses on those angel beings sent to deliver messages from God to mankind. Those that are named in Scripture have male names, but how relevant is gender for angels? Those are some of the thoughts that were circling around in the creation of this bald headed, gender neutral, angelic being.

I found the plaster very easy to sketch out my designs on, and equally easy to paint over.

I handled the idea of a border a bit differently in “The Saint”. The arched top also serves to define the boundary of the heavens and the earth. Notice that a dove (symbolic of the Holy Spirit) is found both in the heavens above and the earth below. I added to the paper bits collaged into this work, and some of my hoarded batik fabric. A dimensional embellishment serves as the clasp on his cloak.

What do you think? Are you ready to try some Venetian Plaster?

“The Saint” will be offered at an upcoming local charity auction event. If you are interested in attending, contact me and I will get you more information.

If you would like to order a print of any of these pieces, go to my etsy shop, and note the name of the piece you want at checkout. Save more by buying any two prints and even more by using the code SWEETHEART14 at checkout for 14% off of your entire purchase from my etsy shop during the month of February!