IconographyThe term "writing" an icon comes from the tradition that painting an icon is akin to a translation of Scripture. An icon is the word of God conveyed by visual image. John's icons have gained such a following in America and Europe that he works full time fulfilling commissions. His icons hang in such diverse places as the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and the National Episcopal Headquarters in Manhattan, Lambeth Palace in London (the Archbishop's residence), the residence of Alexi II (Orthodox Patriarch of all Russia), and from coast to coast throughout the United States, Canada, England and Germany. John works in the studio of his home on Staten Island. He lives in the Pendleton house, built in 1860 on a hill overlooking New Brighton. His studio is an old housekeeper's sewing room on the second floor of the house. The studio has good light even on gloomy days (it has large windows on the north, east and south sides). The studio is a relatively small space, filled with easels, bookshelves (crammed with the books, manuscripts and other research material necessary for John's work), icons in various stages of completion, and egg tempera paint. Icons, according to tradition, blend the earth's essential elements — animal, vegetable and mineral. You'll find rabbit skin glue, chalk and gypsum, and transparent earth pigments suspended in egg yolk. The wooden panels are covered with gesso, which is an artist's plaster, and the actual painting starts with the shadows and dark tones going on first and building up to the lighter tones, giving the image a feeling of depth. The tempera paint is applied with extremely fine sable brushes in a cross-hatch pattern that is extremely time consuming. "A good egg tempera painting should have a porcelain look and feel. The face [of an unfinished Madonna on the easel] has approximately 75 layers of color, which produced that feel." Naturally, the first step in the process of creating an icon is the desire. Perhaps St. James' Church in Dover Plains, NY, would like an icon placed behind their altar. A call is placed to John Walsted, and the process of writing the icon begins.
On the left front side panel, there will be a picture of Saint Ann. The right front side panel will show Saint John, and the center (main) panel front will be the Crucifixion (the order form actually says Transfiguration, but they have changed their minds). There will not be any picture on the back of the main panel. The two sides will probably be attached to the main panel by brass piano hinges, unless John's blacksmith friend can find the time to make small pintle hinges (for that authentic 14th-century look). More research will be necessary to create the proper hinges, and there may not be enough time available. The deadline for this triptych has already been moved back quite a bit due to a health crisis John suffered through earlier this year. The Wood PanelThe wood for the triptych will be ¾-inch thick Baltic birch plywood. Baltic birch plywood is a very dense and stable wood that will not warp or delaminate over time. It has a very smooth surface that takes a coat of gesso very well. For this particular icon, the two side panels are 15 inches wide by 40 inches tall, and the center panel is 30 inches wide by 40 inches tall. All three panels will have a raised 1½ inch border around the outside edge. This edge is formed by routing out the surface of the panel to a depth of three-sixteenths of an inch. This part of the work will be performed by a highly skilled carpenter employed by John.
After removing as much material as possible with the router, he takes up his chisel and block plane and removes the small strips that are left. The surface of the board must be as smooth as possible. He uses the chisel to square the inside corners of the cut material (the router leaves rounded corners), and then uses it to remove the long thin strips. The block plane gets everything as smooth and even as possible. Any knot holes or irregularities are filled with wood putty.
The carpenter also uses a small chisel or a tiny block plane to "ease" the edges of the panels (soften the sharp corners and edges). Sharp corners and edges are far more likely to break or splinter later on if the icon is not handled carefully. Once the gesso and paint have been applied, it's too late to go back and make any repairs to the wood. The reason the surface of the board is routed, rather than simply applying slats to the surface of the panel to build up the edges is simple—500 years from now, there's a good chance that whatever glue or nails or screws you used to attach the strips to the surface will fail, damaging the icon. If the entire surface of the panel is all one piece, there's no danger of that happening.
John uses a pencil to draw a picture of the icon directly on the surface of the gesso. He can make adjustments to the picture, erase mistakes, and use the gesso surface just like a sheet of paper. The Egg Tempera PaintThere are three processes involved in making egg tempera paint: preparing the pigments (John usually does this ahead of time and stores his prepared pigments in screw-top jars), preparing the egg yolk (this process is done immediately prior to painting), and mixing the pigments and egg yolk (this process also takes place immediately prior to painting; John mixes only enough egg and pigment to last for a painting session). Egg tempera paints do not remain workable (wet) for very long when exposes to the air, and they do not keep well, even in a sealed jar. Preparing the Pigments
Preparing the Egg Yolk When the yolk is completely separated from the white, John passes the yolk from the palm of one hand to the other, drying each palm as he passes the yolk to the other in order to dry the sac that holds the yolk. When done properly, the yolk sac becomes dry enough to roll gnetly around in the palm of John's hand without leaving a trail or sticking.
John then mixes the pure yolk with an equal amount of water and a small amount of white vinegar. He spoons into the well of a palette a small amount of dry pigment with enough water to make a paste. Some pitments require a small amount of rubbing alcohol to break the surface tension and go into solution. He then pours in some of the egg yolk mixture.
Shadows and skin tones on an icon may consist of several dozen layers of paint. The darker shades go on first, and successively lighter shades of color are applied over the top. This gives the appearance of depth. The finished picture has an almost porcelain look to it. In picture number seven (below), John is writing the Synaxis of the Holy Angels icon. He's applying some dark shades to the edge of an angel's wing. |
The
sheet of paper at right is the typical official order form for a triptych
icon ordered by Saint James Church in Dover Plains, New York. It represents
the second step in the process—putting something down on paper. As
you can see, the triptych will consist of three panels. When closed, the
two side panels will cover the main center panel. The picture on the back
of the two side panels (which will be visible when the covers are closed)
is the Annunciation.
The carpenter cuts the panels from four-foot by eight-foot sheets of
birch plywood and then traces a line around the outside of each piece 1½ inches
from the edge. Using a router, he removes as much of the material as possible
from the center of the board to the line, to a
depth of three-sixteenths of an inch. He must leave behind strips of uncut
wood for the router base to rest on.
After the surface is filled and even, the carpenter lightly
sands the entire surface, starting with a 120-grit sandpaper and progressively
working his way up to a 220-grit. It's usually necessary
to apply more wood putty after the initial sanding, and then sand the entire
surface several more times with progressivley finer paper until the surface
is almost as smooth as glass. The carpenter leaves the surface of the panel
a little below the glass smoothness so that there is a "tooth" to the surface
that the gesso bonds with more aggresively. 
After the panel has been sanded smooth, John applies several coats of
an artist's plaster called "gesso." This is a bright white chalky
coating that dries to a hard, crystal surface. It's a perfect base for
paint and gold leaf. John sands lightly between coats of gesso. When he's
finished, the gesso feels as smooth as velvet.
John uses ground mineral pigments. When mixed with a binding media
(such as egg yolk) the pigment is suspended in the media. When the media
is applied to a surface the pigment stays in suspension until the binding
media dries. The pigment remains adhered to the surface. Egg yolk is a
very good media for this. It dries into a hard shell. Over time the yolk
becomes dry enough so that it can (and does) crack and flake off of the
surface to which it has been applied. To avoid this John applies a sealing
varnish over the entire finished icon. The mineral pigments are natural
organic compounds that lend their color to the binding media. For example,
ground charcoal is black, cround calcium or lime is white, hematite is
yellow or red, and so on. John used to grind his own pigments into powder,
but these days he buys already ground minersl form a supplier here in New
Yrok City. Joh stores his pigments in airtight containers
to keep them dry until he's ready to use them.
John
starts with a fresh egg at room temperature (fresh eggs have a stronger
yolk sac than older eggs). He cracks the shell and separates the yolk from
the white by passing it back and forth from one shell half to the other.
He then very gently picks up the yolk sac between his thumb and forefinger
and pricks it with an artist's knife, allowing the yolk to run into a bowl
and discarding the yolk sac. If any of the yolk sac mixes into the yolk,
it will cause the paint to crack as it dries.
Mixing the Pigments and Egg Yolk
Getting
the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific. Each
pigment requires a different amount of medium. John determines the correct
ratio with a few trial strokes of paint on a test surface. If the paint
looks chalky or dull, there's probably too little egg yolk in the mix.
If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry, or if they look
greasy, there's probably too much egg yolk in the mix. 
The
picture to the right shows John mixing a dark brown color for the top of
an angel's wing. This color is used for deep shadows, outlines, or folds
in clothing. John adjusts the mixture and consistency of the tempera by
dipping his sable brush into the dustalled water (picture number 6) and
dragging egg yolk and pigment together in the well on his palette.