Jesus, and those of his disciples who fit into 760 x 100 pixels, look upon us as we buy and sell on Etsy. Giotto made the picture a few centuries ago and is not now around to complain that I am using his work for a banner over my shop; nor would he have any legal recourse if he didn't like it. We can all appreciate both copyright laws and the eventual expiration of their applicability. Even Mickey Mouse will one day be in the public domain. I can hardly wait.
While my own work is not yet in the public domain, it is available here, and like Mad Magazine, it is "cheap"--in price though I hope not in quality.
Please note that wand prices have been substantially reduced. I don't really want to sell them at all--I like 'em so much!--but I must meet the needs of my public. . . .
Also note the addition of a new cut paper/mixed media picture (actually a print of it), an icon of St. John the Baptist, the third in a series--with the Madonna of the Apocalypse set to come up next, and others to follow.
These icons are inspired not so much by traditional Orthodox icons as by images of saints from Byzantine churches of centuries ago--images which are themselves icons in the broad sense although they are not painted or portable (they are stone/glass mosaics plastered on stone walls).
Byzantine mosaics represent a whole glorious world of art that gets too little attention in the art history books--probably due mainly to the fact that Western and non-Western art are usually treated more or less separately. But how separate were these realms, really, during the long period before the Byzantine Empire was finally brought to an end by Turkish invaders c. 1450? A question for the historians. There is, at any rate, a treasure-trove of beauty and inspiration in Byzantine mosaic art, and I am trying in my own very small way to keep the tradition not only alive but lively as well.
Anyone interested in commissioning a work on a favorite saint--I would love to hear from you.
