Note to self when painting an icon.

The lettering to straighten up

Mary’s halo to erase -  half, no all of it

and repaint

Scraped and re-measured - the halos to tidy up

the gilding

with a knife.

This is the third major hack-back. At this point.

The onion gravy incident

The gold over-shoot

The wonky lettering

The flames, at least three different styles of flame

Mary’s head

Mary’s hands

Mary’s face

The mountain

Jesus.

Help.

The halos. 

There are so many things wrong with this element alone, 

the initial measuring, 

the over thick application on size making the gold wrinkly.

This is a pure and simple case

Of doing things, 

that is the steps

Of icon painting

In the wrong order.

Trying to use an accurate instrument on a wonky circle is challenging

Just do it right in the first place and all will be well.

A bit like quilting

The seams Have to be perfectly matched up, 

accurately cut, 

correctly pinned, 

expertly sewed

It all has to be right or it ruins the pattern

It messes the whole thing up.

The circle of the halo must be drawn accurately.