Articles by David Clayton
Can Catholics paint icons?
Dec 9, 2009 / 00:00 amWhenever I write about icons, there very often are comments from readers suggesting that Catholics can’t paint icons. The iconographic tradition, they argue is inseparable from Eastern spirituality and liturgy, and so Western Rite Catholics shouldn’t even try unless they follow the Eastern pattern of prayer and fasting. Some go further and suggest that even for Eastern rite Christians, only a monk can achieve the spiritual status necessary to paint icons well. Whether or not we accept this relates to our understanding of what constitutes a vocation and how the virtue of being an artist fits into that.
If we must do something new, let tradition and the Church take us there
Jun 17, 2009 / 00:00 amEvery time I paint I have to ask myself two questions: what will I paint? And how will I paint it? The answers to these questions govern the content and the style, respectively, of my finished painting and in turn their conformity to what is good, true and beautiful.