Peter Murphy - Professional Icon Painter

Peter Murphy had been commissioned to paint a series of five large scale icons depicting saints connected with sailing and the sea, for St. Mary Redcliffe church in Bristol. This was a major commission designed to embellish the walls of the anti-chapel to support the general refurbishment of the building.

Peter Murphy shows his work to the class

The processes that Peter uses are unerringly traditional, and can be traced back in time to the 12th Century. With great good fortune, he was able to come to The Pre in order to talk to the children about his work as an icon painter, bringing with him examples of his pieces, and a broad selection of tools, materials and equipment.

He explained the production of an icon in terms of a series of carefully completed stages, starting with the selection, then preparation of the wood panels, and finishing with the recipes for making pigments and the techniques used in painting. Children watched fascinated as gelatine, egg yolks, egg whites and garlic were used to bind ground and powdered Lapis Lazuli to produce the colour blue. He used the gilder's tools of a cushion and tip to apply gold leaf, burnishing the surface with polished agate. He produced traditionally stylised images of angels and saints, painted in formal techniques.

Throughout his visit, children were careful to note down everything that might help them with the production of their own icons, using sketchbooks to record the shapes of panels, compositions, details like halos, wings, harps and flutes, etc, recipes for pigments, and use of gold leaf.

Peter's visit resulted in the production of 'Icons for Clifton'. Year 5 pupils were directed by Sally Nuttall to base their versions on observations of angels that were to be found in the school chapel.

As a measure success, the children's icons were then displayed alongside Peter Murphy's in St. Mary Redcliffe's newly refurbished anti-chapel. This proved to be sufficiently newsworthy to warrant articles in local newspapers!