HOLY ICON of the DENIAL

"Holy Icon of the Denial," watercolor, India ink, and iridescent calligraphy ink on 8" x 10" watercolor paper.

Should I experience joy in creating an icon for Good Friday?

I tried to capture the essence of the Passion without resorting to some of the typical tropes of the narrative. I imagined what an icon of the rooster that crows after Peter denies Jesus three times might entail.

The rooster that was my model was one that I encountered at the Washington State Fair. I wanted the purple of Lent and Maundy Thursday to bleed into the black and darkness of Good Friday. I imagined a silver full moon in the background as the halo of the rooster icon. The barbed wire that surrounds the halo is to echo both the crown of thorns that Jesus will wear when his kingship is being mocked and the fencing that will keep the rooster itself contained and corralled. There are twelve barbs on the wire, one for each hour of the clock, one for each of the disciples, one for each of the tribes of Israel.