The Nativity Icon – Intermediate Course

Intermediate Icon Painting Course – Intensive Format

🗓 Course Schedule (two terms):
15th May – 19th June
• (Break) then 17th & 24th July
18th September – 13th November

6 pm – 9 pm on Zoom


Deepen your icon painting practice with this immersive online course guided by Basia Mindewicz. Over several weeks, you’ll create a beautiful icon of the Nativity, learning traditional egg tempera techniques while exploring a more personal, spiritual approach to sacred art. Includes live Zoom sessions, recordings, and individual support. Suitable for those with previous painting or iconography experience.

£300.00£600.00

Description

Intermediate Icon Painting Course (Intensive Format)

Taught by Basia Mindewicz

A creative and contemplative journey into sacred art

Join us for an immersive icon painting course designed for intermediate students ready to deepen their skills and personal connection to the sacred art of iconography.

Whether you’ve already painted an icon or have a background in fine art, this course offers space to grow your confidence, refine your technique, and develop a more intuitive, expressive approach to icon painting.


🖌 What You’ll Be Painting

In this course, we will focus on painting the icon of Nativity, an image rich in symbolism and spiritual depth.

Suggested panel size: 26 x 36 cm

🌟 What You’ll Learn

Working with traditional egg tempera and the Russian method, you’ll be guided through each stage of the icon—from the underdrawing to the final highlights. The course balances structure and creativity, inviting you to follow Basia’s demonstrations closely or take a more interpretive path.

You will explore:

  • Layering techniques to create light and depth

  • Colour mixing and palette selection

  • Facial and hand structure in iconography

  • Texture, gesture, and personal expression

  • The spiritual rhythm of painting as prayer

Each session includes a live demonstration, recorded for later access, so you can work at your own pace and revisit key moments.


📅 Course Dates

Spring/Summer Session:
15th May – 19th June
plus 17th & 24th July (two additional sessions after a short break)

Autumn Session:
18th September – 13th November


6 pm – 9 pm. Thursdays

Who Is This Course For?

This course is ideal for those who have painted at least one icon or have prior experience in painting. If you’re looking to develop your technique while exploring a more expressive, spiritual approach to iconography, this course will support and inspire you.


🧑‍🎨 About the Tutor

Basia Mindewicz is an experienced iconographer and teacher known for her warm, intuitive guidance and deep knowledge of the icon tradition. Her approach blends classical technique with space for personal reflection, helping each student find their own creative voice within the iconographic form.


💻 Format & Access

  • Taught live on Zoom

  • Recordings available during the course for flexible learning

  • Suitable for international students across time zones


Ready to join us?
Rediscover the joy of sacred painting and deepen your spiritual and artistic practice in community.

✨ About the Icon: The Nativity of Christ

In this course, we will be painting the icon of The Nativity, a powerful image that expresses both the mystery and the humility of Christ’s birth. This particular composition focuses on the tender intimacy between Mary and the newborn Christ, cradled within the dark cave of the world—a visual reminder of divine light entering into human vulnerability.

At the heart of the icon, the Theotokos rests near the Christ Child, whose swaddling clothes foreshadow both burial cloths and the Incarnation’s deep humility. The ox and the donkey look on, silent witnesses to the miracle foretold by the prophets. The mountains above, stylized and radiant in red, serve as both a symbolic threshold between heaven and earth and a framing of divine intervention. A single ray descends from the heavens, signifying the presence of the Holy Spirit.

This version of the Nativity invites the painter not only into technical learning, but also into a space of inner contemplation—an invitation to dwell with mystery, silence, and awe.

What do you need?

You can either use the materials that you already have. Or equire mateirals from the list below. Please contact us if you need any advice.

Materials needed for the Course:

You don’t need all materials for your first session. It will be an introduction. Please contact us if you want to sign up but not sure if you manage to get all materials before the start of the course.

  • gesso panel – recommended size 23/36 cm. You can order a proper icon board HERE 
  • or use a Clayboard – order HERE
  • Also here HERE
  • A4 tracing paper
  • Brushes – squirrel mix– sizes 2,3 BUY HERE and kolinsky size 0 HERE (recommended kolinsky      Or Roubloff Brushes HERE
  • Alternatively, Vegan Brushes – buy here
  • Pigments – basic set – Titanium white, Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Blue, Green Oxide, Red Ochre, Cyprus Burnt Umber, Antique Green or Green Umber, Mars Black or Black Iron Oxide. You can buy it here. You need only the smallest containers. BUY HERE
  • Ceramic palette.

Additional information

sessions

Spring/Summer Session, Autumn Session, Both Sessions

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