We live in the negative space byzantine iconography blog

Erasing yet another area that needed redoing on an icon I realized another universal pervasive law of the universe that is replicated across all disciplines. Quantum physics has already labeled this phenomenom as "negative space". That is, we are the space between the atoms-subatomic particles of matter that comprise us. Similarly, in icon painting, we are working most of the time in a space of becoming and...failing. The negative space. It is only on rare occasions that we master a technique and proceed to the next. The steps are often painful and arduous. Often one step forward, two steps back. A "divine Ladder" of our own. Meant to knock some of the little pride we have squirreled away up and out! Erase, and then erase again. I thought I was better by now. Wrong again! Life is this way too, all the old cliches tell us so: "The life of hard knocks," "try and try again," and so forth." We spend the majority of our lifetimes unhappily, feeling that we are lost and will never make harbor. Only moments of joy when the harbor is actually within sight. But all this time, quantum physics and life and iconography and everything else tell us over and over again, "You've always had the power within you Dorothy," Or as Christ said "seek within." The negative space is the voyage where growth and transformation and life take place. Relish it. It is your classroom on earth. The mistakes are your patient teachers, willing to work with you as long as it takes at your own speed and ability, custom tailored and differentiated just for you. Another one of God's miracles. If we have eyes to see.