New Christian Icons
Exploring the intersection of Faith and Art, I realize how important it is to have a vision that reminds us of the heavenly world. I’ve dedicated my art to celebrating hope and faith and God’s great creativity.
To the right are eight large icons I was honored to create for the Saint Vincent de Paul Church in Albany, New York. Each Saint depicted was chosen by the church members and represents inspiring qualities that God brought forth in their service and lives of love. Let’s live a life of inspiration!
Join with me in celebrating God’s goodness and love in this world of ours!
NEW CHRISTIAN ICONS
PATREON is a site where you can join and for a small monthly fee, you can support the ongoing work of my teaching and creating icons for our world. With your help, I can work more on painting icons and sharing them to a wider audience, bringing God’s light into more and more places where a diverse range of people can be reached and receive God’s hope and guidance through His Word made visual .
In return, I offer a personal view into the progress in my studio each month, a monthly zoom call to aid and support new iconographers, and discounts on my icon prints.
Please support my work by contributing to this website, I am beyond grateful for your support and encouragement. Click HERE TO LEARN MORE. THANK YOU!
My Icon Story!
I gave two well attended talks at the Cathedral church of Saint Peter in Saint Petersburg in conjunction with my icon exhibition, available to view through May 1, 2025. Please visit my You Tube Channel for some more of my talks.
In the early 1990’s , my photographer husband, Mick Hales, was writing a photographing a book called “Monastic Gardens”. I was in graduate school at the time pursuing a Masters degree in Art Therapy, but I accompanied my husband to some beautiful convents and monasteries in the USA and Europe.
It was while visiting the convent of St. Georges Des gardes in France that I was introduced to their iconographer, Sister Myriam. During our 4 hour meeting, Sister Myriam showed me what made a good icon and explained their history and purpose to me.
Suddenly I realized that what I had been searching for all my life as an artist was contained within the art of Iconography- they were great artistically, they had meaning, and they were about God.
I came away from that visit determined to study icon writing, which I did for the next ten years, and then I began teaching others about this method of prayer and painting. I feel so blessed that God chose to give me that encounter which changed my life. I am forever grateful and happy now to be sharing the gift of iconography with others whom God is calling to learn and practice it.
SEE MY RETREATS PAGE FOR LIVE CLASSES. AND
MY ONLINE ICON CLASS PAGE FOR PRE RECORDED, SELF PACED CLASSES.
Icon Prints!
I know that original Icons can be beyond people’s budget, so I have created a great site where you can get prints of any of my icons. You can order framed or unframed, on paper, or wood, and in many sizes. Please take a look at Christinehalesicons.com so that you can have some of my icons for your home or church.
ICON RETREATS FOR 2026
I am giving three in person icon writing classes in 2026. My approach to teaching icon writing is two fold:
one, to simplify the very complicated process of painting Byzantine style Icons using egg tempera and gold leaf gilding- as they were painted in the early centuries.
And two, to bring my understanding of the creative process into my teaching methods so that students are able to create their own unique icon from the same drawing and process as everyone else is learning.
I encourage students to practice lectio divina in relation to their icon and prayer process for the class.
It’s a wonderful way to introduce people to an age old practice of painting and praying.
Take a look at my retreats page and join us in this prayerful and fun spiritual discipline!
