The Good Shepherd - Parable of the lost sheep OOAK egg tempera in olive wood first Christians art and symbolism

A slice cut from an old olive branch that was left to to dry for a couple of years so to reveal the figure of the Good Shepherd- I was always interested in the symbolism of the first Christians - that is why I always wanted to paint this figure, but not as the usual imaging of our lord, as we do in byzantine iconography today, but as a young men as it was in the paintings in catacombs.

The driftwood painting is based on the parable of the Lost Sheep  on Luke 15:6 "...Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost./ Συγχάρητέ μοι ὅτι εὗρον τὸ πρόβατόν μου τὸ ἀπολωλός..."

The size of this artifact can be seen in relation with my (small) hans in the last pics.

The artifact was created with egg tempera  in a slice of an olive wood branch that was specially treated before gessoed. On  top of the colors  shellac (goma laca) and a final layer of "keronefto" a mixture of wax and turpentine was used to permanently seal the colors.

As tradition demands a full "sensory" experience while participating in the worship -Keronefto is ment to invoke the sense of smell apart from  the other more obvious senses of sight and touch- and  open the way to the awakening of the heart- but that is what I think painting is all about...