NEW ~ FALL SEMESTER CLASS STARTING SEPTEMBER 15th!

Byzantine Icon Drawing Foundations I with Maria Panou

We offer this class as a special introduction to Drawing in the Byzantine system.  New independent students can build a solid understanding of the language of the Byzantine system in iconography with this foundation. This class is also good as a refresher course to simply reinforce the basics, and for those who are not ready to enter into Essential Drawing class with George Kordis (suggested only after Byzantine Foundation Drawing II has been completed).  It is also an important class for any students wishing to enter into the Certificate Program as a way to get started in the visual language or as a pre-requisite for students wishing to enter into Sacred Space: A Professional Wall-Painting program.  Many of our students repeat this course to become more proficient in the most important elemental building blocks to the visual language.

This foundational course will follow weekly lessons in a variety of practical lessons to include:

1. Drawing Heads. ( a. Dynamic frontally, 3/4 heads). 
2. Hands, Feet, 
3. Garments, 
4. The standing figure. 
5. The seated figure, 
6. Moving figures 
7. & 8. Other 

Throughout the lessons, students will strengthen their overall drawing skills, learn familiarity with the Byzantine system, and gain their own readiness to begin to compose more complex subjects and small compositions, and work on practice.  All lessons are delivered live in the Zoom class, whereas Kordis’s class has pre-recorded lessons and the Live session is reserved for corrections and discussions as well as demonstration.

Students will submit their drawings online through email, with corrections and critique individually and privately via email with Maria Panou.  The LIVE Zoom is for the live lessons – students can watch and practice a first attempt at home during the Live class, or simply watch and practice their assignments separately.

Time: TUESDAYS, 7:30 to 8:30pm (Athens, Greece) time = 12:30 to 1:30pm Eastern Standard (EST) in the US & Canada, meets every other week – 2x per month.

Fall 2026 Class Dates:

SEPTEMBER 15 & 29

OCTOBER 13 & 27

NOVEMBER 10 & 24

DECEMBER 8 & 22

Duration: 2 lessons per month (2 hours total) plus private online corrections via email

Semester Tuition Cost (4 months) = 220 Euros

Each registered student will receive instructions of how to submit their drawings and once the class is underway, will also receive a Dropbox link to their private folder where all drawings are stored.

All classes are recorded and be watched at your convenience.

Please contact us at admin@writingthelight.com or keri@writingthelight.com if there are any questions.