Modern Icons

Religious Icons with a Modern Point of View

Artist and iconographer Tracy Councill has had a lifelong fascination with religious icons. After studying with iconographer Suzanne Schleck, she began painting icons of her own design.

When beginning an icon, she researches the scripture and tradition surrounding the subject. The final icon design uses symbols associated with the saint, gesture and facial expression to convey the meaning of the story. Her icons are made with traditional egg tempera and gold leaf on prepared boards.

She often works with individuals who wish to commission icons that have a special meaning for them. Any of her past designs can be replicated on commission, and it is fun to create new designs.

Some of my lesser-known subjects and original designs have included Absalom Jones, Pauli Murray, and Mary, Mother of Jesus in Old Age.

The designs in my shop are available for purchase immediately. Any design may be commissioned, requiring eight to twelve weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the icon. For commissions requiring a new design, I will work with you on the specifics and the time required. The price will vary with the size and complexity of the piece. Each one is hand-painted and unique. There will be some variation between examples of the same design, even though the same artist paints each one.

High quality digital prints of icons may be purchased at https://fineartamerica.com/art/tracy+councill.

Icons in Stock

Mary, Mother of Jesus in Old Age

$350
This icon imagines Mary late in life.
The Good Shepherd

$500
The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd expresses tender care and concern for all people.
Hildegard of Bingen

$500
Hildegard was an 11th-century abbess, mystic, visionary, artist and composer.
St. Mark

$350
Mark is the author of the Gospel of Mark, and was thought to have been St. Peter’s scribe. He is known for having started the Christian Church in Egypt, and was martyred there. His symbol is the winged lion, with the lion referring to the strength of his witness and the wings to his spirituality.
Blessed are You

$450
Known as the Visitation, Mary visits her kinswoman Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist.
St. Dorothy

$350
Patron of gardeners, Dorothy was a third century virgin martyr who had a vision of herself with Jesus in a heavenly garden.
Mary Magdalene, the Tower

$500
This unconventional representation of Mary Magdalene relies on contemporary scholarship that posits that Magdalene is not the name from the town where she lived, but rather an honorific that Jesus gave her, meaning “Tower.” She was a leader among Jesus’s followers and was perhaps closer to Jesus than any of his followers.
Healing of the Woman with the Flow of Blood

$450
This icon tells the story of Jesus healing a woman who pursued him in a crowd to ask for healing.
The Syro-Phoenician Woman

$450
This icon shows the moment where Jesus heals a woman who has pursued him to ask for healing for her daughter. When Jesus asks her why he should heal her, since she is not Jewish, she replies with the famous argument that even the dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall from the table. For her persistence, Jesus heals her and ascribes to her great faith.
The Resurrected Jesus

$350
The Resurrected Jesus is shown extending one hand in blessing and showing his wounds, to show his compassion.