The original of this icon was made of cut paper and mixed media. This is the very first icon I made using these media. It is a “head shot” patterned after a series of similar medallion-like pictures of female saints I once came upon in a beautifully illustrated book on Byzantine mosaic. Most of the work I have done lately shows the full figure of the saint—the more common pattern in Byzantine mosaics. Mary M. is certainly a very interesting saint, and one among the several women we know of from the Gospels who were friends of Jesus.