Icon painting is a meditative, prayerful, and somewhat ritualized art form, in which the materials and processes as well as the image have symbolic meaning. God’s whole creation gathers to create the icon, in the form of the all- natural animal, vegetable, and mineral products used for the board, gilding, painting, and oiling. A blessed icon completed by this “liturgically correct” process is considered sacred, regardless of the quality of its art work.