​Hi! Meet Markus and Tessa and their collaborative paintings. 

Markus and Tessa are a husband-and-wife team who create in collaboration.
Markus composes the background through carving, scorching, painting and sanding, which then provides a coarse and craggy environment, creating depth, texture and context.

Tessa then paints delicately in oils on the primed space allocated for her. She adapts her painting according to the inspiration she receives from the background. Each painting is unique and not of anyone in particular.
Her sensitive portraiture, glows with inner beauty, that then shines out of the rough, supporting background.

The lack of expression leaves room for the viewer to imagine and emulate, finding the essence of each painting. These ethereal paintings invite the inward gaze.

Markus and Tessa hope that as you’re going about your busy life, the Icon Painting can be a reminder to pause and reconnect to your inner inspiration, to reconnect to that which is the best of you. Or even to connect to an aspect of yourself which you feel could be developed, for example, inner strength, determination, peace or even flamboyance.

Much like the conventional Byzantine icons that they are loosely inspired by, Thonett Icon Paintings are more like the moon, rather than the sun, as they reflect and express the qualities we may want to foster in ourselves, rather than giving off their own light.

The touch of gold implies the emerging qualities of our inner value, no matter who we are or what we do, in some cases where there are apparent flaws.

And this is what Markus and Tessa hope these Icon Paintings do – celebrate being human, with all our dreams and perceived shortcomings.

Wherever you are on your inner journey, Tessa and Markus invite you to find resonance in one of their Thonett Icon Paintings. 

These pieces do not have frames, but are complete in themselves, like pieces of wall sculpture, mounted a little away from the wall.
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​At a time when art represents an ever bigger slice of the world's trade, it's increasingly important to consider sustainable work practices as  environmentally conscientious artists. So Markus, while creating the icons, uses only repurposed wood and surplus household paints - material that would otherwise end up in landfills. Tessa completes the process with some thin glazes of oil paint for the faces




The smaller icons are delivered in a beautiful black box with a ribbon and tissue paper. The box is also 100% recyclable, but more to the point, it can be re-used many times.

For the collector, each painting has its own certicate of authenticity, displaying a title, date and signatures of the artists.
Markus and Tessa also do commissions of loved ones in this style. You can have your favourite person immortalised in this style, for just £500 for the smaller painting.