I had the good fortune to have been commissioned to make a copy of this significant icon of Our Lady for St. Mary's Catholic Church in Brampton, as part of my experience in church restoration. The preparation and study took nearly a year and a half, during which I learned to make traditional gesso and grind my own paints. In the end, however, the icon was so large that I resorted to modern means to prevent the piece from cracking.  The study, rendered at the same time, with prayers and anointing, remains at home for our own devotions.  It has been blessed in the Orthodox tradition.