Praising the beauty of a pot is both praise to the maker and to the thing itself. Admittedly they are worlds apart in amounts of praise, but that’s not what I see in Icons. What I see in Icons and veneration in general is a subtle but nonetheless invasive distinction. You say that to venerate the saints is to give glory to their help and salvation yes? But what stops you from paying that to the G-d directly? The veil was torn and now our praise can flow directly to G-d. So even if it’s not questionable as I believe it to be, why not simply ignore them and focus on the G-d who is the only one deserving of praise anyway? Why include a middle man