"Heavenly" Multi-Media Piece

During the month of September, my church is studying Revelation 21-22 with a sermon series titled "The Word On Heaven".  (Our pastor is AMAZING and you can watch videos on this at the church website: Gaylord Evangelical Free)  As part of this series, all artists in the church were invited to create their vision of heaven based on these verses.  Above is the 16 x 20 multimedia canvas I created for this event.   I used lots of media in this piece:  paint, stencils stamps, paper, multi-medium gel, pen, texture paste, Stickles, book pages, metal, alcohol inks, gems, paper clay, Glossy Accents and varnish.  It took about 3 weeks to complete as everything was created in layers and time needed to dry.  Here's a closer look: 

 

The King of King and Lord of Lords

Inspirational verse:

 "But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light."

The focus of the piece had to be Jesus, which was formed from paper.  After the clay dried,  I painted it pearl white and added gold shading.  The crown was cut from metal, shaped, and then colored with alcohol inks.  I attached three red gems.

Inspirational verse:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End."

I painted the throne and those symbols on it.  To make the throne stand out, I went over it with pen then a coat of Glossy Accents.  The GA raised the throne up from the paper, giving it subtle dimension (which you can't see from the photo).

The Glory of God

Inspirational verse:

"There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light."

To signify the glory of God, I used paper radiating out from the throne.  All the paper I chose in this piece had shiny gold flecks in it. Over and around the paper, I used paint and pen to emphasis that radiance.  

The River of Life 

Inspirational verse:

".. a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb."

"Living Water" is a theme throughout the bible.  So my piece needed the water to stand out, which I did by using texture paste to add dimension.  To signify "clear as crystal" I added Stickles (glitter glue) here and there for shine.

 

At Jesus' Feet

Inspirational verse:

"Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."

As you can see, I painted people sitting at Jesus' feet, worshiping Him and listening to every word He says. I've always envisioned myself in heaven....sitting at the Lord's feet, with my bulldogs  (and loved ones) together again, basking in the presence of the Lord.  So that's what I painted, shown in the picture above.

When studying these verses I was a bit disturbed by Revelation 22:15:  "Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."

What?!!  No dogs in heaven?  This didn't seem possible!  I know that God loves me and gives me all good things.  Why wouldn't my beloved pets be with me for eternity?  So I did some research and most bible scholars believe that the "dogs" referred to here are "pagans".  Whew!  So I'm still believing that I'll see Mack, Louie, Millie (and Gus years from now) waiting for me when Jesus welcomes me home.  And we'll all be sitting at Jesus' feet!