What a beautiful day

Three canvases….. work in progress

Such a painfully slow process but the stain paintings are getting there slowly. Layers and layers of paint are poured onto the canvas and left to dry of their own accord, allowing the paint to spread across or not as gravity and texture allow. They are currently outside, basking in the beautiful sun while I clean the bathroom!! Mmmmm. I’ve got it wrong somewhere! I’ve worked out what I was trying to say some in that I think I am being found again. Lost myself for a while there, which happens to me every now and then, but slowly realising that all is not ‘grim and dark’ as Small feels in Deb Gliori’s marvellous book ‘No matter what’.

The pieces are ironically about stepping out: stepping from that place of safety, of darkness even, of comfort and of complacency and into the nothingness of trust and faith. It’s like the sky…. so incredibly vast and big and more than I can comprehend and yet I feel like we are called, every now and then, to step into it, not quite knowing what is ahead and not quite knowing where it will lead. In between the darkness and the sky is some stitching which has the appearance of a ladder and I think this is where I currently reside, not so white knuckled as I think I was a few days ago but hesitantly sitting on the rung and maybe swinging my legs a little, contemplating my next potential step. I am not yet standing, nor am I letting go of the rungs, but as the work continues I usually find that the whole process is therapeutic and a means to my own courage and learning. Maybe this is why they have taken so long.

More definition

Skyline

Today has been an unexpected day in the shed and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. Initially I was working on the skyline, trying to pull out some more details and to sharpen up areas, but then my eye went to the cross which was looking incredibly insignificant…… it had somehow lost it’s presence. So I’ve thickened it up and will be layering paint over the base as soon as it’s dry. This fourth canvas has always been a little more unresolved for me in relation to the others, I think because it is such an unknown. But God has so much to reveal in this area and is revealing it slowly and surely, drawing out leaders to take the church on and sending others out. The map was completely lost in the layering of text so I’ve used a thick wash to clarify the outline, painting in the land rather than the sea. I never know how the paint will flow so excited to also see this when it’s dry. In the mean time I’ve ordered some thin leather to bind the individual roots and pieces of wood, but may yet experiment with these further.

Reworking canvas four

Some texts were written in wax tablets and I like the idea of using wax to cover and to preserve but not to potentially melt over the work!!!! Will play and see. The footprints need to go on the far side canvas, three or four people walking together, alongside each other. How can we be compassionate unless we walk alongside people and wear their shoes? And for me it is important that the footprints are of all ages, for how many times have I been totally dumbstruck by a truth God has revealed to me through one of my children? They are an integral part of God’s family as are us all. I was talking to a lovely lady the other day who was sharing with me her faith journey and how health has suddenly become a defining factor. She cannot do what she once could but she is finding that God is opening doors in surprising ways and that she is able to serve Him in such new and refreshing ways. God needs all of our hands, all of our feet. But for now I will stitch the titles a little more and maybe play with wax for the last half an hour before the children descend.

Three out of the four

Three stretched canvases

So excited to get three of the canvases all stitched and stretched. Need to complete the canvas four with an outline of countries…… needs to be a lot less busy than the others. Still thinking about this one – want to capture that sense of reaching out, incompleteness, progress, things yet to come.

Then will be the moment of truth when they are primed. The base of the canvas at last ready for the paint. It’s taken a lot longer than I’d anticipated but there would be no way of creating this sense of movement without the work that has gone before. Once the primer is dry and the fourth canvas is resolved it will be time for the words. A statement of truth. A declaration of intention and vision. The point of it all….

Small steps paid off…

Canvas one

Sometimes when I begin a new piece of work I run full steam ahead into it and work at a mighty speed. This hasn’t been the case this time, and today I am glad of that.

I’ve had to take a step back from it due to having the children off school but today a beautiful friend has had my children so I can spend a few hours listening to God and contemplating the work in my Shed. And the roads have morphed!!!! I went back to the original vision and looked again at the meaning behind each of huge canvases, the first being Compassion.

One of the many aspects of the Vineyard Church which has challenged me is presence of paper bags with simple life changing shopping lists attached. Grab a bag, fill a bag and donate the bag. Simple and incredibly powerful, so to include the outline of a paper bag seemed obvious really. Compassion is shown in so many ways through the church but this way in particular has challenged me.

Canvas three

The third canvas speaks of doing every part of life well, being in relationship, growing trust and love between people. The roads naturally can take a more organic shape, softening their angular lines and in doing so the feel of them changes. From there develop buds and leaves, new growth: signs of strengthened roots; good, rich and nourishing foundations.

These more organic lines will lead into the fourth canvas and become the outline of countries and coastlines reflecting the vision to invest in nations.

…….. so for once I am pleased that I have been slow to start, for now I can continue knowing that the stitches I made will reflect more clearly the vision set before the church.

More texture needed

Sampler trying to work out which method works best

After stitching to the canvas I can see immediately that a single row of stitches really isn’t going to show up when the canvas is primed, so with that thought in mind today I have tried several different stitches over torn material. The material, now that is sorted. It’s all going to come from one piece, many pieces making one whole. Happy with that. And the stitching can still be different colours, but it’s the way the material will react to the primer I need to work out. If the stitching is thin, a single line, it will allow the material to lift off the canvas base and this could be a good effect but it could also be too overpowering and make the following layers more distorted…..

Sampler with gesso primer onto top to show how the material will lie when primed.

and as I thought the one line of stitching does lift off the base too dramatically for the following layers to work but the medium zig zag stitch is good and will allow me the option to lift areas if I need to.

And so the stitching begins….. lots and lots of roads!

Stitching the roads begins…

I like the look of it already and I’ve only just touched the surface…..

Mapping out the texture

Transferring map onto canvas

Started work on the Work and City Renewal section of the canvases. This was the clearest picture I had and it was present as soon as the commission was outlined. The church is to reach out: outside itself, outside the building, outside our comfort zone.

Before the canvas will be stretched over the frame I often stitch into the material and create a textural surface on which to work. This ‘going out’ was initially seen as a series of human shaped forms that were joined together and stretched out from a central point (the place of feeding and restoration, God, the church building, all these symbols work). But I wanted to ground it in the specific place where the church stands and works and wants to make their impact….. Birmingham. Using the road map grid as a means to show the outpouring of God’s grace through the people of this church just seemed more appropriate. The idea rather than the exact scale is important.

Canvases Two and Three

And so the process begins, transferring the map of Birmingham onto the second of the four canvases and then continuing these roads and lines into the canvases either side to express the outpouring of Holy Spirit and His transformational grace. The canvas is now in the process of being taken off the frame and stitched into again. Although the canvas will be primed and will lose a lot of the definition, it seemed important to do the stitching in colour. Andrew McNeil talked about us being like colours, hues in God’s palette, and although I think this symbolism will occur in the canvas elsewhere it seemed right to include this at the very beginning.

My Bible reading today drew me to 1 Chronicles 11: 10-11 which talks of David’s mighty men, these incredible men who dedicated their lives to serving and loving and protecting David, enabling him to become the King God intended him to be. It talks of them ‘linking arms’ with him and I found this to be a really powerful image, one of strength but also one of personal sacrifice.

Stitching the canvas

I recently went ice skating with my daughter and for the first thirty minutes I was literally holding her up and supporting her as her confidence grew. And in that time I was limited in my speed and in my ability to stand whilst holding her. It came back to me suddenly as I was reading this that this is the church’s commission: reaching out beyond ourselves, slowing down our speed and falling into step with those around us to help them understand more of God’s grace and love. By walking alongside them, linking arms with them, Jesus can be revealed.