Our CGS Level 3 Atrium is for children ages 9–12. One of the major works/activities for this age group is making a timeline of the history of everything: creation of the natural world, creation of Adam & Eve, life of Jesus, the child’s own birth, and the end of all things. To support this practical work, we decided to place a pair of murals on either end of the room to cap the ends of the timeline, with Christ at both nodes.
Big IDEA: Alpha & Omega; Beginning & End
On the west wall we chose to show the creation of the cosmos – the pre-incarnate Word of God creating the Heavenly Bodies.
On the east wall we chose to show the End of all things – Christ seated in the New (Heavenly) Jerusalem, inviting us to Himself.
All other points in our known history fall between these two bookends.
Near Disasters
I think these murals are relatively successful in what they set out to accomplish. However, there were a few close calls along the way, and some readers might like to see that process.
1.Coloring the Walls, Gates, and Pavement of the Heavenly Jerusalem
I begin murals with a yellow/orange paint to explore the composition. That went ok enough:
However, trouble came along when I began to block in the colors of the walls of the City. My first impulse was to explore a mostly green palette, since the book of Revelation indicates: “…the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” And later, “The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.” And once more, “And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”
So I thought, let’s try a mostly green-walled city with a golden pavement. Here is how that went…
Ew.
Some good things - like the radiance of the golden yellow ground and open gateways. But mostly, ew.
Many thanks to Isaac (9) and Max (7) Coleman for pointing out to me that the ground did not look like gold at all, rather it was, “just yellow.” This was a turning point in the color scheme development. I stopped all painting on the mural and went back to my desk. With watercolors and paper I quickly explored some alternate color palettes for this composition and found one I liked much better.
Isaac and Max both said the ground should be green grass. Even though that is not strictly what is indicated in the scriptural text, I think it works better visually in this case because green grass indicates nourishment and comfort and beauty.
And even though the walls are supposed to be greenish jasper, I am glad I changed them to a pale warm stone color with golden undertones. Once the ground was green, taken as a whole, the mural’s dominant color is still light green. In the end, a reversal of the indicated colors worked better for this composition than strict adherence to the text. Revelation’s green jasper walls and clear gold ground became gold-ish walls and green ground for this mural’s purposes. In my opinion, if I had stuck rigidly to my initial plan, the end result would have been a muddled and dissatisfying color palette. In the end, with Isaac and Max’s help, a more beautiful final product was achieved. Thank God!
2. Weird Face
The second false trail I want to call your attention to is the initial face I painted on Christ in the Creation of the Heavenly Bodies mural. The preliminary sketch in yellow/orange began with a promising start:
Even after blocking in the first few areas of color, the facial structure and expression seemed to be on a good footing:
But then somewhere during the shadows highlights modeling of the face, things went off the rails. I didn’t like what I was seeing, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was the main thing wrong:
This face wasn’t a wholesale disaster, but it wasn’t as good as I had hoped. It’s a terrible feeling when you don’t like what you see but don’t know what to do to make it better.
So, I actually blanked out the entire face and started over. Sometimes the surest way forward is to back up and make a fresh start. I think I salvaged the previously painted neck, ear, and hair, but the face and beard are brand new.
It’s not perfect; but it’s better. I think it’s good enough for now.
Thankfully on this project I could afford the time to backtrack when I had taken a wrong turn, and try again. God grant us to see our mistakes and failures, but not to despair. Give us time to make things right that we have bent and knocked awry. If it be Your will.