Wednesday, July 04, 2007
One Like a Son of Man
By Ramone - June 23, 2007
I had this sudden childlike desire to paint a simple picture of Jesus based on Revelation 1:12-16. But I wanted to paint it simple and full of His joy, and as much as possible like a child might paint it.
I'm really not one for trying to illustrate the visions John saw in the book of Revelation. For one, the outcome is usually rather scary-looking or emotionally aloof at best. Also just from the dreams God has given me, I've learned that it's better for me to leave some things unpainted because they don't always translate well to depiction. In dreams and visions things are possible which aren't as possible in the natural; He can show you things that are connected, or you can see multiple things at the same time which wouldn't make sense in the natural. Taking those things and trying to make them fit into natural depictions can look grotesque at worst, or at best like a Salvador Dali painting (still bizarre, and still sometimes grotesque).
So I painted this little picture (it's only a 4x6 postcard-size in real life) rather quickly, and while it didn't come out as childlike as I'd hoped, doing it at least satisfied my urge to paint it. When I showed it to my wife, she liked it and was filled with a joy she couldn't understand. That made me glad. I couldn't quite understand it, either.
One point worth mentioning is the double-edged sword (that is, His word - see Hebrews 4:12). I thought it had to be coming "out of" His mouth with the point of the blade coming out first, towards the viewer. But I couldn't do that because it just looked too grotesque. So suddenly it occured to me to turn the sword around, so that it is coming out handle-first. I felt a little bad about this, but the effect worked very well and removed the scariness from it entirely.
*****
Update - May 18th, 2011:
It's now been almost four years since I painted this, and yesterday I was impressed to pull out this painting and pray about it. I showed it to my wife but she had forgotten it, but she was filled with a joy again when she saw it!
I was surprised to learn that God had a purpose, a meaning and a word to speak through this little picture. Even the turned-around sword has meaning to it: He is giving His word to us and asking us if we will receive it!
A word He gave me about this is located here at Weeping Jeremiahs: "Children's Revelation"
# posted by Ramone @ 11:59 AM 
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