THE FULL PICTURE - the journey of a piece painted in public

On Sunday (2/4/17) I painted live at City Church Cambridge (UK) as part of the worship team, and thought I'd make a timelapse video sharing the progress of my picture from start to finish. Showing how the piece developed in public through our two morning services, and then what happened beyond, in the private space of my garden studio.

Firstly let me introduce you to my painting:

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW - acrylic on canvas (24x30")

We long for heaven here
To show heaven here
To tell of heaven here

We bring heaven here
We see heaven here
And sing with heaven here
Your kingdom come
Your will be done

Here on earth as it is in heaven
AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

I've been contemplating the connection between heaven and earth, and our role in increasing this connection which led to the poem/song I've written above. My painting represents this with the blue of the heavens and the green of the earth reaching out to each other. The white glow and the red flecks symbolise Jesus, the biggest connection between heaven and earth.

The Video

The 5 hours at church on Sunday morning and the 3 hours in my studio on Monday afternoon are condensed through timelapse into 2 minutes. This includes ~1.5 hr of actual painting time broken into 4 sections across the 2 church services, interspersed with a little dancing and me singing the song above to the congregation.

I created this little movie for those in my church family. As few are there for both services to see my painting develop, and none have seen my painting process beyond. I always share the completed picture on social media with an explanation, but not everyone sees this, and there is usually quite a jump from how it looks at the end of a Sunday morning and how it looks once finished.

I have also created this movie for those who have never seen someone painting live and are interested in how it works in our context. Please feel free to share this with others that would find it helpful.

Our worship changes atmospheres

The music I have used in this video is 'Atmospheres' by Lucy Grimble and is used with permission. She is my favourite worship leader and song writer at David's Tent, which is where I first painted on canvas live in worship in 2015. I'll finish this post with some of her lyrics:

“Let's fill the city with the songs of heaven...
Let's join the angels as we come to worship...
Our worship changes atmospheres...
So I won't hold back, no I won't hold back from You.
Cause you never hold back, no You don't hold back from me”