These BLOGS are sponsored by my businesses.
“Misty Hollow
Carving” was launched in
October 2008
Misty Hollow Digital Images was
launched on September 26, 2012.
“Crop Circles’ Web Site” where all
my images are available.
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Sacred
Heart of Jesus Church and my art work of Restoring Jesus
For
my Blog followers you have read of my newest project that I have been working
on. The project of “Me and ‘Jesus’”.
I
have spent 12 hours alone with ‘Jesus’ this past week. It has actually taken a bit longer than 12
hours to get the job done. I have been
painting Jesus – at least a statue of Jesus at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church
in Peterborough, Ontario – at Romaine and Aylmer streets.
The
Sacred Heart Church was built a little over 100 years ago. Either at the time it was built or shortly
after that time this ‘Jesus’ was installed as a sacred image to encourage the
congregants in their worship.
Marriage
after marriage, ceremony after ceremony and all the Mass conducted, this statue
of Jesus was the welcome guest at all the services held I the church over the
years.
Somewhere
in the renovation period of the church a few years back it was decided by
someone that ‘Jesus’ should be white. It
was a modernizing attempt that made this happen. Perhaps it was one person or a few that had
decided to have ‘Jesus’ painted all white.
But when it happened, it took place during the time the walls were being
painted and the updating was taking place.
The
short stories that have been shared with me about the shock that people had
when they saw their blessed statue of Jesus coming back to its place in the
sanctuary completely white – are many.
This one decision likely caused a number of faithful people to react.
Undoubtedly
some were for the change because it signified the possible changes that they
wanted in their faith practices. But
from what I heard there were way more that felt this was almost a desecration
of what they considered Holy. The
beautiful statue that their Great Grand Parents had been married in front of
was gone forever. The statue that had presided over their own Baptism,
marriage, and the following Baptisms of their own children was not the same.
Though
it has taken me more than 12 hours to carefully paint the statue in the original
colours, it would take less than 2 hours to completely cover ‘Jesus’ in white
paint… and that would include two coats.
How
do I know these things? Well I have been
with ‘Jesus’ for the better part of a whole week, starting on Monday and
working a half day at a time. While
doing this the people who regularly are involved as volunteers in the church service
or that take part in some of the preparations for the congregation have stopped
by to take a peek. Some of these folks
shared a little bit about what the statue has meant to them over the years. The stories touched my heart.
You
may ask how I knew what the original colours were. Well the thick white paint that was covering
the statue was easy to chip away to see what was below. Then with the help of a few colour swatches
that the paint department offered I found the exact colour match.
The
problems that I encountered along the process of the new paint job were many.
The
greatest problem was to get ‘Jesus’ to shine with a gold colour that had been
originally there. The shiny gold was
hidden below the white paint and there was lots of it. But that shiny gold colour, which likely contained
real gold(not sure of this), is not sold today.
The sign painter’s gold is too shiny and would look terrible. What should I do?
By
applying a coat of paint that was kind of a ‘mustard yellow’ colour and then
the metallic paint from a craft store… the old shine came alive again. ‘Jesus’
now has just the right amount of gold on his cloak.
Getting
inside of the crevices and unusual areas of all the different parts of the
statue was another hard part. Longer paint brushes were need and thin brushes
as well to reach inside carefully and keep a straight line with the contrasting
colours meeting.
A
big problem was his eyes as well. If they are too big in the pupils he would
look like he was shocked to see the people at the Mass. If the eyes were painted too far one way or the
other he would be looking away from people.
And the worst part if one eye looked to the right and the other to the
left – well it would almost be sacrilegious… let alone if both eyes looked
inward… which would break up the poor folk receiving the elements each Sunday.
As
I worked hour after hour I thought about this congregation and its history.
Through the hard time of losing men during the First and Second World Wars they
had endured it all. They had lost many
special people and suffered the times when tragedy had struck. The church and all its Masses plus its
ceremonies over the years had supported its people and blessed them over and
over again.
As
time went on, the church changed. People
had left for one reason or another. The congregation had been shrinking just
like the other churches in our city have as well.
Father
Ervens Mengelle is the parish priest at Sacred Heart church. And it was through Father Ervens that I was
brought into this project.
I
know this one big factor – Father Ervens is a great man or faith. How do I know this? He invited and has encouraged me as I took on
this task. He was the one that asked me,
a PROTESTANT MINISTER(now retired artist), to take on this huge task. And he has trusted me that I will do a good
job for him.
Father
Erwens believes this small action of restoring Jesus to all his glory, the way
it used to be, will encourage his congregation.
Father
Erwens is young and a dynamic man – who in all likelihood will be moved someday
because of his great potential of working to encourage his congregation. I see the potential in this man.
For
myself, at 68 years old and life zooming by… my promotion will come as well and
I will no longer be painting or carving in this life.
If
all goes well this weekend with more and more people taking a peek at the new
statue there will be a growing joy in their congregation as they get ready for
the Christmas season.
I
love the new – old look… and gulp… I sure hope they do. If someone complains that they don’t like the
old look… YIKES! And as an artist I
suffer that pang of horror each time I present hat I have done.
But
if they don’t like it… it can be made white again… in about two hours.
Fingers
crossed and holding my breath… I pray of the dear people of Sacred Heart
congregation – God richly bless them all!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
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