This is the first angel I painted, my second is ready to be posted, the 3rd is still on the drawing board, frustrating me to no end...I will get back to that later. First let me begin with why I am painting angels.
I am very interested in life after death and all things spiritual. As I was reading a book written by a doctor working in the field of Hospice; Into the light by John Lerma M.D. I was amazed at the stories some of his patients told of Angels. The details of their appearance was so descriptive that I knew I had to try to capture those words in a painting. Here are a few passages from the book.
2 year old Jacob
After 4 months on life support, little 2 yr old Jacob opened his eyes, smiled really big, raised his arms as if reaching for someone above him. Then he died. His 4 yr old brother Michael told his mother that there was an angel sitting next to her. Then he told her "The angels are in the hallway with Jacob,and he is laughing and doing somersaults."
Matthews story
" You start out with one, and then you get more when you are really sick. During the last three to four days you might have 30 or 40 angels, as many as you need to feel good about leaving your family and going with God. There are different kinds, Some are brighter and bigger, some are smaller, some have more power and they can do different things."
Father Mike ( a priest)
At their highest level of love they are fiercely white. There is a spectrum of light from gold to yellow, blue to green, pink to purple. The colors are so much more brilliant and radiant than earth's colors.
Another patients description
A large translucent,white-robed angel appeared, standing to the right of my bed in a shielding and comforting stance. (Four days before she died she described a new magnificent angel, large and brilliantly blue with white wings.)
Another patients description
Their faces were brilliant and their long blond to brown silky hair blended with their feathers and long flowing robes.
I have also recorded in my journal some of the descriptions of angels, found in the Bible. Here are some from Revelations:
"An angel robed in a cloud,with a rainbow above his head, face like the sun"
"A woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head."
"They were dressed in clean shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests."
So, full of inspiration with pencil in hand I start to sketch out these angels. My intent for the angel displayed on this post was something very abstract and beautiful. She was to be painted using only metallic paint. After a day of frustration, I realized that metallic paint was not going to work. It does not have any blending qualities, so I ended up limiting the metallic as an 'add- on' to her hair and the stars.
The second angel I painted ; you will see her next week, is not at all abstract. What happened to my abstract idea? Nothing new to me, I never end up with what I start out thinking it will be. That isn't really bad though, sometimes surprises can be nice!
The third angel is another story. She only took about a day to do, and when finished I thought she was lovely. I left it on the easel for a few days view, as I always do. When I went back to look at it the next day, I realized much to my dismay , that her eyes were 'spooky'! I redid her them and her face and now 'she' looks like a 'he' ! I know, angels come in both sexes but this combination I came up with just isn't good. You probably won't ever she 'it' but I will be creating more. I don't believe in quitting on a low note.
This blog site is new to me and I am looking for followers to link to me, so we can get some conversations going. If you stumble upon this, and like it, I would appreciate it if we could 'link' our sites. If you don't have a site, I would still love to hear your comments.
