OUR MURAL
The Birth of a Wall Mural
Being an artist, I felt challenged to incorporate my artwork into the church in some meaningful way. We had built a beautiful, large fellowship hall and there was a fabulous wall that was just begging for a mural! I decided to do a scene from my imaginings of what it would be like to enjoy the Feast of Tabernacles during the Millennium. So, here are a few photos that were taken along the way ... And, yes, I did use REAL people for the models! Not all are members of our congregation, but all have passed through our doors on one occasion or another.
The
first image (left) shows the lion that I painted first, and the lay-in for the
other figures that I had planned.
The structure that they are standing under is
called a sukkah and means "tabernacle" or "shelter" in
Hebrew. It has 4 posts and is covered on top with leaves from the palm tree. The
image at right shows 2 of my models pointing to each other's portrait. Dwaine
West and John Ehlers.
The progression of the painting.
This is my daughter Carrie Mikos, proudly pointing to HER portrait (the girl standing with the bowl). The theme is starting to become more pronounced.
The black gentlemen that is featured here, was suddenly killed in an automobile accident not long after I finished his portrait. He is on the right, dressed in white. We knew him as Deacon Jordan, a precious, Godly man. He came to us on loan, from Mt. Olive Church in Plano, TX
The
picture to the right features the pastor and his wife from Mt. Olive Church: Sam
and Gloria Fenceroy.
(Click on the small images to enlarge for viewing)
I have them standing by the "Well of Salvation," giving a dipper of water to Daniel Loving (under the prayer shawl.) Daniel's younger daughter Gina is in the foreground.
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The little lady on the lower right is Margaret Doering, one of our most faithful members. She was born into Nazi Germany and bore many emotional scars from what she was forced to witness as a young child. She is now with with the Lord but we remember her fondly like a Mother in Israel. In this painting she is shown feeding the Church Cat, which she did faithfully until he disappeared - as most old tom cats do.
Here is the completed (so far) feast with the curtains added to the sukkah. I was told by a native Israeli that to build a sukkah without the curtained walls makes it a chupah, or marriage tent.
(Right) This is Sandra Wyche ... another one of the Saints who have gone on to be with Jesus. She had a true servant's heart and dreamed of opening a soup kitchen to feed the poor and hungry. She was only about 35 years old when she died suddenly of congestive heart failure. But she left an indelible mark on our hearts. I painted her with this enormous strawberry shortcake because it was one of her favorites and one of our members had a prophetic dream about it, following her death. In the dream, a huge strawberry shortcake was being constructed with machetes to cut the berries and a ladder to install them! Sandra was seen standing nearby, watching. After the dessert was completed, she just vaporized into thin air. We believe it was the Lord's way of showing us that Sandra wouldn't be the one baking and serving any longer! From now on, she will be the one being served! Praise the Lord!
Our Associate Pastor Mike Donahue is seated in the center, flanked by Jeff Wallace (left) and James Foster (right.) This was a fun scene to create and paint ...
Some completed scenes. Our Israeli friends Roz and Avi Hershkowitz are shown to the right, dancing with the tambourine. The little child with a blue tambourine is Jessica Mosley, who is now a very grown up young lady.
A View of the Whole Mural ...
This gives a better idea of the scale of the painting. It covers about 12 feet. And, no, it is not yet finished!
I added the scripture from Zechariah which reads: "All the nations ... shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." Zechariah 14:16
HANNUKAH 2002
We celebrated the Festival of Lights in the Fellowship Hall and let each of our families decorate their table with the prescribed 9-candle hannukiah. Then we lit the candles and turned off the lights! An awesome sight ...
(Left) The newest faces to join all the happy people in the mural: Overseer and Pastor Bob Bernard and his wife of over 60 years, Tawana. They came to serve about 18 years ago. Pastor Bob is a dedicated man of God whose heart is ministering to pastors. He founded our Pastor's Fellowship which meets monthly in different area churches. Pastor David calls him his "Spiritual Father."
These 2 portraits were unveiled in July, 2007 at the Pastor's Fellowship luncheon which we hosted. Pastor Bob was very touched and cried when he saw it ...