I was on the fence of whether or not I was going to make a piece for the prompt, but I'm glad I did. I tested out some watercolor pens I had recently gotten (I definitely have to practice with them a bit more). I didn't really have a plan for this, and it was a bit fun to do something so spontaneously.
An article/rant/annotation to an illustration. A #Hackney bar and its flies.
This picture is not as sad and blue as it might at first seem, I promise.
It is early in the week and the pub becomes the territory of the most outspoken drinkers. Raised somewhere between Churchill and Harold MacMillan, a night such as this is time for them to spin out a yarn of nostalgic fantasy. Encouraged by the lack of a crowd and with space to fill, statements start to fly.
In the opening rounds the barman athletically hits back with factual blocks and reality-check haymakers; statistics and personal experiences are given. Two histories cross examined, one where 1982 means Thatcher and the Falklands, the other renders Reagan and the AIDS crisis. Stoicism and national pride vs mental health and realism.
In the latter rounds the barman is fatigued, swaying on the backbar, glasses begin to stack up as form begins to drop. The older men seem stronger than ever.
The barflies come in close now, they scrutinise his generations work ethic and make wild political comments on poverty, immigrants and the minimum wage.
The barman is close to sheer bloody despair, he maintains his defence and focuses on breathing while maintaining his professional stance.
But at the end of the night the barman knows HE will ring that bell, they will politely leave and they will return again in a week and maybe, just maybe there will be a change, common ground or maybe at least polite silence.
But what these interactions have given despite the salt in the eye is community and an exchange between generations, culture and class of those participating. No home is ever straight forward, no relative without their good and bad traits and in a world where we often slide into echo chambers online or in our physical environments, the pub is still a place where society is family, face to face, pint to pint. Or maybe it's just a room with alcohol on tap?
Finally started back on a regular sketch schedule. Once a week on Thursdays, and I really look forward to it. I tried to tone down the orange marker with brown ink, but no luck. It really was a bright and sunny fence, though.
"I only saw my soul there screaming. That's all I could hear. It was on fire. There was no water. There was nothing." - Monique Berk. These drawings were inspired by a woman's testimony I listened to on Touching The Afterlife here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F8S2mj0J4g
I was on the fence about posting this one, but I've been very moved by the testimonies of those who prior in their lives seemingly had no hope. While you live and breathe, there is hope.
The Soul Harvest
The Soul Harvest is done in a surrealistic style and is spiritual in content. This painting
illustrates the world as being a field filled with souls from every corner of the earth
needing to be saved from eternal death, which is the punishment for sin.
But by hearing and understanding and receiving the good news, through faith in
Jesus’s death for the sin of man, man can be forgiven and have eternal life with God.
The farm tools leaning against the fence are an invitation to those who know Jesus
to pick up their God-given talents and go into the world and use them to spread the
good news.
The inside of the barn, with the wheat sheaths standing up, illustrates the souls that
have received eternal life through the work of the believer, and the crown is their
reward from God.
(October 28, 2017)
The Soul Harvest is done in a surrealistic style and is spiritual in content. This painting
illustrates the world as being a field filled with souls from every corner of the earth
needing to be saved from eternal death, which is the punishment for sin.
But by hearing and understanding and receiving the good news, through faith in
Jesus’s death for the sin of man, man can be forgiven and have eternal life with God.
The farm tools leaning against the fence are an invitation to those who know Jesus
to pick up their God-given talents and go into the world and use them to spread the
good news.
The inside of the barn, with the wheat sheaths standing up, illustrates the souls that
have received eternal life through the work of the believer, and the crown is their
reward from God.
(October 28, 2017)
