A detail of my New Jerusalem as a Bride Coming Down Out of Heaven painting. In the Apostle John's revelation of New Jerusalem, he not only saw New Jerusalem dressed as a bride, but also as a city with the river of the water of life flowing down the middle. I combined the imagery and added this blue sash to represent the living water. New Jerusalem will be a beautiful place!
New Jerusalem as a Bride finished painting
Here's the finished painting, New Jerusalem,Coming Down Out of Heaven as a Bride. I just brought it home from an exhibit at Mint Hill Arts.
New Jerusalem, Coming Down Out of Heaven Like a Bride painting by Joan C. Thomson
The Colors of the“Bride’s” Dress
Close-up of colorful painting in progress New Jerusalem Coming Down from Heaven as a Bride Beautifully Dressed for Her Husband
“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.””
Lots of colors of paint in the studio today—ultramarine blue, cobalt and brilliant blues, phthalo and Hookers’ green, cadmium yellow hue, and vat orange and naphthol red light, with a bit of gold. These correspond with the colors of the twelve foundations in the wall of New Jerusalem, as described by John in Revelation (last book in the Bible).
“The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.”
I researched the colors of the stones—both in the original Greek, and from gemstone sources and found that first century names for stones aren’t necessarily the same as ours today. “Sapphire” in those times was lapis lazuli, from which ultramarine paint is made. Jasper, according to Pliny the Elder, a first century historian, was green. This painting has lots of green!
New Jerusalem Coming Down from Heaven as a Bride Beautifully Dressed for Her Husband; in progress in my studio.
Drawing transferred, these colors and I made progress in my studio today. The “Bride” painting is coming together. The last layer of the dress will be gold, for the streets of gold—I’ve suggested it so that you can imagine it. The belt of blue is the beginning of a representation of the River of the Water of Life.
I feel that this is a special painting, and pray that it will speak to people of what is ahead, to give them hope. We don’t have to wait for it all—one day; we can have a taste of it here and now.
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
The New Jerusalem as a Bride—Layers of Light
“The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ”
I’ve been steadily painting my latest New Jerusalem painting, a layer at a time. Behind and around, even emanating from, this simile of the New Jerusalem as a bride, I’ve painted six layers of yellow, white, and “fine gold,” depicting the light of God, which will fill every part of the Holy City. It will be (and is already) so full of God’s light that there will be no more need for the sun or moon. And there will be no night.
Next, I’ll transfer my large tracing paper drawing to the canvas. See you then.
The New Jerusalem as a Bride
“ I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ”
I haven’t posted about my New Jerusalem paintings in a while, because I’ve been stuck and didn’t have a vision for how to portray something so magnificent. I have a list of subjects but haven’t known how to paint them. However, I’ve seen a surprising increase in interest in my New Jerusalem paintings, with several people writing to me about them in a short period of time, as well as many people finding their way to this website, searching for one thing—New Jerusalem paintings.
I took it as a nudge from God to begin to paint them again. So I prayed, then began to search the internet to see what I could find about New Jerusalem. I came across a sermon where the pastor talked a lot about the simile of New Jerusalem looking like “a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” He said that the first century church would have thought of a brightly colored wedding dress rather than the white ones of Western culture (these came much later). Loving color as much as I do, my imagination was fired. The pastor went on to say that the Yemeni Jews have kept first century culture more than any. I looked up images of their brides and found confirmation. These brides wear red, and stripes, and necklaces “down to their belts” as well as bracelets “up to their elbows.” Elaborate! I’d seen similar pictures of a Moroccan acquaintance’s wedding that was similar, and have seen brightly colored Central Asian wedding dresses, all of which, have helped me envision John’s simile.
I plan to blog my process in making this painting, so I begin with my preliminary sketch—definitely a “working drawing,” Next, I’ll draw the sketch onto tracing paper in order to transfer it to the 30”x40” canvas. This is a big task, so if you pray, please pray that I can do it well.