Part 1
It is such an honour to be asked to design a stained glass window for one of the meeting rooms in our church. It used to be the main meeting room before we built an extension as we had outgrown the space. Now it is a general room used for Sunday school, prayer meetings and other activities.
I've painted the design with watercolours and used black felt tip for the lead.
It is going to printed on a film and stuck to the windows.
It is called Işık Olsun or Let there be Light.
The verses that inspired me are at the very beginning of the bible:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Genesis 1 v 1-3 (NIV)
I wanted to represent the surface of the deep and the moment when the Lord God said,
'Let there be light,' and I imagined that it was like an explosion of light, emanating from the source, a big bang, if you like.
So naturally the light of creation is reflected down across the deep.
I have used the sea to represent the surface of the deep.
I've shown the creation as harmonious on the left hand side, with smoother brushwork and unbroken rays, reaching towards a window depicting life. The spacing of the lines show the harmony and order of the original creation.
You can see this in the painting below.
I wanted to show the calm, beauty and order of creation.
I painted the right-hand side with a contrasting style and broken lines,
representing the crown of thorns.
Creation and life
I decided not to draw animals or humans, but to represent the creation in a more subtle way.
DNA is the code for life which is in every cell of every living organism. It is a molecule made of two chains that form a double helix. They carry the instructions for growth, development, function and reproduction of the organism.
DNA is amazing, wonderful, awesome and our Lord God created it!
So, I've represented Eden by some creepers and a few leaves and the whole of life by DNA.
The Fall and Redemption
Notice the difference in style between the left and right hand sides. The left represents the perfect creation, the right the fall and redemption through the cross of Jesus Christ.
