That Has to be Some Kind of Record

I dream that I didn’t know I had is now complete. I have painted a mural on every continent I’ve lived on. This is something I would not have even dared to add to my mental list of hopes for the World Race. I thought that this year would be more of me setting my passion for art to the side for a time to do the Lord’s work. 

 

But it’s amazing how, when you give something up, so often the Lord gives it right back to you. And, I have learned, my passion for art is the Lord’s work. 

 

The most recent mural is in Mendoza, Argentina. We painted it at the YWAM base at a building they were in the process of renovating to make into a day center for the community. Between the time the wall we needed to paint on was finished being cemented and sanded down, and the time of the Kids Day Festival (which the mural needed to be finished for) we had a grand total of, 

drum-roll please….  

TWO DAYS. 

 

Two days people!!  

I was a little alarmed when I realized this was the window we were working with, given that previous murals I have done tend to take at least a week. However, I underestimated the team at YWAM and what they are capable of.

In all the other murals I have been a part of during the race, my team and I have been in charge of everything from design to execution. In this case, the YWAM crew had already designed the mural and simply needed us to paint it. 

Here is a photo from day one of painting. My team and I worked with Jorge, the professional artist they have on staff there, to paint the base and backdrop; and then that evening they brought in a projector and drew out all the details for us to fill in on our second and final day of this mural.

We spent the morning painting the backdrop. Jorge painted the waves and Kim and I painted the hills. Most of the afternoon I spent on the roof working on the top border (which you can see in some of the pictures further down).

view from the roof

 

The second day Kim and I started shortly after breakfast. Jorge was already there painting and I can’t be sure that he ever left. The rest of the team joined us after passing out fliers for the Kids day festival. We stood shivering in the cold, wearing multiple layers of sweaters and standing very still as we attended to filling in the little details. I opted not to get paint on my new gloves so my bare fingers were red with cold and slowly going numb.  

After lunch the sun had risen over the wall and soon enough I was sweating in short sleeves. My coat and two sweaters lay abandoned on the sidewalk next to me. The light blue of the wall was so bright that I had to squint to work on it. 

As the day wore on, the traced lines slowly filled, and eventually the weather leveled out to a pleasant and reasonable temperature. 

My full ministry for the day was to work on the mural, and mid afternoon the rest of my team left to visit a hospital and pray for people. Jorge and I were joined by a third artist and the three of us worked steadily all afternoon. By the time I was putting the finishing touches on the last little icon, the sun had set and I was working in the soft glow of dusk, aided by the nearby street lamp. 

The next day we put up balloons and a few of my teammates even consented to wearing clown makeup for the Kids day Festival (see Christine’s blog). Over 400 kids and their families showed up and had a great time. 

So there ya have it, we painted a mural in two days. Maybe I should title this blog “the power of a deadline.” Let it be known that the YWAM team in Mendoza is capable of some pretty incredible feats. I’m just glad that I got to be a part of it. 

 

 

This is Jorge. As I said he is the artist who works full time at YWAM. He teaches the DTS students and may or may not have pulled two all nighters to finish this mural (I genuinely don’t know because I slept). The day my team was leaving he brought us this painting as a gift. 

 

“Wow, how sweet!!” we gushed, while silently wondering how in the world we were supposed to carry a full-sized painting to 4 more countries. As we were wondering this he started talking about how we are all a part of the body of Christ and so this was a portrait of us. As he spoke he started cutting the canvas off of it’s frame. 

 

He said that this year we are acting as the heart of Jesus and carrying His Love to the world. Each of us has different strengths and gifts; a different role to play. We are all an important piece of the body of Christ.

 

“Because of this,” he said, “I am going to cut this painting into six pieces.”

“You are each a different piece, but together you make up the whole heart of Christ.” * translated from Spanish and paraphrased

 

As Jorge cut his painting in half, and then into even smaller pieces, we were beside ourselves with emotion. 

 

As an artist and painter myself, the power of the artist 

taking a pair of scissors to his work 

was not lost on me

 

the significance was tangible

A painting made into a beautiful piece of performance art 

taking place right here in this little cabin 

 

We gathered around our little kitchen table 

Supporting corners of the canvas 

full of reverence. 

and at the same time giddy with emotion. 

 

Tears in the corners of our eyes. 

 

Pardon my lapse into poetry. 

 

Art is a thing that, 

When done well, 

Inspires more of itself. 

 

You can imagine now why the goodbye in Argentina was so hard, 

So bittersweet.

Our emotions stirred up inside of us. 

 

A few hours later, when we squished ourselves and our things into cars to leave,

we were each carrying a small roll of canvas.

 

Our part in the heart of Christ. 

 

 

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 1st Corinthians 12:12 

 

Much Love,

Hattie