I had great fun a few weeks ago when I arrived at Mothers’ Union in Rocester to discover that we were going to be painting the backdrop for the window decoration in church. Each year the church has a different theme and various organisations take a window each to decorate. The organisers were short of ideas and so I suggested, in view of the Queen’s Jubilee, that we have a Right Royal Christmas. As it turns out, of course, we have recently had her funeral and are anticipating a coronation next year.
The ladies at MU had already decided to use a roll of paper and cut 4 pieces to stick together. They would be fastened to a board to go in the window. They know I paint and so looked to me to take a lead. I got stuck in with the acrylic paints already in church. I popped home for some wider brushes and we had a great time. Someone had a photo of a sunset on their phone so we used that as a guide. I suggested though that if we were having 3 kings then a star might be needed. And if we had a star then there should be some night sky. So, I painted the sky black on the right hand panel. I placed it there as it was eastward.
The finished painting got stored in church and I promised that I would finish it off before the windows were decorated. I couldn’t blend in the blue with the yellow while the paint was wet because of course that would create a green sky!!!
With only a day to spare, I took the painting to art group on the evening before the day we were going to put it up in the window. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of it.
When I arrived at MU to help put it up I was pleased to see that it fit the window well and was very effective. I sat back and admired my work. I glanced at the silhouettes of the 3 kings in the process of being decorated by the ladies. I realised that the kings were facing in the opposite direction to the star….. oh dear. They were facing left and the star was on the right. We couldn’t change the kings. We couldn’t have them looking as if they were going away from the star complete with gifts as if they had changed their minds. So we took down the painting, dismantled the right hand panel and I set to work in the vestry repairing the damage.
I was pleased with the results but also aware that if I had had more time I could have done a better job. Although when I went into church at the weekend I was annoyed to see bits of orange on show amid the black where the glue had come unstuck. It doesn’t show up on the photo because of the angle.
Elizabeth Jones' Diary 