Revelation 21: Heaven was painted after my mother died, and it was originally inspired by the vision I had to paint my mother and I standing side by side, singing praises to God in heaven together. That is what the painting depicted at first.

But it was lacking so much. I painted it, and afterwards, to be honest, I thought it felt…well…boring! I didn’t have much color in it, just yellows and grays. I was very dismayed, because, obviously, heaven is anything but boring. I knew that there was no way that I could ever fully achieve its’ essence, because heaven is so much more than we can ever fathom, but I wanted the painting to be at least a speck-sized glimmer of the glory to come. I wanted to look at it and crave to be in heaven. I needed the reminder that this world is not my home, and with that reminder, I wanted to look at the painting and think, “That is!”

I think I repainted this work about five times. Finally, after reading through my Bible and praying, I realized that I was leaving out of my painting so much of what heaven is and putting too much of an emphasis on my mom and I being together. We will be, but that is not what heaven is about. It is about God! So I transformed the grouping of my mom and I into a throng of thousands sing “Holy, Holy, Holy” to God (Rev. 4:8), but I still did not let the crowd be the focus. The people are there, but it is not about us, it is about Him.

The rest of the painting attempts to reflect a little bit more of the beauty the Bible promises will be present in heaven. An opalescent gate is made out of pearls and white iridescent paint (Rev 21:12, 21). As described in Revelation 22:1-2 as being bright as crystal flowing from God’s throne, the embodiment of the river of life in the painting has been dashed with iridescent aqua throughout. Revelation 22 also explains that next to the river is “the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month”, so the tree bears twelve different colored fruits. Next to the river, I tried to illustrate the streets being made of “pure gold, like transparent glass” with gold sparkles (Rev. 21:21). At the top of the painting, I have incorporated different gems to symbolize that ^“the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel” (Rev. 21:19).

I could never try to paint what God looks like, but I love that in Revelation 21:23, it describes that there will no longer be a sun or moon because God will shine out as light, so I sought to capture the concept that God is light. This painting will remind you every day that this, the here and now, is not your home, but that heaven is the place for which we are longing.