Back in June I posted drawings I had done in my bible in 1997-1998. Those were drawings that had thought bubbles that the people might have been thinking. Here are drawings from the same bible and same time period but these have no or few words beyond what is on the page. In most cases these were people sitting in pews listening to the sermon or choir. Sometimes I was creating a message behind the drawing in my head but other times I was just drawing a face I found interesting.
Because I draw in church I sometimes find myself drawing a bible story. As should be obvious, I don’t try to hew close to any literal accuracy. I do this for two reasons, first I don’t think the literalness of the bible stories is anywhere near the most important element. In fact, in many, if not most cases, I think a literal interpretation blinds oneself to the lessons the stories are meant to impart. And second, I am just too creative to worry about it while I am in the middle of drawing.
Here are some New Testament stories with the exception of the first one which is Ms. Eve from the Old Testament
EVE WITH GLASSES
Eve with Glasses
Eve wasn’t real. Neither was Adam. They were created to teach about how and why humans could be bad. It was a so so explanation for a while but then we got smarter and realized we shouldn’t go blaming Eve for anything. I mean, who puts a beautiful fruit tree in the middle of a garden and then tells the people not to eat from it with no explanation as to why? In the end I believe she was just a curious woman who wasn’t afraid to try new things.
JESUS, MARY and JOSEPH
Jesus, Mary and Joseph
The story goes that Mary and Joseph had a run of really bad luck and ended up having to have their first child on a bunch of straw surrounded by cows. But I don’t draw cows so well so they are surrounded by a dog and a cat instead, which I can draw pretty well. I drew them in the middle of the path because you know how pregnancies go, the kid is going to come out when it’s going to come out.
THE BAD CHICK
The Bad Chick
The story here is that a bunch of religious control freaks brought this woman to Jesus as a test. They told him she had sex and not with her husband and that meant she should be stoned, and not in the good way. If Jesus said, ‘Fine, go ahead and stone her.’ then he would lose a lot of followers who saw him as a champion of sinners. If he said, ‘Nope, don’t do it.’ Then they could claim he wasn’t obeying Judaic Law and have him thrown in jail as a false teacher. So he, being the wily dude that he was, sat down, scrawled around in the dirt for a while then said ‘Hey, if you don’t have any sin yourself, go ahead, stone her.’ This was a problem because then they would be setting themselves up to be perfect and to not need the law, which would not be a good look for them. So they all went away grumbling to themselves until it was just Jesus and this woman hanging around. He then simply told her she was free to go but best to not sin anymore. He didn’t say anything more but I suspect he might have added, ‘because if you get caught again I may not be around to push back against these idiots and then what will you do? Oh, and prostitution is demeaning and dangerous so come join our group instead if you want. We’ll feed and clothe you and you will be safe.’
THE EAR CHOPPER AND THE NAKED RUNNER
The Ear Chopper and the Naked Runner
This story usually is all about Peter, a guy always seeming to be itching for a fight, getting in an actual fight. A fight so bad he actually cut off a guy’s ear. Of course the bible doesn’t actually say it was Peter but we all know Peter and he definitely has an ear chopper vibe about him. Jesus was being arrested at the time and whoever it was was thinking they were all going to fight to keep that from happening so he struck the first blow and plop, there went the poor centurion’s ear. Jesus stepped in and stopped any more violence by touching the guy’s ear and making it not chopped off and both sides calmed down. Miracles will do that to a crowd. But there is another part of this story that never gets talked about in church, probably because it involves a naked person, which is never something the church wants to talk about.
Anyway, in the Gospel of Mark 14:51 there is an addendum to this story. “A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him,he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.” I decided that I would illustrate that along with the ear chop. Any excuse for me to draw a naked person, ya know?
THE CRUCIFIXION
The Crucifixion
Nothing funny about this one. Jesus and two other guys are nailed to three crosses and left to die in the brutal, hot sun. The centurions mock him, beat him, smash thorns down over his head and spear him in the side. And they throw lots to see who gets his clothes. Brutal all around. Brutal for Jesus but brutal for his mom and followers (mostly women) who stayed around when he was arrested, tried and convicted and then went with him as he climbed up to Golgotha to be executed. His male followers, by the way, had all fled from the Garden the night before and were nowhere to be seen. It all around sucked.
REMOVING THE NAILS
This isn’t in the bible stories but the nails had to be taken out somehow by someone so I thought I would illustrate it. Since it was the women who went with him from the cross to the tomb I figure it had to be one of those women who took the nails out. Most likely it was one of the three Marys, either his mother Mary, his disciple Mary Magdalene or Mary his friend (and sister of Martha). Whoever did it, it had to be a horrible job that would scar the person forever.
Removing the Nails
THE RESURRECTION
Mary Magdelene at the Tomb
Once again, it’s the women who are essential to the story. Jesus was crucified on Friday which meant they couldn’t ritually cleanse and prepare the body for proper burial until after Sabbath, which would be Sunday Morning. John says it was Mary Magdalene all by herself who came and saw the tomb was empty. Matthew says it was Mary and the other Mary who came and was surprised to find the tomb empty. Mark says it was 3 women, Mary, Mary and Salome, who arrived to find it empty. And Luke says it was a group of women who arrived to find it empty.
Three Women at the Tomb
However it happened the story is the tomb was empty and Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Little did these women know what would come of this story.
Doubting Thomas
Doubting Thomas
Different Apostles have different personalities that come out in these stories. One of the best in my view is Thomas, who then and forever more became the patron saint of doubters (no, I don’t know if he really is that, but he should be). Why? Because he didn’t believe the other disciples when they said they had seen Jesus alive after he had died. Thomas did what any self-respecting skeptic would do and said, ‘Nope, sorry. Ain’t believin’ that whopper of a tale. Let me see him and put my finger in that nasty stab wound in his side that shoulda killed him. Then I will believe.’ So the story goes that that is exactly what happened soon thereafter. It had to have been pretty gruesome I am sure but it convinced Thomas and it couldn’t have hurt Jesus any worse than the original stab wound. Would you be a skeptic who needed to see, or would you not need proof, faith being enough?
There are tons of other stories of course but this is what you got for now. What do you think?
As anyone who has followed me for any time knows, I draw in church. I Became a Christian in 1976 and I think the earliest drawing I have from church is probably from about 1979. I continue to this day 45 years later.
This selection is from a bible that was given to me by a Pastor friend back in 1997. I drew in it from 1997 to1998. I didn’t draw over actual scriptural text, only over the opinion pages or blank areas. I liked having the text show through, sometimes because it helped inform the image and sometimes because it was a non sequitur to the image. Either way it adds interest to the image.
Part One is of people I have drawn with thoughts they may be thinking. Sometimes the thoughts may have stemmed from whatever the pastor was preaching about but often times it was just my imagination of what someone is thinking, unrelated to anything else.
Let me know if you have a favorite or if an image brings up some interesting thoughts of your own.
This idea caught me by surprise. I had never really thought about how the contemplation of eternity or the afterlife is a form of leisure. I think it is a pretty broad definition of the word leisure though since there are people who are employed and working hard to think on these things. Nonetheless, it isn’t the primary creative purview of people laboring to survive at an existential level. It’s for those who have the time to contemplate it, right?
Interesting secondary thoughts
is this true of all aspects of religion, not just the afterlife?
First napkin i’ve drawn in many, many months. We moved from Oklahoma to Texas and pretty much all my art has been on hold for all of 2020 so far. But to be honest, I wasn’t drawing on napkins much in 2019 either, or 2018. But I have been drawing in my sketchbook regularly and that held more interest for me so that is where I focused my attention.
Anyway, I wasn’t planning on doing a napkin drawing but I was sitting at in my studio watching and contributing via zoom with our community group from our old church in Tulsa. The technology was a bit wonky that day and I got a bit bored so I picked up a napkin and just started drawing. We were talking about some serious issues within the church, primarily the role of women. Our community group is filled with strong, intelligent women who fight the good fight every day to have more equality for women in every area of church leadership and activity.
The truth is, if you are going to affect change in any institution, you are most likely going to do it from the inside, which means you have to pick your fights. Fight too much and your ability to influence diminishes. Fight too little and the status quo wins the day. It’s not an easy path for them (or the men who support them) and they understandably get frustrated often.
So, while I was listening to the discussion I thought of how hot potato (or button but a button was not as fun to draw) issues can only be held tight for so long, then you have to drop them, let them cool before you pick them up again. You aren’t giving up the fight, you are being strategic about when to fight.
After all, the goal is not to fight. The goal is to win. If you can win without a fight, great. But you are always ready to fight if you have to.
She wanted to go to the Forum where she could show off her new hairdo and earrings and watch wrestling and talk and eat and flirt and listen to people say profound things and maybe get a mani/pedi. She would see her friends and have fun, laughing and enjoying the day.
She didn’t want to walk all the way up the hill and look at disgusting dead people on crucifixes all by herself. It was hot and her feet would get dirty and there would be flies and vermin and the smell would be aweful. Plus, people might see her up there and think she is somehow connected to those dead people and then people would start talking and not want to be around her.
She stood there a long time before she made her choice.
For many years I have thought about all that wasn’t recorded about Jesus’ life, especially the ‘missing years’ from age 12 to age 30 when he started preaching. Here is day 1 of my ‘Secret Jesus’ series in anticipation of Christmas coming up soon.
Jesus’ thumb
Jesus had to be trained as a carpenter, right? It was probably his father, Joseph, who did the training since chances are he himself was a carpenter. I know when my father and grandfather taught me how to work with wood they started with teaching me how to hammer. I hit my thumb plenty of times and I have no doubt Jesus did the same thing.
Two Types of Real
Some don’t believe Jesus was real but the evidence seems to point to that he was. However, there is more than one way to be real. One of the reasons Christianity is messed up is because of the dichotomy within the church. We insist Jesus was real but build a story about him that focuses again and again on how unreal he was.
Seeing as I am pretty earthbound man, I like thinking about who Jesus was on this earth, not his identity in some spiritual realm I don’t really connect with and sometimes am not even sure exists. If he wasn’t a real human; learning and growing, then how do we relate? What are we going to learn about how to be and do in our real world?
It may be another week but it’s still the perfect day to continue my perfection series.
Do you know anyone who is perfect? See, proves my point. All perfect people are alone. And all who pretend to be perfect, they end up alone too. Maybe not physically alone, but emotionally and socially they quite likely will be. This will be especially true if they combine their perfection with judgment.
But wasn’t Jesus perfect? Personally I don’t think he was. I think he had imperfect reactions at times. For example, I think he was often annoyed and impatient with his followers (including his mother) instead of being understanding and patient. Realistically, I think he might have been grumpy and short with people if he was too hungry. He seems to have been harsh and a bit mean to whole groups of religious folks (the pharisees come to mind). He certainly was inconsiderate to his parents when he stayed behind in the temple when he should have been with them on the journey home. I think of Jesus as one who moved towards perfection much faster and with more courage than others (especially me) but I don’t think he was perfect.
Are you perfect? Or perhaps you just play a perfect person in real life? Either way you are probably much more alone than you wish to be. It’s not fun being #1 and alone. I bet you will find a lot of loving people ready to support and help you when you allow your honest, imperfect self to show through.
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Drawing, quote and commentary by Marty Coleman, who humbly submits that he has perfected the art of being imperfect.
Hello to all my Napkin Kin! Here is my final Christmas Card of 2011 (well, it’s really a napkin but it plays a card on the internet)
The final words at the end of each All Souls Unitarian Church service in Tulsa is this, “Go then – be blessed and be a blessing.” I always love hearing that because it puts in 8 words what life is all about. We aren’t told to deny ourselves – it’s ok to allow yourself to be blessed, whether by God, universe or human, via a Christmas present or a cosmic blessing. But we are also told that it is not a one way street. We are to be a blessing as well. We don’t have to change the world, we just need to give the gift we can give. It might be our presence, it might be a new car or it might be a drum solo like the little drummer boy gave. Whatever it is, you are capable of blessing someone.
I hope both for you this Christmas and holiday season.
Here is a Christmas napkin from 2010 that I like enough to post again this year. Pretty simple – Act Christmas and it will be Christmas.
I will be mixing in some older napkins (with some new ones as well) over the next 2 weeks. This is because I am busy getting ready for an exhibition of my photo-collages at Living Arts of Tulsa. It opens January 6th at 6pm. The show is titled ‘Velveteen Women’and if you can make the opening I would love to see you there!
