Creating A Plan

When you are thinking about creating a painting, most art instructors will tell you to start with a gesture drawing.  Gesture drawings are loose and messy.  They are meant to help the artist figure out what elements to include, proportions, and a general layout.  But you can’t get attached to the gesture drawing: even the best gesture drawing will be covered up by paint.  After the gesture, many artists will do an underpainting. The goal of the underpainting is to help with the color palette and the tone of the paint on top.  Like the gesture drawing, the underpainting will largely be unseen by the end.  Next, many artists will paint color blocks: each element of the painting will be given a base color.  Slowly by slowly the images will be added to.  Larger details will give way to smaller and smaller details.  The general will give way to the specific.  If you want to see this magic happen, click here, or here for short videos showing this process.

While there are styles that will start with the small details and end with the background, most paintings follow this patter I just described.  However, many young artists know the struggle of wanting to draw the small details that they enjoy first.  I loved drawing faces, and I had a habit of finishing all of the small details of the face before refining the details of the body or its surroundings. However, my drawings always looked unbalanced when I did this because you could tell what I found interesting and what I was bored with.  When I saved my favorite details for the end, the drawing was much more likely to have a uniform, or at least harmonious, level of detail across the drawing.  Details were included that made sense for that piece and details that were interesting but distracting were left out.

When thinking about our ongoing conversation with CCB about them potentially sharing space with us at Northminster, I find it helpful to think about it like the process of refining a painting.  We started with brainstorming conversations and created a gesture drawing to see if this idea was even possible.  We presented them with an initial offer that laid out some of the brainstorming ideas with a first attempt to put the pieces together.  This was like the underpainting that set the tone of our continued conversations.  We are now in a stage of color-blocking: we are trying to figure out how the larger details will work together before we can address the smaller details.  It is easy to want to jump straight to the details on the face and paint the curve of the lips and capture the twinkle of someone’s eyes.  But before we can do that, we have to make sure that the facial proportions are correct.

On Sunday in our after-service meeting, more questions arose about where the conversation between Northminster and CCB stood.  There are details that were being asked that I don’t have answers to yet because they are contingent on information that we do not yet have.  Here are some details that I can share:

• We have a stronger sense of what rooms could be offices.  However, we now have to check whether their furniture fits or what furniture needs may arise.
• We are checking with our respective insurance companies to see what would change if they moved their offices and worship to our building.
• Our staff members are in discussions to work out systems that would work for clear communications.
• Any additional groups currently using the CCB building will not be using our space for the time being.  Once we have settled on the details between our congregation and adjusted to sharing space, we will return to that conversation.
• Pending Session approval, we are anticipating Dec 8th as the date for hosting both churches' services.
• We are working with CCB for a lawyer to draft and refine the rental agreement between us.  This is to ensure we have covered all of the details and both communities are protected.

However, like with painting, these details can change if the need arises.  Finally, please keep in mind that all of this is tentative until a final agreement is reaching.

Thank you to everyone who has been asking questions and giving feedback.  Your input has helped this process immensely.  If you have additional thoughts or would like to talk about things in detail, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or the members of Session to talk about this.  I have never claimed to be a mind-reader, so unless people come forward, we are not able to address your concerns or needs.

Gratefully,
Pastor Chris