HORIZONS UNLIMITED!--More Heavenly Visions! DFO 1579 7/83
--Art Tips on "The Magic River", "Heavenly Villages," etc.!
1. "HEAVENLY VILLAGES" IS REALLY FUNNY! (No.1573) Don't you think they'll enjoy it?--A little comic relief! I sound like a little kid when I'm talking to Maria like that!--I am a little kid! Aren't my little sketches funny? They're like little kids' pictures. But I was just trying to show you the general idea of the layout, positions, etc. & you can take it from there! Of course I expect yours to be much better!--Ha!--Cover more territory too. I only had half a page, you've got a whole page!
2. THE MARIA POSTER IS NICE, IT'S BEAUTIFUL!--BUT OF COURSE NOTHING AS NICE AS HER! She is Heaven--my Heaven on Earth! XXX! She said, "But he improved me!"--Ha! (To Maria:) Honey, you couldn't be improved, you're perfect!
3. IF I WERE YOU, I'D HAVE ME A LIVE MODEL SITTIN' THERE EVERY DAY! If you gave me that chance I'd have one all the time! After all, you've gotta get the right angles & everything! She could change her position every half-hour or five minutes! That ought to be quite an inspiration! You've got quite a few gorgeous ones in your Home! Maria says, "Well, the girls have got work to do too!" Well, maybe they can take turns sitting every five or ten minutes!
4. JUST BE SURE TO KEEP YOUR MIND ON YOUR WORK!--Keep your eyes on the girls & your mind on your work!--Ha! Because to draw some particular thing like her hand, there's nothing like a model to really see how it looks!--Or to get the right angle of the bosom or just the right view of the derriere! You have to get it right, Son! Why not get it from real life!
5. I'M FEELING BETTER & KNOW IT WAS ALL YOUR PRAYERS THAT BROUGHT ME BACK TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING! Well, really that's the Land of the Living over there!--We're half-dead over here! That's really the place! Whenever I take a trip there I almost hate to come back! But for your sakes I've gotta come back! Well, we just had to finish that poster, so here I am! We can go back to Heaven again now, you & me together, OK?
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6. I'VE GOT A SPECIAL NOTE FOR YOU THAT I GOT INSPIRED TO WRITE DOWN THIS MORNING: "THESE PICTURES MAY BE SMALL, BUT THEY'RE LIKE CAMEOS, VERY PRECIOUS HEAVENLY JEWELS!" I don't suppose you youngsters even know what cameos are! They're very small lockets that were popular when my Grandmother was a girl, & my Mother too. My Mother used to have a very beautiful one, & when I was a child it just fascinated me! It was about the size of a French franc, only it was old & it was carved out of two layers of ivory or something like that. One layer was a delicate tan shade & the other was almost cream-coloured, & by carving it that way they made a beautiful head of a very pretty girl. Then it had sort of a filigreed gold fringe around the outside.
7. IT WAS ACTUALLY A STONE OF SEVERAL DIFFERENT LAYERS OR STRATA OF COLOURS, so that they could carve out one layer & leave the other. Then it had two or three different shades of colour in the carving. It was very small delicate work & very beautiful & they were very precious when my Mother was a girl. Even when I was a little boy I remember her & some of the women wearing them. In fact, some of them were even heart-shaped & would open up like a locket & have a picture of their lover or someone on the inside.
8. SO THAT'S WHAT YOUR LITTLE PICTURES ARE LIKE FOR MY LITTLE BOOK, THEY'RE LIKE LITTLE CAMEOS! They're very small, but they're very precious! It takes very delicate care & fine workmanship to carve them, right? So there's something to inspire you! There's an old saying that the most precious gifts come in small packages!--Just like the ones that some of you girls are carrying right now!--Your babies! Only some of those packages are not quite so small!--Ha!
9. I'VE GOTTA NEW LETTER FOR YOU: "THE MAGIC RIVER!" (No.1575)--And I thought the cover would be a good chance to have a close-up of the River! We have an old classical art pic of that, don't we? In fact, you could use that for your background! Then on the River you could put one of those river boats with a lovely young couple enjoying the scenery--probably mostly enjoying each other--as they're gliding along the River! I would say these boats would look a little bit like gondolas! Aren't they the prettiest most romantic boats you can think of? And I don't think they have to have oars or boatmen or anything, they just glide along under their own magical power!
10. IT'S REALLY A MAGIC RIVER! TREES OF LIFE GROW ON BOTH SIDES BEARING THE FRUITS OF LIFE & THE LEAVES OF LIFE! And guess what I found out in Revelation 22:2! You're going to get a shock! I never thought of this before, ever! I've always pictured the River with trees on both sides, but it says: "In the midst of the street of it & on either side of the river was there the Tree of Life!"--In the middle of it & on both sides! So there must be some little islands in the middle of the River! I've seen lots of rivers with pretty little islands in the middle, haven't you? So we're going to have to add a few little islands to our River!
11. THE BOAT SHOULD BE RIGHT IN THE IMMEDIATE FOREGROUND WHERE THE YOUNG COUPLE ARE RIDING ALONG ABSORBED IN THE BEAUTY OF EACH OTHER!--I don't know if they have time to look at the scenery or not! Something real pretty like some of the others you've drawn. Then behind them, maybe they just passed one of those little islands in the middle with a couple of the trees on it. Couldn't you use that classical picture we've already got & just draw our stuff in? That one picture even has trees in the middle of the River! It looks like a sort of a walkway down the middle of the river! Maybe it's a bridle trail for horseback riding! It looks peaceful, doesn't it?
12. AND SINCE WE'VE GOT TWO SIDES OF THE RIVER, WHY NOT HAVE TWO BOATS? We could have a boat with a loving couple in the foreground up close, interested in each other's scenery--& she should be beautiful scenery, of course, as you know only too well how to draw! Maybe have one boat coming this way & one boat going the other way! Maybe one boat with a loving couple & another boat with a little family couple & a couple of children! We could have the loving couple coming toward us on the left side, because that would be the one you could get the closest. Apparently he was riding down this side of the River when he took this picture!--Ha! And have the family boat, which is more like a side view, going up the other side on the right side over there! Good idea? You can just use this picture & that's all you have to draw are those two boats! Okey-doke? Why don't we try it!
13. THE ORIGINAL SLIDE WAS IN BEAUTIFUL COLOUR, BUT ANYWAY, I THOUGHT THAT WOULD BE A NICE ONE FOR THE MAGIC RIVER! I don't see any fruit on those trees, I wonder how come? There ought to be some apples, oranges, pears or something on'm! Since the trees are all so dark, you could add some little round white spots like they're loaded with oranges or something on the ones in the middle. Those trees on both sides look more like nut trees, but you can have any kind of fruit hanging on them. After all, anything's possible here, it's the Magic City! That's a good title, "The Magic City!" We haven't used that yet, that's new! Let's remember that! So there you are, the Magic River that flows through the Magic City!
14. HOW ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LITTLE VILLAGE? You don't have to put too much detail in that, but you can if you want to! Just remember, it's a cameo! You almost had to examine those things under a magnifying glass to really appreciate them--they were really detailed carvings. They just don't bother to do things like that any more. They just don't go to that trouble for anything so small. But I guess the Lord gave that to me to remind me that there are some precious jewels that are quite small! And even though these pictures are quite small, we can still make'm real jewels!
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15. LOOKS TO ME LIKE WE'VE GOT SOME MORE HEAVEN PICTURES COMING! In fact, it looks like we're starting a new Heaven poster! We've gotta have more than just one little poster about Heaven! I can think of so many beautiful pictures we could draw! I sure like our pictures better than those old pictures! Your picture is so much better than that other one, there's no comparison! Just forget the old picture! If you can draw so much better than that, we might as well forget using theirs! If we've got to make that many changes, we might as well draw our own! In fact, I think you like that better! You're kind of like me, you get inspired & would rather do your own. GBY! Well, you are inspired! Some art is so fancy it almost detracts from the message!--You notice the art more than the message.--Sort of like the picture frame & clothes for women: When you get dressed up too fancy, you lose sight of the real beauty! I like yours better! It's more inspired, got more spirit & you're closer to the Truth! PTL!
16. THE VILLAGE WAS JUST BEAUTIFUL WITH SO MUCH PRETTY DETAIL & IT'S SO CUTE! I just love it! I didn't expect you to ever go to so much trouble on all those houses & all those details & everything, it's just really really pretty! What beautiful art! It's gorgeous, fantastic detail, a lot of fine work! Fascinating! Makes us want to live there right now! PTL! Our town is growing! I think we're going to have another one here for the Heavenly poster! Beautiful! Why just waste these on a little old Letter of mine when they could have'm on big gorgeous posters! And now that you've put all that detailed work into it, I sure wanna use it where it can be seen! So here we go, building another Heaven poster! GBY!
17. THERE'S JUST ONE THING, WHEN I SAW THE COMPARISON OF THE SIZE OF THE BUILDINGS & THE VILLAGE, I REALISED THAT WE NEED A MUCH BIGGER TOWN HALL! That's my only problem with this one. My rough sketch was ridiculous & too small. I should have probably used a bigger piece of paper, but that's me, I'm so chintzy! I just got suddenly inspired to sketch it for you there on that front cover & I didn't think that I'd be running out of space! But now that I see the perspective & the ratio of sizes, it's sort of a fairly big building. For example, in some Fellowship Meetings it would have to hold several hundred people! It would have a circular floor, an open space in the middle.
18. I THINK IT MUST BE ABOUT FOUR STORIES HIGH, because remember, it's also a school & has classrooms & it's also city offices & governmental offices all the way around. So I'd say it should have about four rows of windows all the way around. When you see how big I'm going to make it you'll know you've got a little more room to do it. It should be at least as large as your existing second inner circle street! Since these are two-story houses, you should make this building four stories in relationship. It's not going to heighten it too much so that it's going to wipe out too much scenery, but we're going to lose the little park around it, the Town Hall lawn or whatever it is.
19. THE DOME DOESN'T HAVE TO BE COMPLETELY ROUND OR HEMISPHERICAL, IT CAN BE SORT OF A GENTLY SLOPING DOME. I don't think it should come up higher than to just barely cover maybe half of each of those houses just above it. We should be able to see through that glass dome a little bit inside, don't you think? And the way I envision it is that all the classrooms, offices & everything are off of inside balconies. The inside is completely clear from dome to floor, & these balconies encircle the outside wall of the building on the inside. In other words, the rooms are in just one layer around the inside of the wall of the whole building. Then just outside the rooms there are these balconies that run around connecting the rooms like you've seen in some of these hotels & things like that. Only ours are circular! Isn't that pretty? So from the opposite side through the dome we should be able to see at least three balconies & nearly half the ground floor!
20. AND IN MY CITY AUDITORIUM HERE, OR TOWN HALL, THE STAGE IS GOING TO BE IN THE MIDDLE with the seats in circular rows completely surrounding it! Like the houses surround the building, the seats are going to surround the stage! So if I was up there preaching I could face any direction & fire any direction & I'd be bound to hit something! That's what I used to do!--I'd go all over the place & everywhere & go right down into the audience & scare'm half to death!--Ha! So that would be my style stage! You've heard of "Theatre in the Round", haven't you? They used to have one of those in Greenwich Village.
21. SHAKESPEARE'S OLD GLOBE THEATRE WAS A LOT LIKE THAT, BUT IT DIDN'T ACTUALLY HAVE A STAGE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE. In fact, this building kind of reminds me of the old Globe Theatre! I think that's one reason they called it the Globe, because it sort of reminds you of a globe! It had a domed ceiling. They made a replica of it at the Chicago World's Fair & that was my favourite building! I always used to go there & watch the plays & it was beautiful!--About four stories high with three balconies going around. Did you ever see inside the Metropolitan Opera in New York or any big old-fashioned opera houses? The balconies go round & round in tiers & some of them have four, five, six tiers of balconies, at least three or four, with the boxes all around & the building nearly round with the stage in front. But in mine we're going to put the stage right in the middle & have the seats all surrounding it!
22. THE FLOOR WILL BE BOWL-SHAPED SO THAT THE STAGE IS SUNKEN DOWN IN THE MIDDLE & THE SEATS GO UP LIKE A COLISEUM ON ALL SIDES! That way you've got a good view of the stage from any seat. Good idea? So how do you like my building? I never thought I'd become an architect & help the Lord design Heaven! But anyway, it's different, huh? And since we're taking up all that much room with the building, I think we're still going to have to have a park, & the park's going to have to be as big as the first circle of houses.
23. THOSE ARE SUCH BEAUTIFUL LITTLE HOUSES, COULDN'T WE POSSIBLY JUST KIND OF PICK'M UP & MOVE'M?--Just sort of cut out this particular circle & save it maybe for later somewhere else & put the park in there. Because that first circle of houses really should be park with this size building. I'm sorry that I didn't make that clear at first, but I couldn't have! I had to see it first! You had to draw it for me before I could really get the proper conception of what it should look like. After all, I couldn't show you a photograph, & dreams are kind of vague sometimes, so until you really see it visualised like this, you really can't get the right conception of the proper dimensions & their relationship. I'm so sorry about that first row of houses, because they're really cute & I love'm, but we need that for the park, don't you think so?
24. I DON'T WANT THAT TO BE SUCH A ROUND DOME--IT LOOKS TOO MUCH LIKE GRIFFITH PARK PLANETARIUM OR AN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY! That's my fault, Son. You can't expect to know what I've got in my head. It's just my fault for not being an artist like you! But once I see it, then I know whether it's right or wrong, that's all I can tell you. That must have taken you all week drawing all that detail! It's just gorgeous! I hope you're drawing it big enough for a nice big poster! Well, we can blow it up! You put so much work into it, all that detail is just absolutely amazing! Gorgeous!
25. THESE ARE NOT THE PEOPLE THAT GET TO LIVE IN THE CITY MANSIONS IN THE BIG CITY, & THEY'RE NATURALLY HUMBLER, SO NOT EVERYBODY'S GOING TO HAVE THEIR OWN POOL! So now you know what I'm going to say! If we don't have a private pool for everybody's house, it seems like there ought to be at least a city pool! Since I like the pools almost best of all, I think the pool ought to pretty much occupy that foreground of the park. How about a nice big oval pool that almost goes from street to street with lots of room for the whole community to swim! That would be big enough you could even show little dots of lots of people around it!
26. I DON'T KNOW IF WE'LL PLAY TENNIS THERE OR NOT, but maybe in some other parts of the park you could put a children's playground, tennis court & some might like to play basketball! That was invented by a Christian, by the way!--The same fellow who founded the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association). He founded the Young Men's Christian Association to try to keep young fellows that go to the city together & out of the slums & give them a good clean place to live together with Christian influence. Then he saw how much they needed good exercise besides the sweatshop jobs they had, so he decided they'd need some kind of a gym. So he invented an indoor sport that they could play even in the Wintertime when it was cold & rainy & snowy & icy outside, some kind of ball game they could play inside. It couldn't be football or baseball or golf or anything, so he invented basketball! He invented the rules of the game & the baskets & the whole works, & it got to be a very popular game! That's why it's a Winter sport, it's something you can play inside.
27. SO WE CAN HAVE A BASKETBALL COURT, TENNIS COURTS, VARIOUS COMMUNITY SPORTS, & WE COULD EVEN ADD A LITTLE OUTSIDE BANDSHELL so the folks could sit out there & listen to music in the park! I used to love those little town bandshells! Nearly every little city square had a bandshell where the little local band got up & played music every Saturday & Sunday afternoon. They even had dances there on their outside dance floor. We could put a little dance floor out there beside the bandshell with a few little rows of seats. Bandshells were usually sort of the shape of a half-shell so in case it rained the band would still be sitting inside under some cover!--Half a dome with a stage & then the seats were in semi-circular rows out in front of it. I think I drew one in "Tropical Village Dream"! (No.1133)
28. WELL ANYWAY, THERE'S A FEW IDEAS! OF COURSE, WE CAN'T EXPECT TOO MUCH THIS SMALL! But listen, boy, if you could draw all those houses that perfectly that small, I know you can do it! You've done it! You've shown what beautiful little pictures you can draw! I just love to sit & look at all those little houses! The kids are going to love this! I get to be a kid again, I want to look & look & look until I almost just go right into the picture! I used to do that!
29. I USED TO HAVE ONE OF THOSE LITTLE EGGS THAT YOU SHAKE & THE SNOW FALLS on a little cottage inside & a snowman & a guy with a snow shovel standing in front of the house with his wife, etc., & kids playing. Then when you shook the thing--they were almost half as big as a football then, pretty big--it stirred up some kind of stuff in there that looked like snow! It was all actually filled with liquid! And I used to look at that thing & I think I almost tripped out! I just sort of dreamed like I was going in there, & then I'd dream about it afterwards that I actually went there!
30. KIDS REALLY FANTASIZE ABOUT THINGS LIKE THAT, THEY'VE GOT SUCH GOOD IMAGINATIONS! They'll just look at this picture & pretty soon they're right in there! They like little things, anyhow, we found that out. They love those cute little drawings that Zeb makes. The kids prefer those above all the other fancy stuff.--They don't even give it a second look, that's way above their level. But those cute little comic characters that Zeb draws, that's their favourite art, & the smaller the better! It just sort of comes down to their level. And they've got such good little sharp eyes they can study it real close & they just go right into the picture!
31. SO WE'VE GOT ENOUGH PARK THERE, I THINK WE CAN GET ALL THAT IN!--Swimming pool, bandshell, tennis court, basketball court, playground & anything else you can think of! And I know some people won't think it's complete unless you have a bridle trail!--Bridle, not bridal! We'll hit that trail when the Lord comes! You could have some nice winding pathways through the park that would look like a bridle trail, clear around the building through the middle of the park. We really expect miracles of you, don't we? Well, you drew all those little houses so beautifully, I just got absorbed by that! I just sat here & studied every little house & every little detail & just marvelled! I tried to do a little sketch myself, & I just marvel at what you can do with your pen on such a small scale! Beautiful! And right away I began regretting that we didn't make it bigger!
32. WE'D BETTER HAVE A LOT MORE VISION & MORE FAITH FOR SOME OF THESE PICTURES THAT ARE REALLY IMPORTANT THAT THE LORD GIVES US! WE OUGHT TO REALLY GO FOR IT & THINK BIG! We've gotta shoot'm down small for one little GN, but we can think big for more posters! I'm getting gung-ho for the poster idea! I think we need more posters! And when we can make the small black-&-white ones so cheap, I think it's really worth it! I don't know what we're going to do about another calendar, but maybe it'll be a calendar of Heavenly posters! I get fascinated by this! All these beautiful pictures of Heavenly places!
33. I REALLY COULDN'T TELL WHETHER THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE MILLENNIUM OR HEAVEN, but after all, if it's good enough for Heaven, it ought to be good enough for the Millennium! A lot of things are going to be rather similar & much the same both places, so why not? If this is a model type of village for Heaven, why wouldn't it be good for the Millennium? This is what Avak envisioned of being a type of model village in the Millennium, so if that's so, it certainly looks like it would be good for Heaven!
34. DO YOU LIKE MY CIRCULAR VILLAGE? It wasn't till after I made this picture that it suddenly came back to me that there was a colony of Germans that went to Texas, about three or four hundred of them settled there, & they had a circular-type village with a circular Town Hall in the middle! How about that! It's a very historical site that still stands. I remember it from a long time ago, but now I don't know where I'd ever find such a thing. I read the whole history of it once & saw pictures of it, & it was supposed to be the oldest town in Texas. That's the same thing Avak saw & the same thing I saw in my dream, a round Town Hall in the middle with houses around it in circles. That's just how that German fellow built his village! His name almost comes to me. If we could ever think of his name, we could probably find out more about it! I think he was a German Jewish doctor.
35. BUT ANYHOW, IT SURE IS PRETTY THE WAY YOU DREW IT! I'm just sorry we didn't have more vision to make it bigger in the first place, then you could really bring out that building & all! Well, you know what we could do? Listen, I forbid you to re-draw this thing because there's too much work & detail, but you could blow it up so the houses & everything would be bigger, & you'd have a bigger circle there in the middle where you could work on the building & add more detail! Because even to draw it as big as those two circles is still going to be very difficult. By the way, you could have a nice big entrance right in front of us there, a grand entrance at least a couple stories high! It's going to be a model village, an ideal for the folks on the surface of the Earth, although not quite as swanky as our Heavenly City!
36. SO THAT'S JUST GORGEOUS, & OF COURSE YOUR PICTURE OF THE RIVER IS GOING TO BE BEAUTIFUL! I thought that one we had was pretty when I used to have the colour slide, but yours is so much prettier because we're getting so much more in it! Why do you suppose they never showed any people? Neither one of these old pictures show any people! I think they're afraid to! At least we're going to give people a little concrete idea of what things look like & the people & everything, something definite & certain! Amen? First time it's ever been done! So PTL!--Here we go again! GBY!
37. I DON'T WANT TO LIMIT YOUR HORIZONS, SON, I WANT YOU TO KEEP AN ENLARGED VISION! Think big! Envision big! And don't be limited by a little tiny piece of paper! Keep up the good work & we're going to have us another Heaven poster before you know it! We've already got two pictures for it: The Magic River & the Heavenly Villages!--And maybe some more! I think you were drawing a picture of the happy family in the home once, remember? Maybe that would even be a good one: "Home life! Inside the home!" This poster could be a collage of several different things!
38. THIS RIVER PICTURE IS ACTUALLY THE RIVER INSIDE THE CITY, both in his & in yours. It isn't until it gets outside the City that it begins to broaden out & become so huge & wide, so you don't have to worry about that. Inside the City your size is just fine. And oh boy, I can see it already, it's just beautiful! I love that couple in the boat & the family over there & the tree on the island etc. You can draw them more like fruit trees, so much better than this other one! You know me, I'm always trying to save you work, but you wind up getting more inspired & doing a better job than any of this old junk!
39. WHY LIMIT OURSELVES WITH SOMEBODY ELSE'S LIMITED PERSPECTIVE? WHY NOT ENLARGE OUR VISION? Let's enlarge our tents & lengthen our cords & strengthen our stakes & really make it big! (Isa.54:2) Amen? Think big! GBY! Heaven is a big place, & that World outside too! Well, I'm sorry I didn't have more faith to do more, but at least I had a little seed of faith there on that first sketch, & from there the little seedling can grow under your lovely artistic fingers! GBY! But don't throw away those houses, just cut'm out & let's keep'm for someplace else or some other time or something somewhere! They're so cute!
40. DO YOU LIKE THAT TITLE, "THE MAGIC RIVER"? I couldn't quite remember what Ezekiel 47 was! That just shows you how that kind of title doesn't really bring to mind the picture! You've got to have something a little more catchy & vivid that reminds you of the Letter! And you're making it beautiful! You're going to be a real artistic magician drawing all these magical things! We never could have taken snapshots of them! No matter how good a photographer we had, we couldn't have gotten pictures of them. You've gotta create'm!--Me & you! The Lord gives the first picture, then I try to tell you what it looked like, then you have to try to make it look like that!
41. ARE YOU HAVING FUN?--I AM! The more we do this, the better I like it! First time they've ever been given--I hate to say concrete examples because that reminds you of our modern buildings--but realistic examples of genuine Heavenly pictures so they can really visualise Heaven, the New Earth & all!--The Millennium too!
42. I WAS JUST THINKING, WE'VE GOT A GOOD HEAVENLY POSTER & HERE WE'RE GOING ON TO WHAT LOOKS LIKE MORE HEAVENLY POSTERS, WHY NOT HAVE ONE ON THE MILLENNIUM? We've already got some pretty good beautiful existing art on the Millennium, look how good that would be if we'd blow it up on one big poster in colour! Like the idea? Horizons unlimited! Hallelujah? GBY! ILY! OK, here we go! Take it away!--And send it back as soon as you can!
43. I GET SO EXCITED ABOUT ALL THIS! I really do! I'm really excited about all these lovely pictures! Our little kids really need to see these things to get some conception of them. Our Sunday School pictures were fine for all the Bible stories, but I never saw anything like these in Sunday School! They were all talking about the past, everything was ancient history! They never seemed to have any idea of what the future was like! How about that? OK! GBY! ILY! I hope you don't mind getting so much work! You're going to have so much work to do you'll never get it done anyhow, so don't worry! Just do what you can! GBY! Thanks a lot! Bye-bye!--ILY!
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44. I JUST LOVE THAT "MAGIC RIVER", SON! I mean, our pictures are so much better than this old art, & almost anybody else's for that matter! Yours are so inspired & beautiful, I could just drift right on into dreamland on that Moon River! I always thought "Moon River" was such a beautiful song! I always kind of felt like it was inspired!
45. "MOON RIVER" WAS THE THEME SONG OF A MIDNIGHT MUSIC & POETRY SHOW THEY USED TO HAVE ON WLW, CINCINNATI, one of the first radio stations in the U.S., that I used to listen to on my little crystal set every midnight. I'd usually go to sleep on the thing, it was so late! I just loved to listen to that. At night I could get things that far away--I was in Miami & I could get Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Los Angeles & once in awhile New York.
46. BUT WLW HAD ON ITS MIDNIGHT SHOW BEAUTIFUL SONGS & POETRY LIKE THAT, CALLED "MOON RIVER," & THAT WAS ITS THEME SONG! And when I saw these pictures of "The Magic River," it reminded me of that old song "Moon River"!--Those beautiful little magically-propelled boats with no visible means of propulsion, they just glide along directed by the Lord with His magic power! Oh, this is so much better than what we were planning to slap together. Most of the time you're right! When it comes to the art, you're right! When it comes to trying to save time & work, I'm probably right!
47. I SKETCHED THE GOLDEN BIRD IN THE POSITION THAT I SAW IT! I couldn't figure out whether the people were just climbing up on the wings, on the back or inside or what! It was just poised there with its wings outspread like it was ready to leap! It was just really beautiful! I was so amazed at it, just looking at it in my dream! PTL! GBY! TYJ!
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48. THE MARIA POSTER LOOKS BEAUTIFUL & I certainly like your change of faces so much better, such an improvement! Because I don't like that Rachel-type of face for her at all! Maria is sweet, delicate, feminine, tiny, petite & everything else along that line. She has a precious fragile beauty that Rachel never had! Rachel was big & masculine & brash, but she served her time & purpose, so TTL anyhow. So you did a beautiful job on that, & thank the Lord we can go back to Heaven now!
49. I'M SENDING YOU A BIRD PICTURE TO USE FOR YOUR "GOLDEN BIRD" COVER & IT'S ACTUALLY GOLDEN! It looks like it! The bird I saw really wasn't a predator or bird of prey like the eagle, it looked much more like this bird! So you can stick it right on, draw the line of people climbing aboard, put a nice big title on it & you've got the page filled up! It's a pretty little bird! This original probably was not a very large bird, but anyhow, it really looks like my dream bird & it's in exactly the same position! In fact, it almost looks like the very same bird, except that it's turned to the right instead of the left. But that doesn't matter, it's just perfect! Just draw your people on the left side, that's all!
50. YOUR "MAGIC RIVER" IS BEAUTIFUL! I'm just a little worried about one of the buildings that looks a little odd! I thought at first it was some kind of ruins, but I don't think we'll have any ruins there, will we? Maybe you were drawing some kind of crystals, but I don't think the little kids are going to understand that, it's a little too deep for them. We haven't talked about anything like that, & crystals that gigantic, as tall as a skyscraper, we surely would have mentioned!
51. I'M GLAD YOU PUT IN THE HOUSE OF LIGHTS & OTHER BUILDINGS THEY CAN RECOGNISE! Maybe you can just finish off those towers to look a little more like look-out towers or spires rather than partial walls. I think that would be a little more understandable for little kids & all. They can't quite understand unless it looks familiar. Sorry, but I think we ought to have it simple enough the little ones can understand it, it's pretty complicated already! Otherwise it's beautiful! Just sort of finish off the top of those towers so they look a little more like buildings. You might even have a circular restaurant or observatory on top of one of them!--Ha!
52. ON YOUR VILLAGE, I REALLY LIKE YOUR PARK! It looks good & is in keeping with the size & perspective & ratio to the size of the homes & all. But in looking at that building in respect to the tennis court for example, I realise I said something about coliseum, but I really didn't mean stadium! Don't the people inside look a little bit too small? Maybe I gave you the wrong impression that the building was bigger than it really was! Take a look at the bandshell. It's big enough so you can see the orchestra, & the seats out in front would be big enough that you could see the people fairly clearly. But that stadium looks like it's a lot further away & much bigger than it should be.
53. THE ACTUAL SIZE OF THE BUILDING & THE SPACE IT'S OCCUPYING IS NOT TOO BIG, but the inside looks bigger than it's supposed to be. All those people are just dots, whereas on the tennis court right beside it you can see two people standing there playing! The people inside should be much bigger to give the impression that they're not so far away & that the building is not so big--too big for its britches! After all, this is just a village & this building was intended to be big enough that it might have some Area Meetings of several villages in one place, but not as though it was going to be as big as a coliseum! That was maybe where I misled you. It's beginning to look like a stadium & that space down in the middle as big as a football field!--Ha!
54. SO ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MAKE THOSE PEOPLE BIGGER ON THE BENCHES. In the basketball court, for example, you'd be able to clearly see people big enough to see their arms & legs, but the people in the stadium at the same distance are just little dots, making the building look much bigger than it really is supposed to be. So what I think you have to do is just enlarge those people inside, because it makes the building look out of proportion to its surroundings.
55. I HATE TO BE SO PARTICULAR, BUT I AM! These are pictures that are going to live in the memory of our children for at least a few years & maybe longer! Maybe they'll even be historical during the Millennium--they may have a museum of our art! We'll surely be a part of the Religious Museum & our religious art will certainly be unique!
56. ALSO, I KNOW YOU FOLLOWED MY PATTERN OF THE WINDOWS, but of course I'm not an artist & I don't realise how bad my art is going to look when you perpetuate it! Don't you think this building ought to look a little more modern instead of having that old-fashioned type of windows? I was just trying to give myself a little idea of proportion & size & how four stories would look, so I just sketched in those crazy little windows. But in your beautiful drawings I would expect to see something better, & I suggest that in an ultra-modern building of the future like this, maybe the whole building ought to look a little bit like glass with windows going completely around! If you just draw a circular line right across the tops & the bottoms of the windows clear around, it would look like they're solid rows of windows! Wouldn't that be more modern?
57. TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THESE MODERN SKYSCRAPERS, THEY'RE ALL GLASS & ALL WINDOW BECAUSE LIGHT IS SO IMPORTANT! I'll admit these look a little bit more mediaeval, like they used to build'm, & they look like the ones I drew! I'm sorry, it's my fault! Like I told you, until you get it drawn, I can't really tell whether it's right or not! That's the terrible part about this business! I can draw my crazy little sketch, then I expect you to improve on it--just don't copy it! If you have better ideas, please use'm! I can't really tell what's wrong with it until I see it on our first attempt.
58. I LIKED YOUR OBSERVATION DECK UP THERE ON TOP OF THE OFFICES, but those people should be a little bit bigger too. I'm so sorry about all this detail, but when we're drawing a whole town there's bound to be some detail!--Especially when it's up this close so that you really can see! I was wondering, those streets of the village are big enough that maybe we ought to have some horse carts, wagons & carriages, just a few anyhow, which I presume they'll have, getting back to the good old days! We really got some revelations on that like "Psychic Sees the Future!" (No.285) & some of those, & that's all I've ever seen! So I guess if it was good enough for the original creation & man in the beginning, it's going to be good enough then!
59. WHEN YOU BEGIN TO GET IT BLOWN UP THIS BIG, THEN I BEGIN TO REALLY SEE A LOT MORE!--Ha! So it's all your fault for making it so beautiful & so big, then I can see it better & I can see the building better & inside the building better. Only I just think we could see bigger figures & make those glass windows run all the way around the building. Those are the only suggestions I have. Your park looks gorgeous & it's going to be beautiful! That pool is close enough you can even almost see some bathing beauties! In this big a picture, the people may be stick figures, but you could actually see some little protuberances that look like arms & legs! Don't you think you could even see a tennis racket in their hands?
60. ON THE BASKETBALL COURT, I THINK YOU COULD SEE THE BACKBOARDS WHERE THE BASKETS HANG, & you should be able to see the basket hanging at the other end of that basketball court & see the boys playing there! I think you could! You only need a couple of tennis players, or maybe they could be doubles because plenty of people are using it! Some people are going to complain we didn't have enough tennis courts for a village this size! Well, there is room there for a couple of tennis courts side-by-side. A lot of people can play basketball & a lot of people enjoy watching, but people usually like to participate in tennis, it's a participation sport, so maybe we ought to make that two tennis courts!--The same position you've got this one, but just shove it over & put another one beside it!
61. HEY, I GOT AN IDEA FOR THAT RECTANGLE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BUILDING--IT LOOKS BIG ENOUGH FOR BOWLING! Can't you see some folks there bowling? Good idea? And what do they call that game where the old folks push those big round pucks with sticks?--Shuffleboard! We've gotta have some games for the old folks, & that could be the old folks' side over there with bowling & shuffleboard! And shouldn't we have some kind of shelters or restrooms? Well, maybe we won't need restrooms, but it could be the Millennium, you know!
62. IN FACT, I'M ALMOST THINKING IT'S MORE LIKE THE MILLENNIUM! I just don't know, that's all I saw! I just saw it & I don't know what it belongs to! That's not much help, is it? But it looks like maybe we ought to have a resthouse or two somewhere around. I don't suppose we need dressing rooms for the pool, nobody wears very much anyhow!--And in this pool they probably take it off! I'm sure we're going to be free there & not have to worry about such things!
63. WHERE'S THE KIDS' PLAYGROUND? I think your pool is big enough, & then you can put the kids' playground on the right side. After all, not everybody's going to go swimming at once! I think stretched as far as I had sketched it, it would be too big, & we need this right-hand side here for a children's playground--playground equipment, teeter-totters, slides, see-saws, climbing stuff & merry-go-rounds, the push kind, with a few benches around for the mothers to sit on. And that's up close, so I think you'd almost see the kids' arms & legs there too, huh?--And their heads!--Ha!
64. AND OF COURSE I'LL EXPECT TO SEE A FEW BATHING BEAUTIES AROUND THAT POOL! At this distance you can draw them nude with no problems! You certainly couldn't tell whether they had bikinis on or not anyway! I know they're going to be real small, but I think any pretty girl lying there by that pool, you could even see if she had her knee cocked up!--Not both knees, but one at least! That's supposed to be a sexy joke! When you get both of them cocked up you're ready for action!--Ha!
65. SORRY TO CAUSE YOU SO MUCH TROUBLE, BUT THEY'RE GOING TO BE LOOKING AT THESE FOR A LONG TIME, & WE DO WANT TO HAVE'M LOOK RIGHT! Remember, keep proportions in relation to the size of your houses & your streets & all, so things in the park & the building look the same proportion so we don't get carried away with being too big! That building is actually just supposed to be the Town Hall! Of course, it's a combination Town Hall, school, offices, everything, so it does have some room, but it's not actually a stadium! So make your people a little bit bigger & it'll be okay!--OK?--Tx! GBY!
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66. YOUR "HEAVENLY VILLAGES" & "MAGIC RIVER" ARE JUST BEAUTIFUL! ROLL'M! I think that's a big improvement on the building & the park. You can just study & study & just feast your eyes on it! It's just delicious! I don't think there's anything we can possibly do to improve'm! I'm sorry I had to make so many revisions to begin with, but you can't read my mind until I tell you, & I can't really tell until I see it sometimes! But that really looks beautiful! I love your park, & the building looks real out-of-this-World! I see you've got me down there teachin'! That's great!
67. FOR THE BACKGROUND OF "GOLDEN BIRD" YOU CAN PUT A FEW TREES OR A RUNWAY, WHATEVER YOU THINK! I thought that bird was just right, didn't you? I'm so glad you didn't have to use an eagle or a bird of prey! I was amazed when I saw that bird because it looked so much like the one that I saw, just beautiful, & even a golden colour! Dear Alf found that in the children's material. You can fill in around it whatever you think best, just make it look natural! We wouldn't want many trees in front of it or it might have a hard time trying to jump over'm! Birds make sort of a little leap in the air when they take off, & even if they don't need a runway like the jumbo jets, they've got to have a little clearance!
68. YOU KNOW THAT HAMBURGER-SHAPED BUILDING ON THE POSTER? JUST FOR FUN I PUT ON MY COPY: "MACDONALD'S BURGER KING"!--Ha! The Family got a big laugh out of it, but they were a little bit reserved about my putting that much of a touch of humour on our serious picture. They said, "Well, we want them to take it seriously!" I said, "Well, I was just looking at that building & it looked so much like a hamburger!"--Ha! I wrote it on there just to see what it would look like: "MacDonald's Burger King"! I didn't want to give MacDonald's the only franchise, Burger King deserves something! The funny part about it is, I think we've got some folks who wouldn't be happy unless they could get hamburgers in Heaven! I think I saw a place once called "Hamburger Heaven"! Well anyway, that was just for fun! We do want them to take it seriously, so maybe I'd better not do that! You can figure out some other name for it. Maybe if you just change the bottom bun it won't look so much like a hamburger! But we sure got a kick out of it!--Ha!
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69. LIKE A LOT OF OTHER THINGS, SOMETIMES I DON'T KNOW WHAT A PICTURE NEEDS UNTIL I SEE IT! And do you know what would look real nice in all that nice white space on "Golden Bird"? It looks to me like it needs a little background, maybe something to identify it & to show where it is! I was trying to think, "What would be small enough to fit in that space to identify the location?"--And guess what came to me?--The corner of the Wall! You could have it coming down from above there to kind of show the location! With that big Pearl & Angel, wouldn't that look pretty? Maybe you could cut the corner off of some picture & stick it on! Try it, anyhow! I'll leave it up to you! I just get the ideas, you have to make'm come true!
70. IN ORDER TO SHOW THE PEARL & ALL OF ITS GLORIOUS BEAUTY, IT WOULDN'T HURT IF THE PEARL WAS IN THE HOLLOW OF THE BIRD'S WING BETWEEN ITS LEFT SHOULDER & ITS HEAD. It wouldn't matter then if part of the Wall ran under the bird's beak. It still looks like it's sitting outside the Wall & it'll make it look more three-dimensional! How about that? Then the Angel will have enough room to be standing up there above it. It'll fit exactly right--Wall, Pearl, Angel & all--if you just cut one of those out of the small poster & just stick it on there!
71. AND YOU KNOW HOW THAT LINE CAME OUT BELOW THE BIRD'S WING CURVING AROUND? You know what that reminded me of?--The River! It could be flowing around by there! That would give it a little foreground like your little bit of shading did there that looks like a forest. So why not just make that into the River! The forest you put there could be one bank of the River, & the other bank would just be sort of clear. After all, it's gotta have a runway! That'll fill up those two parts of the picture that look a little vacant & give it a little beauty in the foreground & then a little identification at the top!
72. AND SPEAKING OF THE CORNER OF THE WALL, I've been looking at that & looking at that, & your new Pearl is so beautiful with the Angel & all, but you know where it's really supposed to be?--It's really supposed to be in the Wall! You know how I hate to have you change anything, but you could just cut the whole thing out & put it right over the corner of the Wall. You're going to have to cut the names out & move them further down the Wall too, but that wouldn't be too hard to do, would it? Then all you have to do with the corner of the City is extend it on down to the ground. Then if you want, you could make maybe a little archway instead for the people to walk in. How about a heart-shaped archway? Wouldn't that be pretty? It could be fairly good-sized, big enough to see it!
73. WE WANT TO BE AS ACCURATE AS WE POSSIBLY CAN, because they're going to read that & know, "Well, that Pearl's supposed to be in the Wall!"--Because that's what it definitely says! Even in my little stats there it mentions that the Wall has these 12 Gates of Pearl. (Rev.21:21) So I think we're going to have to do it, because even some of the little children are going to catch that! That's the only major change that I can think that it needs.
74. I DIDN'T WANT TO WORRY RIGHT NOW ABOUT THAT FIRST WALL PIC WE DID--LET'S WORRY ABOUT THAT LATER! (See GN10, Pg.185.) Later later! I've got an idea for that, though, that may help. If we don't have to put so much description & names there, we could move them out a little further & there's still room to put the Pearl & the Angel there. It may not look as big as we're going to have it on the City, but I think there's enough room there if we put the Pearl right at the bottom & the tip of the Angel's wings right up at the top margin, I think you're going to have a pretty good-sized Pearl!--And still enough room on both sides to put the names of the Apostles & the various strata. Actually, the names of the strata weren't actually on the Wall, they were just named in the Bible (Rev.21:19-20). So we could move them down further. I believe we can do it without too much trouble.
75. I'M SO SORRY, BUT I GUESS MY FAITH WAS PRETTY SMALL WHEN I PUT THAT FIRST PEARL DOWN THERE! But after I saw yours, Brother, you're the guy, it's all your fault! I blame it on you! After I saw yours & it was so big & pretty & with the Angel on it & the name, I decided, "Oh my, I really missed the boat!" Mine was a little peanut compared to yours. You had the right faith! I don't think it's going to be too big a job to move! Except on this one little corner picture you're going to have to move the names up the Wall! I'm going to have you climbing the wall pretty soon with all these changes! But don't worry about that now, that's strictly for the Poster & we can worry about that later!
76. THE CITY ON THE PLANET EARTH OUGHT TO SHINE A LITTLE BIT TOO, SHOULDN'T IT? You could add some radiation marks to kind of make it stand out more & look pretty. And I do think you're right, the Magic River needs a few more islands! You could even put two or three more right there in the foreground just beyond the Wall in front of the boat ride. If you'd put one or two islands there at least, they could be kind of oval-shaped with a couple trees on each of them, very narrow & sort of long-shaped islands. You might even have room for another boat up close, close enough to see there's some people in it!
77. YOUR "MAGIC RIVER" IS JUST ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, JUST BEAUTIFUL! I can't think of a thing to improve it at all. And your "Village" is beautiful too, just wonderful! I did think maybe we should give it a little more contrast, because the main building looks sort of all white. Would you rather darken the walkway on top of the building or the strips in-between the windows? I took my pencil & shaded the walkway & it looks pretty good. Or maybe you could do both! That'll give it a little more contrast to make it stand out, otherwise it looks a little washed-out--very white considering the other dark parts of the picture.
78. I THINK WE'RE GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER POSTER WITH ALL THESE NEW LITTLE HEAVEN PICTURES, so I don't think your time's wasted beautifying these a little bit! I liked your new hamburger building! It'll have more tables that way!--Ha! Oh, they'll never know the awful truth!--Unless that little rascal's been typing all these tapes up! She tells all our secrets! Oh well, maybe they'll get a kick out of all my instruction about this, but it is pretty serious business so we're trying to get it right! And we're certainly trying to get it as accurate as we can! GBY all! I'm glad you enjoy your work like I do! I surely enjoy your work!
79. I WAS GLAD TO HEAR WE'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO SQUEEZE SO MUCH OF HEAVEN ONTO THE BOOK 12 COVER!--Clear to the middle of the Botany Building & beyond the minaret, including the Pyramid & half the Food Building! It's kind of a welcome change to see Heaven back on my wall! We're on the wall! Stay on the wall, Boy! Don't come down! You're doing a great work! (Neh.6:3) Hallelujah? GBY! Lord bless & keep him & give him strength & wisdom & have Thy way about these pictures. Bless them & make them a blessing & keep us all safely until we get there, in Jesus' name, amen! GBY!
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80. EVERYTHING LOOKS BEAUTIFUL! I especially like the Bird with the new corner there! Just gorgeous! Just two little suggestions: Why not put two or three or four little oval boats in the river?--Very small, in proportion to the size of the picture. I drew four on mine--one on the left side of the island & three on the other side going different directions. Also, the line of people should be coming out of the Pearl, go under the wing of the Bird, then curve around & run right into the line that you've already got there, because they're probably coming out of the City!
81. YOU DID AN EXCELLENT JOB ON MOVING THE PEARL, just gorgeous, only you forgot that pearls are not translucent or transparent! You've got the Wall lines entering into the Pearl as though you could see the Wall through the Pearl, but you can't, pearls are not transparent, so you'll have to white out those lines. And the City shines beautifully on Planet Earth & the new titles on the Food Building look just real cute!
82. THE HEART GATE KIND OF BRINGS UP A PROBLEM. Frankly, I think I like your gate heart better not sticking in the ground. What happened to all that "Spaceship" equipment after the City got here, I don't know, I haven't seen any around! That was apparently flight equipment or something & evidently it's not in evidence once the City is implanted here. So although that was a cute idea, most people wouldn't understand it unless they've read "Spaceship" (No.624) & they wouldn't know what the score was! So the vertical one which fits exactly to your gate looks very pretty & I like that one! I can't say we have any Scriptural authority for it, not any more than we have for some of these buildings, but I thought it was a great idea! The Building of the City itself must have some kind of a gate, something to pass through, so praise the Lord! That should give them a nice warm loving feeling as they pass through the heart! PTL! So that's finishes the Book as far as I know! It's just beautiful & I'm thrilled with it & I believe we're really rollin'!
83. THERE WAS ONLY ONE OTHER IDEA I HAD FOR THE POSTER, & THAT IS TO PUT A FEW MORE SCRIPTURE REFERENCES. If we can't actually put the text, we can put the reference to give some documentation or authorisation or verification, some excuse for having those buildings there!--To give it a little Scriptural foundation like we did on some of them already! So I'm thinking about some, but they don't have to be on this GN12 cover because they'd be too small to read anyhow!
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84. THAT MANSION LOOKS KIND OF LONESOME HANGING THERE ALL BY ITSELF, DON'T YOU THINK? What do you think about continuing that line over at least as far as the Scripture, & you've got room for a couple more Mansions there! You can vary the design any way you want to. We don't have to do that for this cover, but it would make it more finished to show how the line of Mansions are continuing on the opposite Wall. And it looks like maybe they should be sort of vanishing in the distance on the other side of the Scripture on the right.--Just a little rough light sketch! If you could do all those cottages so fast & so beautiful & in such detail in the Village, you ought to be able to sketch a couple more Mansions pretty quick before we close this out! I hate to ask you any more, but it just doesn't look quite complete now that this title's shrunk.
85. AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT? YOUR TITLE HAS GIVEN ME AN IDEA! I don't think we're going to need such a big title! I think this is going to be enough! And then we'll get'm all in the posters too! So your extra mansions are not going to be in vain! You could even maybe continue the 2nd & 3rd line of mansions up there, disappearing sort of off in the distance. According to perspective they should be kind of dwindling on the right side! So finish those lines of Mansions & we've got it!
86. BY THE WAY, IF THE COVER IS GOING TO INCLUDE THE CENTRAL PANEL OF THE BOTANY BUILDING, do you think we need to continue that path that goes round behind the Pyramid? There's a little white space in there. It can continue over around the fountain & curve off towards the Hamburger Building--maybe one path going to the Hamburger & one path looking like it's curving around behind the Botany Building over to the other Pyramid, just a little something to fill in that little white spot. You know how I hate white spots--I hate to see any vacancies! With a few more little strokes of your delightful pen, skillful & fast work, this is going to be that much more powerful to reach millions of people! So God bless you! Every little stroke counts!
87. THE MINUTE YOU GET THIS COVER DONE YOU'RE FREE TO GO AHEAD WITH THE ILLUSTRATIONS WE NEED IN BOOK 13! Let the poster ride! Let the right side of the City wait--Heaven can wait! We need to get these other Letters out as soon as possible! The poster will just have to wait a little bit more--unless you just want to fiddle with it in your spare time! GBY! ILY! I use my spare time for you--you're my avocation, you're my hobby! So I use it all for you! GBY! So I love you & I know you love me too!
88. I JUST LOVE YOUR POSTER! It is absolutely gorgeous for black-&-white! Everything's just beautiful! I liked your little changes & all that, so all we need to do now is finish the right-hand end of the City & put that new Pearl on the corner. I'm sorry that's a little problem I created. That was my mistake, so blame it all on me! I didn't have the faith that you had to make such a nice big pearl with that gorgeous angel! But I just think we'd be really missing something if we didn't have that on that corner, don't you? I really do! But I think we can squeeze it in just by moving those words a little further up the Wall--if it doesn't make you climb the wall first! I make you climb the walls, Son, with all these changes! Ha! GBY! Well, thank the Lord, you won't have to climb the Wall, you can go right through the Pearly Gate! God bless you, & I'm sure your reward's going to be great, Son! TTL! In fact, I hope to have you in my same Mansion! ILY!
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Finishing Touches of Heavenly Art!--8/83
89. I LIKE YOUR PYLON OR OBELISK, WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT, POINTING THE WAY TO THE MUSEUM OF ART. That was a good idea. The Creation Building needs some entrances, & of course, people going in & out, otherwise I think it looks beautiful! It could have some different shading on it too for black-&-white. And of course we've got to call that Merlin's Hat, "Merlin's Magic Hat"! And on the bottom of that I put "Flying Saucer Rides," because that's where they're landing & taking off!
90. AND ON THAT BLANK PANEL OF THE MUSEUM OF RELIGION, I WAS TRYING & TRYING TO THINK WHAT IN THE WORLD TO PUT ON THERE! I didn't want to say too much about the horrors of their religions etc., & it just came to me: "Defunct Faiths!"--Or I could call it "Debunked!" Defunct means through with, done with, dead & gone, past tense. It's a kind of a slamming term. A defunct factory is one that's all closed up & falling apart, done with forever. Defunct! Ended! Dead! That's what it means.
91. AND YOU KNOW THE FLOWER BUILDING WITH THE PRETTY SPRAY OF STAMENS COMING OUT OF THE CENTER LIKE BIG LONG PENISES? Since we've got one Botany & Horticulture Building already, I was trying to think of what in the World to put there, & it just came to me, "Gardening & Floral Displays." That's another whole scene, you know? The British & some people are just crazy about flowers, especially gardening flowers & flower displays. Then in small letters down on the stem below above the entrance I put: "Free Corsages!" And if that's too long you can say, "Free Bouquets!"
92. AND GUESS WHAT I PUT ON THOSE TOWERS WITH THE RUNWAYS BETWEEN'M right here in front in the foreground in the lower right corner? All of a sudden it dawned on me, they also look like aqueducts! So I thought, boy, there's a real science & study! I used to be the water commissioner at TSC, you know! Ha!--And hydrodynamics is quite a science! It's a science all its own. So on the central tower I wrote the great title: "The World of Water!" And underneath that in smaller letters: "Hydrodynamics Displays!" And underneath that in very small letters, "See How Water Works!" You didn't have any other ideas for those crystal towers, did you? My guess is as good as yours!
93. OH, THE CRYSTAL BALL BEHIND THE CREATION BUILDING, I'VE GOT IT MARKED, "CRYSTAL BALL--3-D TV!" And I thought we could put that pretty picture of Jesus in there like we did in the house!--Just His head. And in this case people wouldn't be inside, they'd be standing all around outside watching it from all directions. How's that? We had one Universe already, so I kept looking at the Globe & thinking, "What does it look like?" Oh, a crystal ball! And what do you see in a crystal ball? Well, we might call it 3-D TV!
94. I THOUGHT OF PUTTING SOME MORE MANSIONS IN THAT BLANK SPACE, like they're going off along the opposite wall, up high enough to show that they're kind of floating in the air or along the Wall anyway, so they're not too far down where they'll think they're just sitting out there on the New Earth.
95. HEY, I HAD A GREAT IDEA WHAT TO CALL OUR NEXT POSTER! I was thinking about the pictures we've already got, "Magic River" & "Heavenly Villages", what about calling it "Heaven on Earth!" Or we could call it "Heavenly Earth!" We've got a Heavenly City, this could be Heavenly Earth! And on this one we'll specialise on pictures of the outside, outside scenery. We've already got the Magic River, of course that was mostly inside, but we could have one on the outside. And we've already got a couple of other pictures, the healing of the leaves & Heavenly Village, so we could have a group of those!
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96. I GOT YOUR LATEST BEAUTIFUL PICTURE & I'M JUST SORT OF PUTTING THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON IT! I've been working on it a couple of hours. You may not think so, as little as I've accomplished, but it takes a little study & I've been looking up Scriptures. I want to have as many Scripture references as possible as our reason for some of these things! In other words, to prove that these things are Scriptural, etc. I don't know whether you'll like some of these or not, but they're just sort of suggestions.
97. THERE'S SUCH A NICE BIG WHITE SPACE ON THAT PEARL, I thought that would be a nice place to write on the reference regarding the Pearls! You know, it's an odd thing, they're found in three different separate places in that chapter, so that some people might read one & say, "Well, I didn't read anything about that," & not read the whole thing, so we've got to give three different references. So I put these in a vertical column: Rev.21:12, 14 & 21! And then on the heart I thought maybe we could put something there for that pretty gate there: LOVE IS THE KEY!--1Cor.13. After all, we can't get in there without Love!
98. THEN I THOUGHT THAT IN THE BIG LAKE IN THE FOREGROUND UP ABOVE THEY COULD STAND ANOTHER SAILBOAT! And on that next lake, in fact two lakes you can see through the Crystal Building, how about a sailboat in the middle of the first one & another near the shore on the second lake. Next, I like your mansions row very much. I think it fits the perspective because they're on the opposite wall & they're sort of tapering off to the right.
99. SOME PEOPLE MIGHT GET CONFUSED & THINK THAT BIG COUPLE ON TOP MIGHT BE SWIMMING UP THERE IN A SEA OR SOMETHING IF THEY DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THIS POSTER. So all you'll have to do with that is cut some paper dolls maybe, just cut'm out & move'm up & left where they could be obviously up in the air & not look like they're swimming in water! Once you study & figure it out, then you finally get the point, but it just struck me that way one time when I looked at it. We want to make it really look like they're flying, so we need to get them a little further above the horizon!
100. THE FIGURES OF PEOPLE STRIKE YOU FIRST! First you see Jesus, then you see that couple flying, because people are more interesting than anybody & they attract attention. So we might as well get them up above the horizon of the New Earth, up where they can really be seen & strike your fancy right off the bat! Your attention would really be drawn to them almost immediately, flying through the air, not just swimming in the sea! Don't re-draw, Son, just cut'm out & lift'm up!
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101. HI SON, I THINK WE'RE FINISHED! Well, at least the picture's finished, I hope we're not finished! Brother, I'd call that a mural! That's enough to put across the side of somebody's wall! Maybe one of our ambitious artists will paint a mural on his wall from this!--Or even an outside wall for the General Public! Wouldn't that be gorgeous? They used to do murals of things like that in some of the Clubs! It's just gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous! That shading just really finished it.--It even had Maria raving about it! She doesn't usually get all that excited about anything unless it's really something special, but you've really got her excited! Just beautiful!
102. ONE LITTLE SUGGESTION, UNDERNEATH THE TEXT BY PLANET EARTH--YOU KNOW ME, I FOUND A SPACE--I WANT TO PUT A SCRIPTURE REFERENCE IN THERE: READ REV.21-22! It'll kind of authenticate that & document it & get'm to read the Bible! If you don't believe it, read Revelation 21 & 22!--And I think that's it unless I find something else! Otherwise it's just gorgeous! Maria's just been raving on & on about it! It really would merit a post office mural! That's where most of our folks go for their mail, so that's a good place for it! And boy, if it looks this good in black-&-white, think of what it's going to look like in colour! Whooooo-whooooo! Hallelujah! Wow! TYJ! It is gonna be gorgeous!
103. NOW ALL YOU'VE GOTTA DO IS THAT CORNER PICTURE! I don't think it would really be complete without the corner picture, because it's very important & that Wall is described in detail. The Pearls & the Angels & whatnot are all actual, factual, textual illustrations that they can actually read about in the Bible, so I really think it's important! He spends almost as much time describing that Wall as he does the City, & since there are so many specifics about that Wall, I really think it's important.
104. I'M SORRY YOU HAVE TO RE-DO IT, BUT I'LL BLAME IT ON YOU FOR MAKING SUCH A BEAUTIFUL BIG PEARL, YOU SOLD ME! Your faith's bigger than mine! Mine was only about mustard-seed size, yours turned out to be pea-size or bean-size! So you go ahead! You did it, it's your fault, I'll blame it on you! But I don't think it will be too much trouble because you just more or less have to copy--all the basic instructions & measurements have already been done. So I think we're almost done! It just is beautiful! They're going to be thrilled to pieces!
105. AND WE GOT A GREAT IDEA, WE'RE THINKING OF USING ALL THESE PICTURES FOR THE NEXT CALENDAR! What I'm thinking of doing is making a 6-page calendar with two months at the bottom of each one. Or Maria suggested we could send'm some of these little stick-on calendars & they could just stick that on the bottom of the big poster, just hang it on the bottom margin there underneath the poster! Why not? That's all it needs! Then they could just tear off the months as they go by! Either that, or I was thinking about running off enough extra ones of these that we could use a different picture for each two months, because we've got exactly six pictures! So we'll think about that!
106. SO THIS IS GOING TO BE REALLY USED, SON, & we want to run off enough also to make enough FN covers for at least half-a-year! How about that? So this is going to have a lot of visibility, a lot of exposure, seen by literally millions, believe it or not! I'm expecting the kids to dupe this black-&-white one & even put it out on the streets! I bet these would go! It's about the size of these bookstore posters, so if the Family would get'm printed up they could sell'm in bookstores! The kids & hippies are always looking for something different, & that's really different! Some of Barkos' pictures wound up in posters in a bookstore in Tenerife, so that kind of stuff does go over!
107. I JUST THINK THIS IS GOING TO HAVE TREMENDOUS CIRCULATION & I THINK IT'S GOING TO HAVE TERRIFIC INFLUENCE! It's a whole brand-new concept & something that's never been seen before! In fact, nobody else has seen it except the people who've gone there! Hallelujah! Amen?
108. AND I THINK DOING IT IN THE SIZE OF THE DAVID POSTER IN COLOUR WILL BE SUFFICIENT! I mean, if this little half-size black-&-white is this clear, I think the David size will be plenty! Then we could send out twice as many! I'd rather have it a little smaller & send out more so they can have'm around more! Maybe then they could stick it up in the post office or some shop window or something! I wouldn't be surprised that some of the stores might be willing to have a poster like that in the window, maybe even sell'm! The kids could benefit from it that way! So PTL! GBY!
109. YOUR REDUCTION OF THE HEADLINE & ADDITION OF THE MANSION & MOVEMENT OF THE FLYERS THERE WAS A REAL IMPROVEMENT & REALLY GIVES A BETTER CONCEPT OF THE WHOLE THING! And those few outstanding figures always make it really significant, really symbolical! It's almost like those two flyers are saying: "That's our Heavenly City!" And over there in the corner Jesus is saying John 14. It's just beautiful, Son! I'm just really pleased with it! So GBY, I think it was worth the time & the trouble. After all, it is a mural! And it takes a lot of time to paint murals. It's a big picture! That's the biggest we've ever tackled, isn't it?--The biggest & most complicated, that's for sure!
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110. YOUR NEW PICTURE WITH ITS FINISHING TOUCHES IS JUST ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS, THRILLING, EXCITING, WONDERFUL, SATISFYING! It's going to take them a long time to absorb this! They can feast their eyes on it for years to come! So I think we've got that top picture finished as far as I can see, everything looks like it's done to me! I don't think we could add anything to that at all, it just looks beautiful! I liked your additions & corrections.
111. OUR TOP PICTURE IS NATURALLY A LITTLE BIT CROWDED BECAUSE WE HAD TO HAVE THE WHOLE FAIR IN ONE CORNER, BUT I'LL THINK THEY'LL FIND IT INTERESTING, IF NOTHING ELSE! But I hope they'll find it inspiring! We've got enough Scripture references on there to give it authenticity! Amen? I was trying to give it some audio as well as video, & I thought right above me & Maria's heads coming out the door in the Mansion Front View, how about having me saying, "Welcome!" That'll give it a little audio! And on the lower left corner Top View, I can't think of any finishing touches it needs, except I don't think there are as many people around the pool or in the garden as there are in the Front View. It looks just a little bit bare. It looks to me like there could be a few more people that we can see or something, but maybe I'm wrong.--And right beneath the three domes the little girl could be saying: "What a gorgeous place!"
112. THEN FIRST FLOOR PLAN, CENTER, I EXTENDED THE POSSIBLE ENLARGEMENT LINES OF THE FIRST FLOOR. It's gotten so small now it's a little difficult to read, so if you would just take the first floor only & include the walls of the house, it would blow up to completely fill that rectangle that has the line around it & be much more visible & readable! That would really make it come to life where you could really see it & make it actually about twice the size! We've got enough of the garden in the other ones, we don't need another shot of the garden.
113. EXCUSE ME, A LITTLE PEST OF THE DEVIL INTERRUPTED ME, A LITTLE TINY SPIDER STARTED JUMPING AROUND ON ME! We hardly ever have them, very few, thank the Lord, but he must have been a special emissary! We got the victory, I squashed him or brushed him off or something! He was just a little tiny thing, not like those monsters they have in Texas! I've seen those big huge tarantulas walking slowly across the park as big as a dinner plate & with knees at least three inches high! And they sure walk like they know they're the king of the place, majestically, a marvellous creation! Sometimes I wonder if the Lord created some of those pests or if He let the Devil do it!--Like the various parts of the Curse.
114. SO NOW DOWN ON THE MAGIC RIVER, WE NEED TO GIVE THAT A LITTLE MORE AUTHENTICITY TO SHOW WE KNOW WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, what Magic River? We need to include in that title "Of Life," "The Magic River of Life!--Lined with the Trees of Life bearing 12 kinds of fruit every month & leaves for the healing of the nations outside!--Rev.22:1,2." How about that? I'm boiling the whole thing down as briefly as possible.
115. AND ON THE CORNER PICTURE, YOU KNOW ME & SPACE, THERE'S QUITE A BIT OF SPACE ABOVE THE COUPLE BELOW THE WALL. A lovely space, just enough room for a very nice readable bubble in which he is exclaiming & shouting: "We have leaves for the healing of the nations!" They're just coming out the gate yelling that they're coming to help! And to give that a little credibility you can put the Scripture references from both the Old & the New Testaments! That might even encourage the Jews!--Ha! And I liked everything else, all the changes & additions, & it looks to me like it's almost ready to go!
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116. GBY! I LOVE YOU & LOVE YOUR NEW PICTURE! It's just beautiful & I think it's coming along fine. The lettering is all very good & the Pearl looks like it's about the right size so your Angel won't be too big & cover up that pretty gate behind him! By the way, you sure turned that heart around nicely! I knew that could be done! It may not be exactly accurate but we have to take a little artist's license once in awhile in order to make things work out!
117. I WOULD HAVE ONLY ONE CORRECTION ON THE ANGEL. Those guys are really pretty husky & manly, & I think his neck should be a little thicker, heavier jowls, more muscular, bigger biceps, I mean real muscle men! There's only one time I ever saw one like that, & that's in London when I saw my seven angels, & they're pretty tough-looking eggs! They're all he-men, in a way, & big fellows! I think this guy's almost a little bit too small for the size of his wings, at least that's the way he appears to me. So try to muscle him up a little bit, will you? Give him a little bit thicker neck & bigger jowls. His face is almost effeminate, it's a little too small. I'm just telling you, they are he-men!
118. WE MIGHT AS WELL MAKE THIS ACCORDING TO THE ONLY WAY I EVER SAW THEM. This may sound strange to you, but they were standing with their sword points between their feet & the sword exactly vertical, & it's considerably longer. The one I saw was a two-handled sword big enough to put both hands on the handle at the same time. The end of the handle should come up right about where the bottom of his chest is, his breastline there, right up to the neckline, so that his forearms, sort of holding both hands on the handle, are almost level, or maybe even a little more than level, up slightly.
119. BUT ANYHOW, IT'S A BIG SWORD! Your size sword is good, only it's not quite long enough. You need the handle long enough to get both hands on it. A two-handled broad sword is what they used to call it in the old days. This is probably just the Lord's way of picturing it to us, they're sure not going to be really running around with ordinary swords, even if it is a double-edged sword as spoken of in the Bible. They've got more power than that! But this is a characterisation. God has to picture things to us in terms we can understand. So have that sword vertical & both hands on it.
120. AND IT WAS AMAZING TO ME BECAUSE SHORTLY AFTER SEEING MY ANGELS, WE WENT TO SANTA CRUZ, the capital city nearby where we lived in Tenerife, & they had a huge war memorial monument there for all those who had been killed in the various wars. I mean, it was colossal for the size of the place! It was a huge big monument with all the statuary in the middle, a gigantic circle almost a block wide with a sort of Athenium arch behind it. And believe it or not, imagine my astonished amazement when I saw out in front of the monument these huge very manly strong-looking angels in the exact position that I saw them in that vision in London that day! Believe it or not! As I recall there were four of them, one at each point of the compass surrounding the monument facing outward like guards.
121. SO APPARENTLY SOMEBODY ELSE MAY HAVE SEEN THE SAME THING! I think God probably gives visions to artists like you. The angels in the monument were standing on the ground level where the public stood, eyeball to eyeball, only they were much bigger than human. They looked to me like they were about 8 or 9 feet tall. But they were very impressive, & they were holding their swords in exactly that same position. So maybe that was a standard position for soldiers with broadswords at rest, what the army calls "at ease," sort of a semi-attention thing.
122. IF HE WERE IN YOU MIGHT SAY "FIGHTING POSITION", EITHER ON A HORSE OR STANDING OR SOMETHING, HE'D HAVE THE SWORD ON THE LEFT SIDE, NORMALLY, SO HE CAN GRAB IT WITH HIS RIGHT HAND. It's impossible to draw it out from the left side with your left-hand, unless you're left-handed, & if you're left-handed you'd put it on your right side. Did you know that most officers still wear their pistols that way? Although I've noticed in the movies lately that because their pistols are quite short, they wear'm on the same hip of the same hand that they draw them with. But it used to be standard procedure--I guess it came from the old sword habit--that if he's right-handed, to wear his pistol facing backward on his left hip, believe it or not. Now I notice they don't do that so much. The cowboys pull'm both at the same time, they don't cross arms to grab pistols from opposite hips!
123. AND THERE WAS A CONSIDERABLE HILT SO THAT THE SWORD ITSELF ACTUALLY FORMS AN OBVIOUS CROSS! I think that would be significant, with the hilt being about as long as the handle after you get the handle extended. See, the sword itself should be longer & the handle a little longer, both. Don't just put the sword over there & just extend the handle, because then the handle would be too long. The handle only needs to be long enough to get both hands on it & to be able to see the end of the handle just above whatever hand you want to put on top. And of course in that position the only way he can grab the sword is just like the way he's got his hand on it right now.
124. WHAT DO THEY CALL THAT WHEN YOU'RE PLAYING BASEBALL & YOU THROW THE BAT & YOU GRAB THE BAT HANDLE & THE GUY WHO COMES OUT ON TOP GETS TO HIT FIRST? Even if there's just a little part of the handle sticking out above the last guy's fist & he can grab it & lift the bat, he gets to be first at the plate! So if our Angel puts his right hand on top, there's a little bit sticking above it. The hilt then should be just below his other hand & about equal to the length of the handle so it almost looks like an obvious cross. I'm awful particular, ain't I?--But that's the way I saw'm! I'll never forget when I saw'm in Santa Cruz, they looked almost exactly like what I had seen before!
125. AND DO MAKE HIM A LITTLE BIT BIGGER & MORE MUSCLEY & MASCULINE WITH A KIND OF A SQUARE JAW.--Almost like that Image we've been drawing, only not looking that evil. But sort of square-jawed like that, & sober mouth & deep eyes. I don't recall their hair being very long or blowing in the breeze, but I guess it's all right. I don't know whether you've got any pictures of angels around or not in your classical stuff, but maybe those few suggestions will help. Since that will be the central figure in this particular picture, it's going to get attention first & it really should look pretty much like the real thing!
126. MY IMPRESSION IS THAT HE'S NOT QUITE BIG ENOUGH FOR THE SIZE OF HIS WINGS! He could be a little taller where his head comes up almost up there between the wings, just below the point of the heart. He could be that tall!--And more broad-shouldered & with bigger biceps. Make him look like one of those muscle men on Muscle Beach! Those angels were really husky! This boy looks just a little bit frail for the size of his wings. I'm sorry I didn't try to describe them to you more, I couldn't tell much about your angels at a distance on the other one, they looked great! This boy looks a little small compared to them though.
127. AND I GUESS YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE SOME KIND OF A HOLE ON THAT HEART FOR THE PEOPLE TO GET THROUGH, sort of a circle or something just inside the point & show a line of people going in & out, because I have a feeling they're going to let some of these outsiders come in to visit the Fair!--At least I'm going to suggest it! I think it'll be good for'm! They're not like us, they can't just walk through things & fly through things, they're pretty human & they have to walk & ride & go through holes & doors.
128. MAYBE WE OUGHT TO HAVE AN ARCHWAY IN THE BOTTOM OF THE PEARL TOO! I think people would understand it better. They couldn't really understand that solid Pearl being a Gate. It also says "the gates are not closed night or day", so they're going to think maybe it's funny if you don't have some kind of an archway or hole down there at the bottom. Maybe you could lift the name just a little bit & make a little archway down there about the width of that roadway you've got, at least that high or half again that high. The archway ought to be as high as your "D" on Judah.
129. I LIKED THE WAY YOU PUT THE NAME ON THE PEARL OUT IN FRONT OF THE CITY, IT'S SORT OF ON ONE SIDE. I'd just as soon not make that name quite so prominent, I'd rather see it over on the right side there like you had it on the one that's out front on the big picture, sort of over to the side a little bit. You can just move that whole word over to where it won't be quite so prominent, over towards the names of the Apostles. Maybe I'm prejudiced, But I'm not in the business of promotin'm! We kind of had to have some kind of a name & that's about the best one I could think of! I don't really know why their name's on there considering the mess they were, but I guess He gives them credit. He said He loved them for the Fathers' sake.--That's about the only reason He could love'm! So for poor Abraham's sake, I guess He wants to honour'm. I don't think there are going to be too many of them there myself!--At least not from this generation!
130. YOU'VE GOT A LITTLE MORE ROOM FOR A LITTLE MORE NEW EARTH NOW AROUND IN FRONT TO MAKE IT LOOK PRETTY! After all, this road shouldn't just go one direction, it might go another too! It might go off to the left! After all, this City doesn't have very many gates, considering the size, so the roads are going to have to go a lot of different directions. Okey-doke? Hope you don't mind me making those changes, but if we're going to really make it look realistic, my conception of what I saw, I think that will help! GBY! ILY!
131. BY THE WAY, I REMEMBER HEARING SOME PREACHERS SAY ANGELS DON'T HAVE WINGS, BUT YOU'LL FIND IN THE BIBLE THAT DEFINITELY THE CHERUBIM & SERAPHIM BOTH HAVE WINGS! The cherubim seem to be the biggest & highest, their statues were over the Ark & also in front of the Temple etc., big ones. I think they were 9 feet tall then. Maybe that's where they got that concept to begin with.--And they had wings! Seraphim seem to be very important, but a lesser angel, but the cherubim & seraphim seem to be over all the other angels--like army officers.
132. I'M GLAD YOU SHADED THE BOATS INSTEAD OF THE RIVER because it says "a river of crystal clear water"! At first I was thinking we should shade the river dark, but then as I was studying, I decided, well no, actually the river is crystal clear, so it would be a lighter colour than the boats! So you got it right, Son, you hit it!
133. GBY! ILY! AND I'LL BE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT ONE! Everybody's thrilled with the pictures, just thrilled! We're on the home stretch! God bless you for your patience! This has really been a masterpiece! TTL! And of course one of the biggest jobs is yet ahead, to colour the big one! That's going to be thrilling! Now don't you start colouring that till I give you a few ideas, okay?--My colour preferences! About the only thing I can tell you right now is make the hearts red & the Pearl's pearl, the sky blue & the water blue & grass green, the usual normal things, but when it comes to those buildings, I may have some preferences. Otherwise the Earth & all will be all the usual natural colours. Lord bless & keep you & give you wisdom & real skill!--In Jesus' name, amen.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family