Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
One of the most popular events at the Elvis Festival is the gospel service, held in the Big W underground carpark commencing at 8.30am this Sunday.
Each year, a theme is adopted - this year’s is “Love is...”.
This meant preparing a backdrop of some meaningful paintings, a task fulfilled by local artist, Bev Rowe.
“I personally found the task daunting, to paint two visual representation of love,” she said.
“I spent weeks researching the subject and looking for definitions of what Love is… but, found myself becoming confused trying to capture the essence of what it is in day-to-day life.
“I asked everyone I knew and scholars also, but, I could not develop an image of what I knew in my heart was love, nor could I put into words or even do a satisfactory drawing what defined Love.
“So, distressed and overwhelmed by it all in August, I picked up the telephone and rang (local woman) Rhonda Brain, and asked did she have any photographs of her last visit to East Timor.
“Alas she didn’t have any, but pointed me in the right direction to Vivienne Steventon at Alectown.
“Vivienne, via a flash drive, provided me with some photographs of the team’s last visit to East Timor – Kid’s Ark to whom our collection from the Gospel Service is given to each year.”
Bev said she looked at all the photographs and knew what she had to paint.
“The very reason why we pour our hearts and energy into doing the Gospel Service and that is; God’s love.
“With this, I was able to paint two paintings from the photographs of the children from East Timor, all the time thinking about how these children have touched the very hearts of the community of Parkes.
“This often brought tears to my eyes and it became very difficult at times to paint.
“I feel privileged to paint these paintings for our Elvis Gospel Service and have found it to be a learning experience.
“I also, had some wonderful assistance from Melinda and Robyn from Richmond PRA who painted a wonderful painting for the entrance into the carpark for the service.
“They were so very insightful and helpful while I worked on the signage.
I hope everyone takes the time to view their work.”