Made from early 20th century pew oak recycled from this church and combining late Medieval/ early Renaissance panel painting techniques with imagery from the aerial technology (LIDAR) and Google Maps, Eternal Source is made to reflect our time, yet exist comfortably, forever, within the church context.
I have created a contemporary icon, to celebrate the existence of the Nail Bourne, the river that rises in Lyminge, and its journey from source to sea.
The dark blue background is made from a mix of Ultramarine Blue to represent the heavenly and Raw Umber to represent the earth.
Gold is used to represent the water. The gold reflects the sunlight that comes through the adjacent window, and this reflection changes as the light changes through the day, so it almost seems alive.
Water is the source of life, why people chose to camp and spend time in this specific landscape 8-10,000 years ago. The debris from making flint tools has been found in large quantities close to the spring head of the Nail Bourne, which has been a holy well associated with St Eadburg for at least 1,200 years. This spring still flows out of the chalk to this day, demonstrating a startling continuity for the well which continued as the main public source of water for Lyminge up to 1905.
The dimensions are 5’ 7” by 18”; the approximate height and width of a woman, referencing the royal Anglo-Saxon saints of Lyminge: St. Ethelburga (who died c 650) and St Eadburg (who died in 751). The resting place of both of them is believed to have been close by up until 1085 when their remains were translated to the Priory of St Gregory in Canterbury.
Kate Beaugié