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Eagle Mountain Word of Faith Church featured on today’s cover

It was the contrast of the Eagle Mountain Word of Faith Church’s white bell tower against its red brick walls, paired with its large white-framed windows, that first appealed to area artist Mickey Mapstone when she decided to paint a portrait of the building. After submitting the work for this year’s Bald Eagle Art League Church Painting Contest, Mapstone was chosen as the winner, earning the honor of having her painting grace the cover of today’s Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

“(The church) reminded me of the style of Frank Loyd Wright, with dollops of yellow ocher outlining each window,” Mapstone said. “The geometric shapes grace every part of the church; rectangles and squares go up to the stained glass cones which don each window, pointing for the heavens.”

Mapstone, who has won BEAL’s church painting contest six times previously, mentioned that she first noticed the Eagle Mountain Word of Faith Church on her drives to and from work. Then one snowy afternoon while driving around looking for a church to paint for the contest, her and her husband decided Eagle Mountain was the one she should go with.

“We turned around and I took a picture to paint,” she said.

Mapstone has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in art education, and taught art in the Williamsport Area School District for 27 years before retiring. She said she enjoys painting through any kind of medium, but for this particular piece, she used watercolor washes. To create texture in the painting, she used blending pools of various colors contrasted with geometric lines, and employed a dry-brush technique to accomplish the look on the building’s bricks.

“I love (painting with) oils the best, but I always think oils are too heavy for a delicate church in the snow,” Mapstone said. “So, watercolor it is.”

The painting took roughly a week for her to finish, and Mapstone didn’t encounter any big obstacles along the way. The few challenges she did come across were met with a positive attitude, she said.

“I have always taught my students that art is a constant problem-solving situation, and if you are a lifelong learner you will cherish each solution to any challenge,” Mapstone said.

Deb Trate, co-president of the Bald Eagle Art League, said that she wasn’t at all surprised to see Mapstone submit another award-winning painting for the 2019 contest. Having known her for nearly a decade, Trate said Mapstone is a “fabulous and energizing artist” whose paintings are always “colorful and meaningful.”

“Mickey’s paintings are always so well done, because she paints from her heart,” Trate said. “She puts a lot of feeling into her paintings, and a lot of emotion.

“She is also a firm believer in Christ, and she cares about representing these churches in the best possible light,” Trate added.

The Eagle Mountain Word of Faith Church building, located at 1804 Bloomingrove Road, is over 100 years old, according to the church’s website. Three different denominations have come and gone through its doors in that span, and the church is currently recognized as non-denominational with Jeff O’Neill serving as its pastor. In 1960, the church was moved from one side of Maybee Hill Road to the other without any damage occurring to the building’s structure.

When she first moved to Williamsport many years ago, Mapstone said she decided to start submitting works for the church painting contest because it was a challenge, and because her husband urged her to do so.

“My husband told me all about the painting contest and how he passed papers in his neighborhood, and how people would be waiting at their front door to get their paper so they could see which church and artist won the contest,” she said.

Having produced several winning paintings through the years, she said none of them stick out as her favorite, because they are all special to her in their own way.

“My Churches, as well as every painting, all rank equally,” Mapstone said. “I really try to do my best on every project.”

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