Here are the sketches... which I was unable to upload yesterday.

I am having a little trouble uploading images, but here you can see how I have evolved the image of the Sacred Heart for Naur. The photo shows the existing sanctuary, and the existing painting which this work will cover. 

As for the half-figure, while it is true that the devotional house-hold images are almost always presented in this way, we shouldn't overlook the normal presentation of the image in the liturgical context, ie. in the church,which is as a full standing statue. As we are here talking about liturgical art, and from this perspective the full standing figure is the 'norm' from which the half-figure can be seen as a derivation, the full standing figure is what I am drawn towards especially in this context of the apse roof above the altar. However, David as your piece is a domestic one, a half-figure is fine so for your piece we could certainly go in that direction if you wished. However, visually I can see a bit of a problem, but we can return to this discussion later when I am working more specifically on your piece again.

This is the final sketch, with Jesus sat enthroned on the rainbow, symbol of the whole spectrum of light and of God's eternal covenant promises, with the Sacred Heart central to the radiating nimbus constructed along classical Arabic geometric lines which burst into stars and squares - the square is the traditional shape to represent the created order, the circle the traditional shape to represent the Divine order, and for me here the stars represent the whole created cosmic order that is shaped out of chaos through   the imperative of Divine love. Christ is robed in scarlet as the 'Ecce Homo', taking us to the Passion where the Sacred Heart is manifested more clearly than at any other moment of history. Here Christ is Lord of All but in humility, showing us the way to harnass the energy of love to bring about the Omega moment, the fulfilment of all things. There is still some more work to be done on the outer areas, perhaps I will include two seraphim, and elements of creation...

Here are a few of the exploratory sketches to give you an idea of how I 'mess about' trying to discover the most satisfying way to articulate the theological ideas aesthetically.

And finally, this is where the design will go, replacing this somewhat 'heretical' image (Christ is the icon of the Father, so what is the point of trying to represent the Father?)