Into Egypt, acrylic on canvas, 40" x 30"
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Although I don't have children of my own, I often think about what it must be like to be a parent in difficult times like these, and this painting is about the choices that fathers and mothers have to make as they raise their kids.
It all started with a sketch of a mother holding her child very closely, and the baby pulling on her braid:
As I sketched, this became the Virgin Mary holding the infant Christ, with Joseph tenderly looking on.
This time, the sketch included all of the important elements that wound up in the painting, starting with the Holy Family taking an evening rest as they flee to Egypt to protect their little boy from an evil governor.
Although I began with the central image is of the mother and child, the meaning of the image changed as I sketched. The symbols began to speak to the protection of the father, Joseph, and by extension to our Father in Heaven.
They were partly inspired by one of my favorite medieval paintings of the Nativity, where we see a little gentle humor as Mary cradles her Son while Joseph labors to start a fire and cook dinner:
Conrad von Soest, Nativity, detail of the Wildunger Altar, 1403, tempera on wood, 188 x 152 cm
Humor aside, this reminds us of how God provided Jesus with an earthly father who fed and protected Him. So here we see a little row of symbolic items: the fire which Joseph has built, the food he's provided, and the sword which he carries to protect his family.
What is he protecting them from? If you look off to the right, you can see something lurking...
But we can trust that Joseph's fire and sword will protect them from the creature in the bushes. And he protects them from the cold and damp as well, by tenderly wrapping them in a blanket and setting up a tent.
If you peek at the sword in the tent corner, you might notice that it's a little bit anachronistic. It's a cross-shaped medieval sword, not a Roman one, because I liked the reference to the sacred Cross of Christ.
The triangular tent itself stands for the protection of the Holy Trinity... and there is one more symbol of God the Father as well:
Just like in my painting of Jesus calming the storm, the moon and stars symbolize for me the light of God in dark times.
Really, the message of the painting is that when the world around us becomes a frightening place, we must carry on with the understanding that the Light will someday return. We must have faith, and protect the fragile seeds of the future, so that when the good times come back, they can grow into something beautiful.
And that's what parents try to do.
If you've enjoyed this post, please buy a print to remind you of the Light in dark times, and as a symbol of what it means to be a Christian mom or dad.
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