Figurative Fridays: Seeing An Old Scene In A New Way

There are certain scenes that artists have painted over and over through the years. Whatever the reason, that means many of the finest artists have painted those scenes. It can be intimidating to tackle a painting that was painted by the masters of bygone days. But if you're drawn to paint one of these scenes, you shouldn't avoid it. Painting is a very personal and intimate activity. Nobody will paint it just like you will.

Perhaps because I am a father of young children, I feel a great empathy when a family welcomes a new child. I still have strong memories of my own feelings when each of my children were born. Therefore, I wanted to explore that moment from the life of Christ.

Let Us Adore Him
16" x 16"
Oil on Board

When I painted the Holy Family painting "Let us Adore Him" I was a bit baffled on how to portray them. I initially thought about painting an elaborate manger scene with all kinds of livestock. But the more I thought about it the more I felt it should be about the little family itself. Accordingly, I took a much more simple approach by focusing on just the Christ child, Joseph, and Mary. The fun part of that simplification was I was able to create a very tight and clean composition and consequently a very intimate focus on the relationship.

You'll notice I worked very hard to create a circle from Joseph's face down to Mary then to her hand holding Christ's little hand then back up to Joseph through his arm. There is also a secondary circle created by Joseph's robe and left hand following around with the light on the cloth under Jesus. I wanted it to bring to mind the familial relationship between Husband and Wife and Child.

As a side note, in response to requests for Christmas cards of this piece, as of today we have them available on our online store: http://richardrussellart.com/store. They are  4.25" x 5.5," folded, and have the words "Let us adore Him" printed on the inside. They are available in bundles of 10, 20, 25 or 50. Free shipping and envelopes included. Please come and preorder now as we are doing a limited print run and will be shipping out orders by November 1st.