It is still very much the Christmas Season in our world. The Christian Church celebrates Christmas beginning on December 25th although our current commercial culture would have you to think it begins sometime after the end of October! In the traditional liturgical Church calendar the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day are the weeks of Advent, a time of waiting, anticipation and prayer. Instead of arriving at the week celebrating Christmas exhausted and broke, Christians should be refreshed by prayer and truly grateful for the arrival of Christ the King.
I am also showing here some of my research and inspiration for the artwork. I found these traditional icons of Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus and used them to create a watercolor. I wanted to avoid it looking like a typical commercial Christmas card. I don't know if that can be or was achieved here. I also did not want the people to look like white Americans.
My goal in the watercolor painting was to keep it loose and bright. I go for this by leaving lots of white paper showing with a light hand and pigment.
