'a mother's love' 
samuel nicholls
st thomas aquinas catholic primary school, bowral
year 6

My artwork is inspired by the reading “The Birth of Christ” (Matthew 1:18-25) because this was the first appearance of Jesus. Mary showed faith in God by agreeing to be the mother of Jesus, despite the fact that she was probably feeling scared and worried about not being able to succeed in what God had asked of her, through the Angel Gabriel, in The Annunciation Story.

I created my artwork using pencils to sketch Mary holding baby Jesus. This allowed me to shade the various textures of the bodies. I also used warm water colours to create the background which was in contrast to the blue used for Mary’s veil. I used gold acrylic paint to create a shiny halo for Mary and silver cardboard as an inner border around the halo, to emphasise this. Black posca pen was used for the Hebrew inscription which reads “A Mother’s Love.” The techniques I used were shading and blending to create shadows and a feeling of softness towards Mary and Jesus.

My personal connection to my Christmas Story Artwork is the love that Mary had for Jesus because this reminds me of my mother’s love for me. My Mum listens to me when I need her and encourages me to make decisions by helping me to feel secure, safe and reassured.

View more of our Christmas Story Art Exhibition 2023 artworks by clicking on our young artists' names in the teal panel. Alternatively, click through our artworks below.

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