The Miracle

Grace and I grew up in the Catholic Church, surrounded by icons of Mary and baby Jesus. I absolutely love iconography — the visual representation of things unseen, the symbolism, and the honoring of subjects through the act of lovingly painting them. With these icons firmly embedded in my brain, when I had my own babies, I suddenly felt like I was living in a Renaissance painting. So when it came to designing a Christmas card, I thought, “why not use a photo of myself and my baby Levi to paint from?” As I painted this, I realized, a mother and child is one of the oldest subject matters; and while it’s often associated with Christianity, it truly is so much older. What image is more universal than a mother and baby? The next surprise came when the mother's robe became a landscape. Suddenly, the baby represented humanity, wrapped in the Earth. The third surprise was the hay behind the mother’s head. Like Mary leaning back against a hay bale, the hay swirled into a celestial halo. I hope that whatever your faith background may be — or even if it’s nonexistent — this image makes you feel held by the great mystery we all share of motherhood and creation.