Baptism and Nursery

The first pictures a child sees on a wall often stay in the memory for life. This collection was put together for those walls. Several prints show Jesus with little ones: sitting among a group of children who have come to him, with a toddler settled on his knee while a dove passes, sharing a quiet moment with two children and a lamb, and blessing a baby beside a stone font with the words “The LORD bless thee, and keep thee.”

Other paintings tell the Bible stories children ask to hear again. Noah's Ark rests under the rainbow while the animals come ashore, and a white dove flies back with an olive leaf in its beak. The Nativity shows Mary and Joseph kneeling at the manger. For the sacrament itself there is the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, with John pouring water and the dove descending, and a single dove over a quiet river in golden light. Above a crib, a winged guardian bends over a small sleeper, lettered with the promise of Psalm 91.

The colors are soft enough for a nursery and the verses are the ones parents pray. These prints are chosen for christenings, dedications and baby showers, and by godparents looking for something that will still mean something when the child can read it. They work alone above a changing table or rocking chair, or as a small gallery of two or three over a crib, and they grow up well with a child into a bedroom or a Sunday school classroom.