Christmas

Jennifer Bell explains the meaning of her painting.

I first had the urge to paint a large Nativity about three years ago, but didn't have the time to set aside a couple of weeks.

Recently I was asked to do something new for a big contemporary Christmas service at church, and since I'd had a good year with commissions, this was going to be the moment to do it. As a consequence I've fallen in love with the Christmas story all over again.

The painting is a triptych, about 5ft x 9ft in size, and painted on board.

The Reality (central panel)

The Shepherds and Wise Men have gone, and the baby suspects that the crown of peace will not be easy to wear.

Detail of Christ in the triptych

The traditional gifts of gold, frankincense, myrrh - and the lamb - are symbolic of power, worship and death, and prophetic of the future. The cloths hanging ready for use could be both swaddling and shroud.

The Unseen (left-hand panel)

The prophecies; the coming of the Messiah, both as a baby born of a virgin, and as a long-awaited king returning, to reconcile all things: 'the wolf will lie down with the lamb, the lion will eat straw like an ox and a little child will lead them'.

Christ's coming heals relationships, but make no mistake, Christianity is not a tame religion.

Maybe this is the Angel who announced to Mary that she was chosen to be Christ's mother, playing her song -  The Magnificent.

Maybe the donkey is thinking: 'whatever might be going on, we donkeys, marked with the cross on our back, are made for journeying with this child'.

Now? (Right-hand panel)

Bethlehem today is again under military rule, and the question must be: are the powers of the world going to offer to the Christ child their symbols of power and death?

The painting will be on display at St Giles' Church, West Bridgford from 14 December and over the Christmas period.