I received the inspiration for this picture from a series that is running at my church titled, "Real People".  It focuses on what it takes to be real by analyzing the people in the Bible with a realization that they too were real people - not just characters in a story.  For the opening of our study, we began with Abraham and Sarah.

The biography of Abraham and Sarah is very interesting.  If I had to sum up all of their experiences with God into a one sentence spiritual lesson, it would be, "Believe in God's promises to you and then allow Him to unveil those promises according to His plans and time-table."  With our focus being on real people in the bible, I started to think about Mary and how she is depicted today.  It occurred to me that you almost never, if ever, see her pregnant.

Why is that?

Whenever I see pictures of her in artwork of the Nativity, she lost all of her pregnancy weight mere moments after the birth.  Talk about a joyous miracle!  In addition to the sudden weight loss, she was able to get her hair and clothing all nice for the visiting shepheds and magi.

Amazing!

After much thought on this, I opened the Bible and turned to Luke.  I focused on Luke 1:26-56.  I wanted to get to know the true Mary.  It was from these verses, I realized how similar Mary's pregnancy was to Sarah's, while at the same time being in total contrast of it.

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Both of these real women received a promise from God that was "impossible" according to the World.  Sarah was approaching 100 years old and had long passed her child bearing years while Mary was still a virgin and had not been with someone to be pregnant with.  The difference, however, is in their responses.

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When Sarah hears the promise of God, she laughs in disbelief.  However, when Mary receives the promise from God, she responds in Luke 1:38, "I am the Lord's servant.  May it be to me as you have said."  After much contemplation of Luke 1:26-56, I felt the inspiration to draw a pregnant Mary.  I was surprised at how easily this picture came to me.  I've tried drawing Mary many times in the past, and each time I was disappointed in the results.  After a couple of rough sketches to figure out a pose, I was able to capture a picture I was satisfied with.

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The original black and white is up above.

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Another source for inspiration I found for this picture came from the prayer based upon the verses I was focusing on.  It is a prayer for intercession from the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ.

 

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Hail Mary

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Hail Mary,

full of grace.

Our Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

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Holy Mary,

Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.

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Amen.

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While developing the pose for this picture, there were a few key things I wanted to convey.  The first was the face.  The face needed to capture a combination of the joy that Mary had felt, as well as the peaceful acceptance she had for the path God had given her.

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The next item I wanted to focus on was the actual pregnancy of Mary.  In my experiences, it always felt as though we have stripped Mary of her humanity and gave her some sort of spiritual amputism...cutting away all parts of herthat were human and replaced them with an image of perfection.  I hope I don't offend anyone with this, but there was only one who was perfect and he was hung on a cross for our transgressions.  Mary was human, and while she got to enjoy all of the blessings that came with her gift from God, she also got to experience all of the discomfort, bloating, and pain that goes along with it.

I really wanted to somehow capture that the whole being of God in the picture with Mary.  By whole being, I mean to say that I wanted some representation of each of the three branches that make up the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit).

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The easiest of these three to represent was Jesus...since He is represented by Mary's pregnant belly.  It also serves as a reminder of how Jesus came to us in the flesh to be our Messiah.

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The other two are represented in a more subtle way.  I use a faint glow around Mary to symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit and how it descended upon Mary (Luke 1:35).  In historical art, you will often see the use of a flame over the heads of individuals who have had the Holy Spirit come upon them.  I like the symbolism, so I have used my own version of that through the glow effect.

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The final entity I wanted to capture is the Father.  To do this, I will usually use a light source, shining through darkness, to rest upon the person I am drawing.  I try to do this to show that God's face is smiling upon that person and they have found favor with Him.

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The final piece I had to incorporate into the picture was what verse to associate with it.

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Do I place the whole "Hail Mary" prayer?  Do I just reference Luke 1:26-56?

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In trying to pick the verse, I kept coming beck to Luke 1:45.  For me, this verse summarizes everything into one line of scripture and fits with all of the different aspects I was trying to convey.

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