((new portrait)) A Narnia Portrait for Deena, evoking the Armor of God

When Deena contacted me to commission a portrait of her kids, she wanted something that evoked “the armor of God” (Ephesians 6:10-18). I loved the idea of merging a portrait that captured this tender moment in her kids’ lives with the eternal hope of strength for their future.

Instead of painting something like the dozens of diagrams explaining the Armor of God that I’ve seen in Sunday school over the years, I wanted to find a way to capture the feeling of a warrior, while retaining the whimsy of childhood.

As I was looking through Deena’s Instagram feed her three kids reminded me of the children from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Inspiration hit. C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series is the perfect execution of “warrior whimsy.” I would portray her children as warriors, and her dog in the role of Edmund with an empty box of Turkish delight at his feet, and a guilty look on his face.

The children are wearing Narnia clothing. As props, they wield handmade items that are in line with the gifts Father Christmas gave the Pevensies in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Peter has a sword (made of a stick, string, cardboard and tape); Susan has a bow (stick and string) and arrows (sticks, paper and tape), and Lucy has a healing potion (water bottle and red tape).

The portrait seemed a little empty as I was working on it, so we added a stuffed beaver by Lucy’s side to emulate Mr. and Mrs. Beaver from the story.

Here are close-ups of Deena’a portrait!

^_^ Erin