Icon Writing With Kids–The Annunciation

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!"
29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.
30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end."
34 And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?"
35 And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
36 And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing will be impossible."
38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38)
I really need to start drawing the outline of the icons we will write before Alex sits down with me.  He is getting bored while I draw and sometimes wanders away.  Lately, he has only painted for a short while and becomes disinterested after waiting so long.  I think he would paint longer if his icons were prepared before we sat down.  Suffice it to say he painted very little of this icon.  I was sad.  The Annunciation is one of my most favorite feasts.  I am always very moved by the life of Mary.  I think it is because she was fully human and undefiled by sin.


This is a water-color painting of the Annuciation I did for my senior project in high school.  The book was, honestly, terrible.  If only I knew then what I know now.  I had a lot of trouble finding someone to help me with the text.  I should have stuck to scripture.  How FAR I have come and how FAR I have to go.  In any case, this painting was inspired by, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.”