Santa’s shy helper.

Santa’s shy helper was first published in 2016, and then again in 2017.  It is a mixed media portrait using watercolour, ink, and coloured pencils.

“Santa Claus is anyone who loves another and seeks to make them happy; who gives himself by thought or word or deed in every gift that he bestows; who shares his joys with those who are sad; whose hand is never closed against the needy; whose arm is ever outstretched to aid the weak; whose sympathy is quick and genuine in time of trouble; who recognizes a comrade and brother in every man he meets upon life’s common road; who lives his life throughout the entire year in the Christmas spirit.” Edwin Osgood Grover, attributed, The Book of Santa Claus.

(Santa’s little helper, mixed media on 140lb watercolour, 6 x 9 BeePaper)

My painting is based on a photo I saved last year from a friend’s post on Facebook. I hope she will be pleasantly surprised to see her grandson among my Christmas themed paintings.

There is something charming about this red-cheeked fellow and the Santa beard he is wearing. Notice the beard doesn’t fit him at all. You can see the opening for Santa’s mouth way below the little face.

It’s the shy smile and the beautiful eyes that I am especially drawn to each time I look at the photo. I think I have captured “the look” in my painting.

Children have the tender, sensitive, loving qualities mentioned in the quotation by Edwin Grover. They have an innocence that has not been replaced yet by the cynicism that becomes part of adulthood.

It is up to us to find that tender side within each of us and to keep it alive all through the year.