New book, 'The Nativity' contains artwork to go along with the story of Jesus Christ's birth

"THE NATIVITY," art by J. Kirk Richards, Shadow Mountain, $24.99 (nf)

Seventeen fine art pieces by award-winning Mormon artist J. Kirk Richards are placed with scriptures found in the Gospels to tell the beautiful story of Jesus Christ's birth.

"The Nativity" has been on Richard's mind for about seven years. Once he decided to start the paintings, it took him about six weeks from start to finish. The paintings, created specifically for this book, depict the nativity in a rich palette of earth tones and deep reds, with metallic gold for an accent color.

The paintings were created by what Richards would call a "kid-like process."

"I used different textures in the paintings, such as paper towels for the shepherd's headpieces. I also used acrylic paint, gold leaf and oil paints," Richards said. "The process was kid-like in that I was finger painting with acrylic. It was a lot of fun to mix different medias."

Richards said one of the main motivations for "The Nativity" was his children.

"Every Christmas Eve I would think to myself, 'I need to create a book that revolves around Christ's birth to read to my kids.' I am so excited to have this book to read to my kids this year," Richards said.

Richards hopes that children will not only become familiar with the scriptural text found in the book, but also see the reason why Christ's birth was important.

"Most of the story tells about the nativity but then mentions how Christ grew, taught, preached and healed. It was important for me to create a book that didn't just end with Christ's birth. His story lived on for years and still lives on today," he said. "The Nativity" can be the start of a new family tradition. It is the perfect reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. This book can be found at Deseret Book.

Email: klewis@deseretnews.com