The Innkeeper

The Innkeeper | 48”x 60” | Oil on Panel 

"Each of us is an Innkeeper who must
  decide if there is room for Jesus".
  - Elder Neal A. Maxwell.

These words inspired this painting.
Imagine if you were the Innkeeper, perhaps feeling impressed that you should help this young couple, Joseph and Mary, that you should do something for them.

We see the turmoil the Innkeeper feels as he looks upon this lovely young mother of God. Still, with no room in his Inn, what could he do? In the end the Innkeeper did the best he could, which wasn’t much (a stable). Yet, isn't that all God asks of any of us, to do the best we can, with who and what we are, however little that may, at times, seem to us to be.

Here we see the bearded Innkeeper as the central, dominate figure. He stands in a stone doorway backlit with golden interior light. He has a turban with a white band on his head, a brown tunic with blue fabric draped over his shoulders. To our right we see the young, beautiful and very pregnant Mary upon a donkey which is mostly lost in shadow. To our left Joseph faces the Innkeeper, he too stands mostly in shadow.
 
"You should have the Art you Love."