An Ark of Bulrushes

Exodus 2:3Nursery

$24.00

By the third trimester you have folded everything twice and you still lie awake listening. Then he comes home, and at three in the morning it is you, the chair, and the small sound of him feeding. On the wall beside the dresser there is a river at first light, reeds leaning, a woven basket held among them, and nothing in it is in a hurry. It gives your eyes somewhere quiet to rest until he is done. Friends see a painting of a river first. Then they find the little basket, and they ask.

1. Select your Finish: Print only

170 gsm archival matte paper, ships rolled

Print only

Perfect for self-framing

Framed+ $35.00

2. Select your Size:

12x16 in / 30x40 cm18x24 in / 45x60 cmMost popular+ $10.0024x32 in / 60x80 cm+ $20.00

Quantity1

Fast shipping
Tracked to your door
30-day returns
Money-back guarantee
Secure payment
Encrypted checkout

Nursery christian wall art

A river at first light, before anyone is awake

From the feeding chair the whole picture is water. The light comes in low and flat, the kind that has not decided to be day yet, and the reeds stand still enough that you can see where each one meets its own reflection.

Low in the flags, near the left edge, there is a small woven basket. Someone set it there. Someone is still watching it. You can look at it for a long time without it asking anything of you, something to rest on in the middle of the night, which is most of what you wanted from this room.

People read it differently. One sees a basket left in the reeds and someone keeping watch over it. One sees only a river before anyone is awake and calls it the calmest thing in the house. One sees a mother's hands letting go of what she made and covered, and goes quiet for a second. In this house all three are true, and the room is better for holding them.

From the artist

The moment before the current takes it

Maren Hale

Arrivals and still places

I keep going back to the light. It crosses the water before it touches anything else, low and unhurried, and it finds the reeds first, then the small pale shape held among them. The basket is not moving yet. That is the part I cannot leave alone, the moment before the current takes it, when it is still close enough to reach.

Someone is watching from outside the edge of the picture, and she stays there. The river holds its breath. What I hope is that in the long middle of the night, when you are the only one awake in the house, this is the corner of the room where your eyes can put something down and stay a while.

Nursery scripture print gift

The wall she stares at all night

One woman buys it for herself, week thirty four, dresser assembled and the room still smelling of paint. Somebody told her that decorating the nursery is for her too, and she believed it. She waited a long time and prayed a lot of tearful prayers for this room.

One woman buys it for her sister, three weeks into a newborn stretch that is going badly. No casserole, no advice. Something for the wall her sister is awake in front of every night, and something easy to move to his next room when he transitions out of here.

It hangs beside the dresser and the feeding chair rather than over the cot, the 45x60 cm framed, often as the left panel of a three print wall.

Choose a size

Nursery bible verse wall art

What arrives

170 gsm paper Matte uncoated in the unframed sheet, coated silk behind the plexiglass in the framed one.
12 mm black wood frame Flat square profile, 22 mm deep, matte finish, plexiglass front, no mat, the print running to the inner edge.
Three sizes 30x40, 45x60 and 60x80 cm. The 45x60 sits at seated eye level beside a dresser.
Giclee print Printed to the edges of the sheet, so the water keeps going right to the border.

Exodus 2 questions

What people ask about the basket

1.What is the story of Moses in the basket?

In Exodus 2 his mother hides him for three months, then makes an ark of bulrushes, covers it, and lays it among the flags by the river's brink. His sister stands at a distance to see what will become of him. The picture stays at that moment, the basket in the reeds and the water still, and leaves the rest of it to you.

2.What art should I hang in a nursery if not above the crib?

Many parents keep the wall over the cot bare and put the art where the grown ups actually look, which is the feeding chair and the dresser. This one was made for that wall. At seated eye level beside the chair, it is the thing in view for the whole feed.

3.What colors are calming for a baby room?

Warm and low in contrast settles a room more than bright primaries do. This is river water at first light: soft ochre in the reeds, muted green, a pale sky, nothing that glares back when the lamp is the only light on. It sits easily beside wood, cream and undyed linen.

4.Is this a good gift for a new mom?

It is often chosen by a sister for someone in a hard newborn stretch. It is not another thing to find space for, it goes straight onto the wall she is awake in front of. If you write a card, plain words work best: the basket was made by hand, covered, and then watched over.

Christian wall art nursery