IT was a way for pupils to focus on Jesus’s life – and then to portray it via artwork.

Children from Hook-with-Warsash CofE Academy spent 12 weeks learning how to be creative at after-school art sessions. They tackled different painting techniques and looked at a different aspect of Jesus’s life each Tuesday afternoon.

They heard the stories of Jesus’ baptism, the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus stilling the storm, the Last Supper and Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection in the sessions. And they portrayed these stories using everything from watercolour landscapes to charcoal drawings, and from abstract paintings to realistic portraits – led by three artists from St Mary’s Church, Warsash.

Many of the paintings and drawings were then displayed within the church to inspire worshippers and visitors as part of the project – which was entitled ‘Art of Jesus’.

Among the 12 children who took part was Nancy Cooper, aged 10. She said: “I got to draw a dove when we looked at the baptism of Jesus. I also enjoyed painting a lamb when we studied the crucifixion. I knew some of the stories, but not all of them. I hadn’t heard about the Garden of Gethsemane. It was really nice to do and to see them in church.”

And Elsie Tyler, 10, said: “We did watercolours and acrylics and other things. I enjoyed painting the houses for the Mary and Martha story, and the abstract paintings. I felt very special and famous when the pictures were displayed in the church.”

Alfie Cooper, 10, enjoyed painting the still life images of the fish and bread that Jesus shared with the 5,000. He said: “One thing I learnt was that Jesus’s cousin was the one who baptised him. I felt proud that my pictures were up in church and people could see my work.”

And Frankie Webb, also 10, said: “Every week we heard one story and then did our painting based on that. One of them we had to do upside down. One of them was scratch art, so I did three crosses with multi-coloured skies to show Jesus’s crucifixion.

“I liked the pictures being in church, because you could come and look at the artwork and show people how you did it.”

When the school initially asked for volunteers, more than 70 pupils were interested in taking the 12 spaces on offer. It was the brainchild of Lesley Stevens, who was assisted by Lynn Buckle and Ian Downie from the congregation. Each 90-minute session included a snack, a story about Jesus, prayer, teaching of art techniques and putting them into practice before a closing prayer.

In each case, those leading the session brought photos to show the children the scenery behind the story – the river Jordan, the village of Nazareth, or the Garden of Gethsemane. They also answered questions about details of the Bible stories.

The sessions were funded by a grant from St Mary’s Church, which allowed the leaders to buy materials, including brushes, paints and table coverings.