BOUNTIFUL — Generally, the most powerful religious art highlights the humanity of the people involved.

Well-known LDS artist Roger Loveless, the guest artist now through the end of October at the Lamplight Gallery in Bountiful, reflects the truth of this in everything from his paintings of Jesus to works focusing on family life. Both God and man are treated with the same emotion, reality, and warmth, offering up a Jesus that is more a brother than a distant religious figure.

Many of Loveless’s works, which have appeared in magazines such as the Ensign and New Era, focus on children lost in thought or enjoying moments with their family and friends. Loveless has a family tradition of painting each of his children as soon as they turn 10, and two of the resulting works are included at the Lamplight show. The works “Slumber Party” and “Daydreamin’,” highlight the clear personality differences in the two children while portraying both with equal love.

That love and personality, thankfully, is carried over into Loveless’s pictures of Jesus. His warm, kind face is portrayed in a variety of expressions, from encouragement to pensive thought to shining love. The expression in “The Approaching Storm,” is probably the most complex, a mixture of determination and sheer enjoyment of the wind and water.

In the most touching of the works, though, the viewer’s focus isn’t on Jesus. Joseph’s focus, however, is, a gentle smile on his face as he holds the infant Jesus that evening in the stable in the painting titled “In the Hands of the Father.” Mary is sleeping nearby, getting a moment of well-deserved rest, leaving Joseph to have a quiet moment alone with his new son. You can even see the slight awkwardness in his grip, a common sign from any first-time father.

He was, after all, only human.

jwardell@davisclipper.com