Lauren Johnson won first place in the LPL Financials Art Show at Covington Christian School on Thursday.

The theme for this year’s art show was “Praise God For ….”

“I praise God for Jesus,” Johnson said of her painting of the face of Jesus outlined with small photographs of people of all ages and from all walks of life. “I saw a painting at the Johnson Center for the Arts of Abraham Lincoln and that’s the way that his face was done. So, that’s why I wanted to do my painting like that.”

Courtney Cox was took second place honors in the art show.

“I ‘Praise God for Flowers,’” Cox said. “You can look around and see flowers almost everywhere. Flowers are all kinds of beautiful colors. My favorite is the sunflower. My painting has a splash of colors like the colors of flowers.”

The third place winner in the LPL Financials Art Show was Jessica Knighten who praises God for chiffon.

Knighten smiled as she explained her thoughts.

“I really like clothes and chiffon is my favorite material,” she said. “It comes in all colors and it’s glitzy and girly.”

Knighten’s painting could have been the pattern on a piece of material. It was bold and colorful and seemingly designed for chiffon.

Three winners, three different “praises” and three very different pieces of artwork. That pleased Jerry Carden of LPL Financials.

“I’ve always liked children’s art,” Carden said. “Sometimes they don’t get the encouragement that they need and they get bored and give up on art. But children are very creative and their artwork is colorful, interesting and fun. We want to encourage them so they will continue to be interested in art.”

The three winning pieces of art were framed and personalized with the student’s name and date.

“It’s nice for the students to see their artwork framed,” Carden said. “The other entries are mounted on foam board. Each year, we hang the artwork from the show in our office and it hangs until it’s replaced by the next year’s show entries.”

Jill Johnson, Covington Christian art teacher, said the students did an outstanding job with their paintings, which were a little more abstract than in years past.

This year’s theme seemed to take the students in that direction, she said.

“In the past, one theme was Genesis 1:1 and another year it was from Psalm 119, ‘Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.’ It’s always interesting to see what the students will create. And, we appreciate the support of LPL Financials and Jerry Carden for their support of the art program at Covington Christian.”