The Little Olive Tree
Mixed Media Oil Painting

The imagery in The Little Olive Tree is conceived as a symbolic articulation of biblical and theological themes, reflecting and expressing my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The work emerges from my daily lived Christian journey, drawing upon prayer, Scripture, and personal reflection to communicate spiritual truths through visual form.

This painting embodies insights, thoughts, and experiences shaped by my ongoing relationship with God. The symbols within the work are not merely illustrative but invitational, encouraging viewers to contemplate themes of faith, growth, perseverance, and divine presence as revealed through Scripture.

Composition

The composition is structured laterally, guiding the viewer’s eye from left to right. However, this natural reading movement is intentionally disrupted by a strong central focal point. This visual interruption invites pause and contemplation, drawing attention to the heart of the painting’s theological message. By destabilizing a predictable visual flow, the composition mirrors the way divine truth often interrupts ordinary life, calling the viewer into deeper reflection and spiritual awareness.

Scripture calls believers to continual growth in two inseparable ways: growth in grace and growth in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. To grow in grace is to live more fully in God’s unearned favor—learning dependence on Him rather than on self, and reflecting His grace in how we live and relate to others. To grow in the knowledge of Christ is not merely to accumulate information, but to deepen a personal, relational understanding of who Jesus is.

This call, articulated in 2 Peter 3:18, frames spiritual growth as ongoing rather than static, a conviction that lies at the heart of The Little Olive Tree. Just as the process of painting is often messy—an unfolding labor of testing color, negotiating form, and resolving composition—so too is the working out of faith. Both require patience, attentiveness, and a willingness to remain present within uncertainty. Each involves, in its own way, fear and trembling, as growth emerges through process rather than completion.

Materiality and Medium

The use of mixed media in The Little Olive Tree is integral to the painting’s theological meaning, not merely a formal or technical choice. By combining oil paint with additional materials, the work foregrounds materiality as a site of theological reflection, affirming a Christian understanding of creation as both physical and spiritually significant. Layered surfaces and varied textures echo the complexity of lived faith, where spiritual formation unfolds gradually through time, experience, and embodied practice.

Oil paint, with its historical association with sacred art and its capacity for depth, luminosity, and slow accretion, evokes traditions of devotional imagery and contemplative looking. The introduction of mixed media creates interruption and tactile presence, resonating symbolically with themes of incarnation, sacrifice, and transformation. These material disruptions parallel the ways divine grace enters human experience—through matter, history, and time—rendering material process itself a metaphor for spiritual growth: layered, uneven, and shaped through both intention and surrender.

I thank the Lord for his guiding presence during the process of completing my art piece. I also wish to thank my family, especially my husband for his encouragement and practical use of his skills to handcraft my canvases using good quality lightweight wood for the frame and 100% cotton for the surface

Prints of my work on cotton or photo paper are available upon request. Cost depends on size and ranges from $35+ depending on size. Shipping is extra.

Orders:
Owlandpenartstudio@gmail.com
Call: 1(403)465-2852

I am seeking local, national, and international exhibition opportunities