The month of August, in my mind, is full of long, sunny days – the culmination of summer. And the image for this month’s painting gives me that feeling. This was a commissioned piece for a special friend of mine and I’m happy I can tell you the story behind it.
“Daily Grace” was a piece that I completed in October 2020. My friend had moved to the Okanagan not too long before and had this lovely photo of their farm. She was captivated by the sky and landscape in this image and asked if I could paint it for her.
I generally don’t enjoy painting buildings or animals, but because they were minor features, I agreed to it. The horse took me too many tries to count and reaffirmed my decision to focus on skies! At one point, bemoaned to Tim that I thought it looked more like a cow. It’s still not my favourite part of the piece, but I did the best I could.
I titled this painting, “Daily Grace,” because that’s what I see when I look at this image. Grace shining down on the daily-ness of life, always being enough for each day. My hope is that whenever my friend sees this painting, she would be reminded of these moments of grace amidst the ordinary. After my friend received the painting, she sent me a photo showing me that she’d hung it right by their doorway so that she would be reminded of grace every day.
If you’re thinking to yourself, “Didn’t Olive’s painting last month have ‘Grace’ in its title too?” You would be correct. It’s because I feel like I need grace and reminders of grace more than anyone. And I both long for and love finding the grace in each day.
I paired this month’s painting with the blessing from Numbers 6:25 which says, “The LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.” I love these words because they invite me to remember the feeling of closing my eyes and turning my face toward the sun, allowing the warmth and brilliance of God’s presence to cover me. And I pray that blessing over each person who might see my calendar this month.
Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: Which areas of your life do you notice the “sunbeams” of Grace illuminating? Which areas of your life feel like they’re in the shadows? If you were to describe your current spiritual state as one of the animals in the painting, where would you be: in the enclosed pasture, in the covered shelter, on the far side of the river, or elsewhere?
If you enjoyed this post and want to read about the stories behind all the paintings in this year’s calendar, remember to sign up so future posts get delivered to your email! I am aiming to post them the second Friday of each month. (You might need to check your promotions or junk folders if you don’t see it.)
As always, I love to hear from you! If something in this story resonated with you, if you’re interested in commissioning a painting, or if you have other thoughts, feel free to email, or connect with me on Facebook or Instagram. Thanks for being part of my journey and for letting me be a part of yours!