Ah September… here we are in the last third of the year. With the kids returning to school, September always feels to me like a second January – the beginning of another year but measured differently. The story behind the painting this month is for these days where life ramps up and the weather cools down. Hope it encourages you.

“Another Day of Grace” was not the first painting I did based on this reference photo. It also wasn’t the second. In 2021, while on vacation, I did a small, 6″x6″ piece called “The Vastness of Grace.” I had wanted to capture a moment of sunset chasing with my family on Vancouver Island. That piece became part of my first group exhibition. Later that summer, I did a huge version during my Sabbatical. This second one was “Irresistible Grace,” which hangs in our dining room now.

The piece for this month’s calendar, “Another Day of Grace,” was created for the Square Foot Show in 2025. Seeing how so many people responded positively to my previous two paintings, I thought I would create a mid-sized one. It was the first of my paintings to sell during the show, going to a new collector in Grand Prairie, Alberta.

The title, “Another Day of Grace,” is tied to the first two paintings of the same scene but is unique to this painting. I wanted to express how grace can be given and re-given, like waves that come to shore again and again. Grace itself can be a common thread, but each expression of it varies by the day; just like my paintings were all inspired by one photo, but each piece was unique.

I chose this piece for September because I know that at least for me, this month comes with a bit of anxiety as school begins and life returns to more of the structured daily rhythms. Part of me wants to hold onto the relaxed days of summer. Because I also struggle with the weather shifting toward fall, I need extra reminders of grace.

My hope for you is that as you go through this month, you would notice the grace in each day – how it weaves through your life and presents itself in new ways.

For those with the Scripture calendar:
I paired this month’s painting with 2 Corinthians 12:9 which says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” This is a familiar verse for many of us but its message is always reassuring. We have all the grace we need and our shortcomings are part of that experience of grace. I hope, whatever you may face this month, that you would be encouraged knowing that God’s grace is enough.

Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: This painting has three main elements – the trees, the water, and the light. Each of these are expressions of grace. Which one would you say speaks to you the most? How else do you notice grace in your life?

If you enjoyed this post and want to read a monthly art story, remember to sign up so future posts get delivered to your email! On the first day of each month, I will be sharing the story behind that month’s painting in my 2026 art calendar and it would be my joy to journey with you throughout this year. My subscribers also get occasional perks like exclusive previews and discounts. (Add me to your contacts list or you might need to check your promotions or junk folders if you don’t see the email.)

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!

The post Every Painting Has a Story: September 2026 – “Another Day of Grace” appeared first on Olive Chan Art.

Hello friends, it’s June! Are you thinking, “How is it halfway through the year already?” or, “How has it only been half a year?” For me, it’s more of the second statement. The last three months have been rough and I’m really glad for the comfort of this month’s painting. I hope by the time you finish reading this story, you’ll feel the same as well!

“Remember to Breathe” was created as part of my “Keep Glowing” collection last year. Based on a stunning sunset from our first vacation as a family of four, it depicts the view from our rental place on Pender Island (one of the smaller islands close to Vancouver).

Whenever I see a beautiful sky, I can’t help but stop what I’m doing and be present. My breathing slows down and I let awe and delight wash over me. Author Ethan Kross, in his book, Chatter: The Voice in Our Heads and Why it Matters, observes, “When you’re in the presence of something vast and indescribable, it’s hard to maintain the view that you and the voice in your head are the center of the world.” This quote reminds me of why I do what I do – I want to offer portals into awe-filled spaces so that we can remember we are part of something larger.

After I released this painting, one of my collectors reached out to me. They wanted to buy this painting for a friend who was going through a difficult life transition. It was such a honour to know that this piece was going to a home where it could bring some solace and peace.

I titled this piece, “Remember to Breathe,” because I personally need the reminder to pay attention to my body and her basic needs. Breathing is mostly unconscious, but when we are mindful about inhaling and exhaling, it does wonders for our nervous systems and grounds us. I hope that this title invites you, as the viewer, to slow down and attend to your body as well.

June in our household is a relatively busy month with the end of the school year and finishing up projects before the summer. It felt appropriate to choose this piece for this month, especially since it’s an invitation to pause our busyness, to look up, and to remember to breathe.

For those with the Scripture calendar:
I paired this month’s painting with the verse from Job 33:4, which reads, “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Each breath we have is a gift and a reminder of the presence of God within us. I hope we can be encouraged by this thought and that breathing itself can become a prayer of gratitude.

Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: Take a moment and notice how you are currently breathing – is your chest or shoulder area tight? On your next breath, notice what happens if you let the air sink deeper into your belly. What happens if you allow the breath deeper still into your pelvis? Or down into your legs and feet? Now look at the painting and take a few breaths. How do you feel now? What emotions or thoughts come up for you?

If you enjoyed this post and want to read a monthly art story, remember to sign up so future posts get delivered to your email! On the first day of each month, I will be sharing the story behind that month’s painting in my 2026 art calendar and it would be my joy to journey with you throughout this year. My subscribers also get occasional perks like exclusive previews and discounts. (Add me to your contacts list or you might need to check your promotions or junk folders if you don’t see the email.)

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!

The post Every Painting Has a Story: June 2026 – “Remember to Breathe” appeared first on Olive Chan Art.

Hello my friends, I don’t know about you, but world news feels harsh right now and I need some softness. Thankfully, the painting for this month is just that. I look forward to sharing its story with you.

“Let Gentleness Enfold You” was painted for my exhibition, “Have You Looked Up Lately?” which was held last August to November at Bevees, a shop that’s 4 minutes from our house. I was introduced to the owner of the shop, Racquel, by a mutual acquaintance who knew that Raquel was looking for local art to highlight on her walls. It was a lovely space with a store selling all alcohol-free drinks on one side and a sitting area and bar on the other. They were just putting in a new coffee bar as well and it felt like a perfect way to both support a local business and give myself a reason to complete a collection of paintings.

For many years, I had wanted to do a series of paintings that were just clouds. But because I mostly painted commissions (and the majority of my clients did not ask for only clouds), the idea remained a dream. Then, this opportunity at Bevees came up with a 20-something foot wall to fill. I had already completed a 5-foot cloud painting so I reasoned that it wouldn’t be too hard to do a couple more to go with it. It would also be a great way to use the blank canvases sitting around at home.

I looked through my folder of cloud and sky photos and found some that complemented each other while also showing variety. (The other two paintings are featured in my 2026 calendar in the months of May and November and I will tell their stories then!) I chose this one for its softness. The pastel colours and gentle light felt inviting and calming.

Painting this was so much fun. On a 24″x36″ canvas, I had lots of space to play with subtle shifts in colour and to explore the layers of shapes. The result was a floof that I could imagine myself falling into and being surrounded by softness. I titled it, “Let Gentleness Enfold You,” as an invitation to the viewer to do just that.

I chose this painting for the month of February because I associate this month with love (thanks, Hallmark, and St. Valentine!) and the soft and gentle nature of these clouds speak to me of how love can and should be. I could not foresee how our world would so desperately need gentleness at this time, but I’m grateful this piece can remind us of its presence now.

I hope that as we spend this short month with this painting, it would offer you many moments of gentleness and remind you that you are always held by love.

For those with the Scripture calendar:
I paired this month’s painting with one of my favourite verses. It’s from Zephaniah 3:17, which reads, “[God] will quiet you by his love.” The full verse (ESV) is this:
“The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Other translations express it as “God will rest in his love”, or that “God will calm all your fears with his love.” It always lifts and amazes me to think of God being so delighted over us and holding us in love.

Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: If you could nestle into this cloud, which part of it would you choose? Take a moment to imagine yourself surrounded by gentle softness; how does it feel? What parts of you need that rest? What are some ways you can carry that sense of being held within you as you go about your days?

If you enjoyed this post and want to read a monthly art story, remember to sign up so future posts get delivered to your email! On the first day of each month, I will be sharing the story behind that month’s painting in my 2026 art calendar and it would be my joy to journey with you throughout this year. My subscribers also get occasional perks like exclusive previews and discounts. (Add me to your contacts list or you might need to check your promotions or junk folders if you don’t see the email.)

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!

The post Every Painting Has a Story: February 2026 – “Let Gentleness Enfold You” appeared first on Olive Chan Art.

June in our family marks the end of another school year and with it, a whole parade of events. The piece for this month is intentionally calming because I know that I, at the very least, need that visual calm! I’m happy to be sharing this story with you and I hope you enjoy it. Since it’s a busy month for me, this will be short and sweet.

“Luminescent Spirit” was a commission from a lovely person who had followed my writing for a long time. (Fun fact: Tim and I quit our jobs and blogged/wrote books for a year before starting our marketing company – which was my work before going into art. My client had been a reader from those early days!)

For a while, my client had wanted a piece for their home but life circumstances prevented it. Now that life was more settled, she reached out to me for a custom piece.

Typically, when someone approaches me for a commission, I book an initial phone call with them to get a better sense of what they’re looking for. This was no exception. As we talked, my client told me how her favourite skies were gentle pink clouds. After the call, she sent me some photos of skies that she liked. We also explored what locations felt meaningful to her. In the end, she decided on the view from the lakeside in Muskoka where she had taken a retreat and where she had an experience of connecting with God. She gave me artistic freedom in terms of the lighting in this piece, which was really fun for me.

For her piece, I combined the physical elements of her lakeside photo with a soft pink sky that she liked. I added a slight glow behind the landform to add interest and depth.

I titled it, “Luminescent Spirit,” in reference to the glow of the painting but also as a reminder of the Light within her. I hope this painting brings her back to her time at the lake and that it offers her a space to remember that she is deeply loved.

For those with the Scripture calendar:
For this month, I paired the painting with Matthew 5:14 (The Message translation) which reads, “You are here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.” Just as colours become more vibrant in the sunlight, I love how this verse applies the analogy to us. We are invited to point people’s attention to God’s presence and activity in our world.

Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: What emotion(s) surface when you spend time looking at this piece? Notice how the light brings out the beautiful colours in the clouds, in what way(s) are you being invited to bring out the “colours” in the people and world around you? Who in your life brings out the unique and beautiful parts of you?

If you enjoyed this post and want to read a monthly art story, remember to sign up so future posts get delivered to your email! Throughout 2025, we will be hearing the stories behind each month’s painting in my art calendar. My subscribers also get occasional perks like exclusive previews and discounts. (Add me to your contacts list or you might need to check your promotions or junk folders if you don’t see the email.)

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.

The post Every Painting Has a Story: June 2025 – “Luminescent Spirit” appeared first on Olive Chan Art.

Hello friends, we have made it to the end of another calendar year! Despite the frenetic pace that December tends to bring, I find that it also invites us to reflect on the past year. We look back and see all the good that has happened, as well as the difficult or stressful.

To close off this year of stories about my life through art, I wanted to share with you a piece I drew in 2018. There are actually in existence two of the same drawings. The first was a gift for my spiritual director. (If you’re unfamiliar with spiritual direction, it’s a Christian practice of companionship where one person “directs” the other’s attention to where the divine might be at work in their lives. Similar to counselling but with an emphasis on journeying together rather than trying to address any issues.) My spiritual director has accompanied me through adjusting to life in BC, new marriage, burnout, depression, the births of both of my children, and the start of all our businesses. I originally created this drawing for her birthday as a visual expression of how I experience her prayers for me. She is one of the key people who have held me when I was struggling the most.

The second drawing currently hangs in the foyer at our church, the Tapestry Mundy Park. Our pastor loved my first drawing when I showed it to him and asked me if I could create another one for our church. I appreciate that our faith community celebrates the arts and I was honoured to hang this one up for anyone passing by to reflect on.

To create this piece, I used pencil crayon on black paper. I looked up a couple reference images online to make sure I got the hands and bird correct. Hands are notoriously difficult to draw and I was quite pleased with how these turned out.

The drawing is inspired by a poem I read:

“She prayed as she breathed,
forming no words and making no specific requests,
only holding in her heart like broken birds in cupped hands,
all those people who were in stress or grief.”
– Ellis Peters, adapted

For me personally, this image grounds and calms me and brings me comfort. If I imagine myself as the bird, I feel safe and secure. And when I think of holding all the heartache that swirls within me like that broken bird, I feel compassion and relief that I don’t have to articulate it all into words in order to pray.

As we end off the year, I wanted to bless you with this image. Whatever you have experienced this year, however your heart is, may you know that you are held, like a little bird gently cupped in loving hands – by Divine Love and in my heart.

Thanks for journeying with me this year. See you in the new year, friends!

Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: What in your life does the bird represent? What or who do the hands represent? How can you hold this past year gently like these hands hold the bird?

If you enjoyed this post and want to read a monthly art story, remember to sign up so future posts get delivered to your email! Next year, we will be hearing the stories behind each month’s painting in my art calendar. I will be posting them the first day of each month beginning in January 2025. (Add me to your contacts list or you might need to check your promotions or junk folders if you don’t see the email.)

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.

The post Every Painting Has a Story: December 2024 – “How I Pray These Days” appeared first on Olive Chan Art.

Hello friends, here we are in November! It’s amazing to think that there are only two months of 2024 left. This month’s story happened around this time four years ago and is about the power of beauty to bring light in dark times. I hope it encourages you!

Way back at the beginning of 2020, when “pandemic” was only the name of a board game to me, I decided to try making a career of my art (I write more about it here). Very quickly, I encountered the dilemma of what to do with leftover paint after a day’s work. Since I use acrylic paints, once they dry, they basically harden into plastic and I can’t use them anymore. Some artists use a special type of palette that has a cover to keep their paints workable for longer. But because I don’t usually have much paint left over, it didn’t seem worth it to try to keep those bits.

Still, I didn’t like wasting paint.

So I took scraps of paper and got some mini 2-inch canvases and started painting very small scenes to use up my paint. It was great – the paintings were cute and I was starting to amass a growing collection of them. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them, but I kept making them.

Then the world shifted seemingly overnight and we entered a season of sheltering in place, Zoom everything, and trying our best to cope with all the changes and information coming at us. In October that year, I found myself feeling unwell and needing to get tested for Covid. This was well before home testing kits were available so I looked up the nearest clinic to me. After I booked my appointment, I learned that the clinic would be closing due to burned out staff. That clinic had converted into a testing site while the local health authority was setting theirs up and now their staff were too exhausted to continue. I would be one of the last patients there.

Suddenly, I knew what all those tiny paintings were for. I would bring them to the clinic with me and give them to the staff as small gifts of appreciation. These folks needed to know they were appreciated.

When I got home that day, I still had some paintings left over, so I posted them on my social media and asked if anyone wanted to nominate someone to receive one. It could be front-line workers or anyone who was lonely in isolation. In a time when we weren’t allowed to be close to anyone outside our “bubbles,” these would be “art hugs.”

The idea was really well received and I thought that maybe other artists would want to do this too. I posted another batch of tiny paintings and put out an open invitation for others to join. I called it “Little Arts of Kindness” – playing off of random acts of kindness – and I made it into a hashtag so that people could search the term and see who else was participating. I contacted the local newspaper and amazingly, they published a piece about it. (Read more details about the #littleartsofkindness movement here.)

Ultimately, artists from around BC, Alberta, Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia committed to participate and it went as far as Michigan and California in the United States. In a time when we all felt helpless, this was one tangible way for people to reach out and connect – to offer some light.

For me personally, it was satisfying to know that I did something with what I had to make a difference in the world. I sent out probably 20-25 little arts and was commissioned to create a set of another 25 for some teachers. I only heard back directly from one recipient and I saw one other person post about it publicly on Facebook, saying that it really touched them to know that someone out there cared, especially after navigating a harrowing outbreak at their hospital. The rest of them, I can only hope that they were encouraged.

These little arts became the inspiration for my 40th birthday project where I painted 40 small paintings for people who had played a significant role in my life. And eventually, it spun into the 100 Tiny Expanses, which I painted for my first solo exhibition in April 2023.

I still paint tiny pieces with scraps and leftover paint these days. And I still give them out as small reminders to “Keep looking up.” Only it’s less systematic and just whenever I feel like it.

Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: Who in your life could use a little encouragement today? What can you do to reach out? What “scraps” in your life (time, materials, resources) could be repurposed to share love in the world?

If you enjoyed this post and want to read a monthly art story, remember to sign up so future posts get delivered to your email! I usually post them the second Friday of each month – this will be changing in January 2025 when I will post on the first day of each month. (Add me to your contacts list or you might need to check your promotions or junk folders if you don’t see the email.)

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.

The post Every Painting Has a Story: November 2024 – “#LittleArtsofKindness” appeared first on Olive Chan Art.

Well friends, here we are in September. In our part of the world, summer has wrapped up, the kids are back at school, and the weather is turning cooler. This month, I will be sharing the story behind a painting that holds meaning for me because of the season of personal growth it represents. I hope you enjoy the read!

For many years, Tim and I have held the practice of choosing a word at the beginning of the new year; a word to ground us, guide us, and orient us. Instead of New Year’s resolutions, we have found that choosing a theme word is a gentler, more practical way to focus our attention and energy throughout the year. (You can read about our year of “Enough” in this blog post as an example.) In 2022, I chose the word, “Release.”

At that time, I was struggling with some health issues and learning about how our bodies store trauma. I knew that my body was tense and that the tension was contributing to my pain. “Release” was what I longed for. So I adopted it as my word for the year.

I painted this piece to remind me of my word, with the iconic red balloon floating away as an image to encourage me let go physically and metaphorically. That year, I enlisted the help of a counsellor trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to walk me through several traumatic memories. I no longer wanted to hold onto them. I also made a conscious effort to remember to pause throughout the day to take a slow, deep breath and relax the muscles throughout my body.

For most of my life, I have lived with anxiety and it not only affected me mentally, but physically as well. That year of “Release” was an important one as I learned to let go. It was a significant step in my healing and wholeness. Even though it’s been two years since then, I still tend toward worry and overthinking so I have left this painting up by my bedside to remind me to exhale and release my grip on things.

As we enter the Fall season, I don’t know what concerns might be weighing you down, but I hope this painting and my story can serve as an invitation for you to release those cares and rest for a bit, if even for a moment.

Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: What might the red balloon represent in your life right now? How tightly are you holding onto your “balloon”? What emotions surface when you see the red balloon floating away in the painting?

If you enjoyed this post and want to read a monthly art story, remember to sign up so future posts get delivered to your email! I usually post them the second Friday of each month. (Add me to your contacts list or you might need to check your promotions or junk folders if you don’t see the email.)

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.

The post Every Painting Has a Story: September 2024 – “Release” appeared first on Olive Chan Art.

Hello friends, here we are in August. This month, I want to share with you a piece that is deeply personal to me and centers on some spiritual themes. I should also let you know that it touches on the topic of grief. I understand if you need to skip this one, but for those of you who stay to read it all, thank you for hearing my story. I am deeply honoured.

In March 2019, I attended a retreat at Carmel Hill, Little Flower Monastery. It was my first time participating in a three-day silent retreat as well as being at a Catholic monastery. My spiritual director (aka, friend and companion who month after month directs my attention to where God is present in my life) was part of leading the retreat and it wasn’t too far to get to, so I decided to try it out. I had invited some friends to join me and it was comforting to have their presence even though we spent most of the time in solitude and silence.

In the monastery, at the front of the chapel, was a box with a sculptural cover featuring five loaves and two fishes, along with five stalks of wheat. I later learned that this box was called an aumbry and that it contained specially reserved communion elements. During my time there, I kept coming back to the chapel and gazing at the box. The roughness of the cover and simplicity of the iconography touched me. It symbolized the sacred elements contained inside the box while representing the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 with a modest meal.

On a personal level, at the beginning of 2019, I had chosen the word Enough to focus on throughout the year. Sitting in that chapel and soaking in this unknown artist’s work, the word Enough resonated even deeper. This image and the story it recalled kept affirming to me that God could make what little I had enough. Unbeknownst to me, a week later, I would be by my dad’s deathbed and that word and image would sustain me through some of the hardest moments for the year ahead.

For over a year, I wanted to create my own rendition of that sculptural image. Then, in 2020, for my birthday, that’s what I did. I took a thrift store print that I never really liked and painted over top of it a version of this image for my room. It hangs by my bed as a visual reminder of God’s providence, not only in that really difficult year after my dad’s death (and subsequent pandemic), but also in my present life.

One of my deepest fears is that I don’t have or do enough; or that I am not enough. As an artist in this economy, I’m often visited by doubts of whether I’m good enough, if I’m hustling enough, or if I will be able to sell enough to provide for my family. The thoughts of “not enough”ness are pervasive. And perhaps they are exacerbated by our consumerist culture that benefits from our insecurities. But if I look at the message of Jesus and the life he lived, it tells me a different story: I am enough, there is enough, and God makes it enough. Always.

Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: What jumps out at you about this image? What is your heart’s response to the words, “You are enough”‘? In what areas of your life do you fear not enough-ness? How can you step into the truth that with God, it’s always enough?

If you enjoyed this post and want to read a monthly art story, remember to sign up so future posts get delivered to your email! I usually post them the second Friday of each month. (Add me to your contacts list or you might need to check your promotions or junk folders if you don’t see the email.)

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.

The post Every Painting Has a Story: August 2024 – “Enough” appeared first on Olive Chan Art.

Hello friends, somehow we have made it halfway through the year! June is a relatively busy month in our household with school winding up and end-of-term activities happening. This month’s story is an invitation for us to pause and rest. I hope it meets you in your days, whatever they look like. [Note: I don’t typically talk much about my faith here, but this story is about part of my journey as a Christian.]

Fifteen years ago, I was newly married, freshly relocated to BC, and in the midst of burnout recovery. I had enrolled in a program called the Center for Spiritual Formation through Carey Theological College, a local theological school. I desperately hoped that spending a couple years tending to my spirit would help me find some solid footing.

One of the first exercises they asked us to do was to learn something called Centering Prayer. I had grown up knowing that prayer was talking to God. But this was the first time I was introduced to the idea that prayer could also include simply being with God – without telling or asking for anything. In Centering Prayer, we were invited to choose a phrase or an image to help “center” us; something we could return our attention to when other thoughts swirled about.

In one of my prayer times, I chose the verse from Psalm 46:10 to help me center. The verse said, “Be still and know that I am God.” As I held onto these words, the image of a rock in a stream came to mind. “Be still like this rock,” came the invitation. “Allow the water of My love wash over and surround you. Allow Me to do the moving. Let Me shape you. All you need to do is be.” I was so used to being active like the water, it was really a challenge to be still like the rock.

I loved that image so much that I decided to make a painting of it. (I looked up a photo online to work off of. Unfortunately, I don’t know who the original photographer was so I can’t credit them). I wanted a visual reminder to still myself and let God love me. My whole life I had been busy – both in my outer world and inside my brain – I wanted to learn how to be still. And this rock was a visual teacher to me.

I hung this painting in our bedroom next to our bed. It is one of the first things I see in the morning and one of the last things I see at night. I don’t practice Centering Prayer much these days but the painting reminds me of that season in my life when my faith was shaped in profound ways. It also continues to remind me that the invitation to stillness is always there.

Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: Spend some time with this image of a rock in the stream. Which do you identify more with – the rock, or the water? Which parts of you are you being invited into stillness? If you live close to an actual stream with rocks in it, go out for a walk and sit for a while. Notice what you observe.

If you enjoyed this post and want to read a monthly art story, remember to sign up so future posts get delivered to your email! I usually post them the second Friday of each month. (Add me to your contacts list or you might need to check your promotions or junk folders if you don’t see the email.)

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

The post Every Painting Has a Story: June 2024 – “Stillness” appeared first on Olive Chan Art.

Hello friends, as I write this, the first leaves are falling from our neighbour’s walnut tree, temperatures are cooling and the kids are back to school. Welcome to September. Pour yourself a cup of something yummy and join me in this month’s story!

“Still Waters” was created to be part of the Healing Gardens Exhibit in the spring of 2022. One of my friends had invited me to participate in it and I was excited for my first group show. My friend also happened to send me some beautiful photos so I decided to paint one of her photos for the show.

I had a 12″x12″ canvas on hand because the year before, I had applied to an online exhibit featuring square foot sized paintings. I wasn’t accepted into that show so I had this canvas to use.

This painting became one of my favourites from the year. I had done a bright magenta underpainting and I loved that you can see hints of it peaking through in the sky.

During the show, another friend of mine saw the piece and told me he loved it but was saving up for an engagement ring at the time. I felt like this painting should go to him and his soon-to-be fiancée so we decided that if it was still available after the show, we would chat about it. It didn’t sell during the show so we made an arrangement so that he could purchase the painting and part of it would be my gift to the couple. They recently had their wedding and my heart smiles when I think of this piece blessing their home.

I titled this painting, ” Still Waters” because the water, sky, and clouds in this image invite me to a place of calm – to still my anxious heart and take a deep breath.

I chose this piece for the month of September because in my life, September is usually a busy month with the kids returning to school and regular programming starting up again. I wanted a piece that would remind me of quiet spaces and invite me to be still. I hope this painting invites you to take some moments of calm throughout your days this month as well.

For those with the Scripture calendar

The artwork this month is paired with Psalm 23:2 which gives us the familiar words, “He leads me beside quiet waters.” As we transition out of summer and into the fullness of fall, I hope the words of this psalm, along with the image of these still waters offer you the space to breathe. May you find moments to reflect and rest in the midst of your work and responsibilities.

Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: Notice the reflection of the sky indicating the water’s stillness. Now notice the ripples indicating life and movement. Both are necessary parts of the water. The same is true of our lives. We need stillness and opportunities for reflection but we also need movement, lest we become stagnant. In which part(s) of your life do you notice or long for stillness? In which part(s) of your life do you notice or long for movement?

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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

The post Every Painting Has a Story: September 2023 – “Still Waters” appeared first on Olive Chan Art.