There are certain paintings that feel less like they were planned and more like they slowly revealed themselves layer by layer.
Oklahoma Scissor Tail was one of those pieces.
I’ve always been drawn to birds — not only because of their beauty, but because of what they symbolize to me. Freedom. Trust. Peace. They move with such lightness, carried by something unseen, yet they never seem anxious about where they are going.
That feeling stayed with me while creating this painting.
As I layered washes of blue, texture, movement, and light across the canvas, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher slowly began to emerge from the atmosphere almost as if it belonged to the sky itself. I wanted the painting to feel open and expansive, yet deeply grounding emotionally.
Not just a bird painting.
A reminder.
In the top left corner, I included one of my favorite verses from Matthew 6:26:
“Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
That verse has met me in so many difficult seasons.
Seasons of uncertainty.
Fear of the future.
Trying to hold everything together.
Trying to control outcomes I was never meant to carry.
And yet every time I return to those words, I’m reminded how much of life is sustained by grace rather than striving.
The birds still rise with the morning light.
The wind still carries them.
Creation still reflects care, beauty, and provision.
I think deep down we all long for that kind of peace.
That’s why I love creating paintings rooted in nature and emotion. They invite us to pause. To breathe. To reconnect with wonder and the present moment instead of constantly racing toward what’s next.
The bright warmth of the bird against the cool layered blues became symbolic to me while painting this piece — light emerging through uncertainty, hope cutting through heaviness, beauty existing even in fragile seasons.
This original has since found its home with a collector, which is always emotional in its own way. There’s something deeply meaningful about knowing a piece born from such personal reflection now lives within someone else’s space and story.
My hope is that whenever they pass by it, they feel reminded to loosen their grip a little.
To trust a little deeper.
To breathe a little slower.
And to remember they are cared for far more than they realize.
Some stories deserve to be painted personally.
I occasionally open a limited number of commission spots for collectors seeking meaningful, faith-inspired artwork rooted in nature, memory, and emotion.
[Contact me about a commissioned painting.]
