Watching With Her Oil on Canvas Board | 12 × 16 inches
Watching With Her
Oil on Canvas Board | 12 × 16 inches
There are moments when presence becomes prayer.
Watching With Her was painted in a season of quiet grief, after the loss of my mother, when the world felt thinner and time slowed into something softer and more deliberate. During those days, one small ritual remained steady: watching a woodpecker visit the feeder outside my kitchen window.
Before she died, my mother loved to sit and watch that bird with me. Its rhythmic tapping, its pause between movements, the simple certainty of its return, these small acts became anchors. After she was gone, the bird kept coming. And each time it arrived, it felt as though I was no longer watching alone.
In this painting, the woodpecker is rendered in stillness rather than motion. It clings gently to the tree trunk, alert but calm, its body glowing subtly against a deepened, twilight background. The speckled feathers, the soft blues and golds, and the quiet warmth beneath the shadows speak not of urgency, but of companionship.
This is not a bird calling out.
It is a bird keeping vigil.
I believe animals carry messages between worlds, between grief and healing, between earth and heaven, between the living and those who walk beside us invisibly. In my life, animals have always arrived when something sacred was unfolding. Here, the woodpecker becomes a witness, to memory, to love, to continuity.
The title Watching With Her holds that meaning close.
Not watching alone.
Watching with someone who remains.
From the Artist
“This was the first painting I created after my mum passed away.
Before she died, she loved watching the woodpecker on the feeder outside my kitchen window.
When it kept coming after she was gone, it felt as though she was still there, quietly beside me.”
About the Symbolism
In my work, animals are not decorative subjects, they are messengers.
Birds, especially, hold a sacred role within my wider body of work. They move between sky and earth, between seen and unseen realms. They arrive precisely when we need reminding that love does not disappear, it changes form.
The woodpecker in Watching With Her represents:
• Vigilance
• Continuity
• Gentle guardianship
• The thin veil between worlds
• Love that remains after loss
This painting sits within my ongoing autobiographical series exploring the golden threads that connect me to animals throughout my life, threads that I believe ultimately weave into God’s Rope: the spiritual path formed by every sacred encounter with the animal messengers sent to us.
Artwork Details
Title: Watching With Her
Medium: Oil on canvas board
Size: 12 × 16 inches
Orientation: Vertical
Status: Original available
Signed: Yes
Framed: No
Collector Information
✔️ Fully insured shipping
✔️ 14-day returns (original condition)
✔️ Certificate of Authenticity included
✔️ Packed with archival materials
[View full Shipping Policy]
[View Returns Policy]
[View Certificate of Authenticity]
Watching With Her
Oil on Canvas Board | 12 × 16 inches
There are moments when presence becomes prayer.
Watching With Her was painted in a season of quiet grief, after the loss of my mother, when the world felt thinner and time slowed into something softer and more deliberate. During those days, one small ritual remained steady: watching a woodpecker visit the feeder outside my kitchen window.
Before she died, my mother loved to sit and watch that bird with me. Its rhythmic tapping, its pause between movements, the simple certainty of its return, these small acts became anchors. After she was gone, the bird kept coming. And each time it arrived, it felt as though I was no longer watching alone.
In this painting, the woodpecker is rendered in stillness rather than motion. It clings gently to the tree trunk, alert but calm, its body glowing subtly against a deepened, twilight background. The speckled feathers, the soft blues and golds, and the quiet warmth beneath the shadows speak not of urgency, but of companionship.
This is not a bird calling out.
It is a bird keeping vigil.
I believe animals carry messages between worlds, between grief and healing, between earth and heaven, between the living and those who walk beside us invisibly. In my life, animals have always arrived when something sacred was unfolding. Here, the woodpecker becomes a witness, to memory, to love, to continuity.
The title Watching With Her holds that meaning close.
Not watching alone.
Watching with someone who remains.
From the Artist
“This was the first painting I created after my mum passed away.
Before she died, she loved watching the woodpecker on the feeder outside my kitchen window.
When it kept coming after she was gone, it felt as though she was still there, quietly beside me.”
About the Symbolism
In my work, animals are not decorative subjects, they are messengers.
Birds, especially, hold a sacred role within my wider body of work. They move between sky and earth, between seen and unseen realms. They arrive precisely when we need reminding that love does not disappear, it changes form.
The woodpecker in Watching With Her represents:
• Vigilance
• Continuity
• Gentle guardianship
• The thin veil between worlds
• Love that remains after loss
This painting sits within my ongoing autobiographical series exploring the golden threads that connect me to animals throughout my life, threads that I believe ultimately weave into God’s Rope: the spiritual path formed by every sacred encounter with the animal messengers sent to us.
Artwork Details
Title: Watching With Her
Medium: Oil on canvas board
Size: 12 × 16 inches
Orientation: Vertical
Status: Original available
Signed: Yes
Framed: No
Collector Information
✔️ Fully insured shipping
✔️ 14-day returns (original condition)
✔️ Certificate of Authenticity included
✔️ Packed with archival materials
[View full Shipping Policy]
[View Returns Policy]
[View Certificate of Authenticity]
✔️ Insured delivery • ✔️ Certificate of Authenticity • ✔️ 14-day returns