The First Ascent - Where Heaven Meets Earth
The beginning of the God’s Rope series. A soulful oil painting where a woman with a golden aura meets a white horse. Their golden threads begin the journey to heaven. Created with real liquid gold.
There are moments in life that whisper rather than roar - and it is those moments that often carry the most sacred truth.
The First Ascent began as a feeling. A longing to express something I couldn’t quite say in words: the quiet reverence I feel when I’m in the presence of animals. The sense that they see us, not just with their eyes - but with something older and wiser.
In this 18 x 24 inch painting, I wanted to show the beginning of a sacred journey. A woman - soft, grounded, her aura glowing with a light only animals can sense - stands beside a white horse. The moment is still. The connection is deep. Between them, golden threads begin to weave. These threads are part of what I call God’s Rope …. the invisible, holy connection that joins us to the animals who walk beside us, guiding us toward something greater.
Real liquid gold threads shimmer through the painting. They are more than decoration - they are symbols of something eternal. Trust. Devotion. The quiet pull toward heaven.
This painting is the first in a series I’ve long dreamed of creating, and as I completed it, I felt something shift in me. It is a beginning - not just for the viewer, but for myself. A reminder that even in stillness, we ascend.
The First Ascent is more than a painting. It is an invitation. A moment to pause, breathe, and remember that we are not alone. That the sacred is closer than we think, often seen best through the eyes of the animals who love us.
The Smallest Yes
Original Oil Painting
Sometimes transformation does not arrive with thunder.
Sometimes it comes as the smallest yes.
The Smallest Yes captures the precise moment when a bird lifts from the branch, not yet in full flight, not fully grounded, but suspended in the quiet bravery between holding on and trusting the air. Wings unfurl into light. Feathers glow as if touched from within. The surrounding forest dissolves into softened colour and atmosphere, allowing the creature’s inner radiance to become the true subject of the painting.
In my work, birds are sacred messengers, travellers between the earthly and the divine. They move through thresholds we cannot see. When they appear in a painting, it is never accidental. They arrive when a message is ready to be carried.
This painting speaks of subtle courage. Of those moments when we whisper yes instead of shouting it. When we step forward without knowing where the path leads, guided only by instinct, faith, or an unseen thread of light.
Golden strands weave quietly through the branches beneath the bird, echoing my ongoing God’s Rope series — the invisible connections formed between human souls, animals, and the divine. These threads are not forceful. They shimmer softly, suggesting that grace is often gentle, and that the smallest decisions can open the greatest doors.
Painted in oils with luminous glazing and layered colour, The Smallest Yes is designed to glow differently throughout the day, revealing warmth in morning light and deeper mystery in shadow.
This is a painting about beginnings.
About trust.
About the sacred courage of moving forward when no one is watching.
Artwork Details
Title: The Smallest Yes
Medium: Oil on canvas
Technique: Layered oil painting with luminous glazing
Theme: Spiritual animal messenger, courage, divine guidance, transformation
Series: God’s Rope / Sacred Animal Connection
Status: Original available
Certificate: Signed and accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity
Shipping: Professionally packed and shipped worldwide from the UK
[View full Shipping Policy]
[View Returns Policy]
[View Certificate of Authenticity]
How to Frame The Smallest Yes
This painting and its editions are intended to glow.
I recommend:
• Soft natural woods - oak, maple, ash
• Antique gold or champagne leaf for warmth
• Slim profile frames to preserve stillness
• Off-white or warm ivory mounts for prints
• Museum glass or low-reflection glazing
Allow breathing room around the image. Space is part of its language.
Collectors often choose frames that echo the golden threads within the work, subtle, timeless, and reverent rather than decorative.