Oil, acrylic and gold leaf on wooden hand carved frame, 25x20x2xm.
This European Robin is painted as a small but radiant guardian, its ember-bright chest glowing against a turquoise ground and crowned with a golden halo. Long associated with hope, renewal and the return of light in the darkest months, the robin becomes here a symbol of quiet protection and spiritual warmth.
Set within a hand-carved, gilded frame reminiscent of old devotional shrines, the piece feels like a tiny altar to nature itself—elevating the familiar garden robin into a sacred presence. This icon invites the viewer to pause, to soften, and to recognise the divine spark held within even the most everyday of birds.
The Sacred Songbird Series reimagines familiar songbirds as divine, sacred figures, each perched in a luminous world of gold leaf with a gentle halo radiating around it. By presenting these birds in the style of religious icons, the paintings invite viewers to see the sacred in the natural world and draws attention to how even the smallest creatures can embody a sense of the divine, turning the birds we are accustomed to into something almost transcendent.