”When Heaven Meets the Sea-Iona, Scotland”

Finished it
I came to Iona for the beauty of the sea, I found something of myself upon its shore, a place where heaven seemed to meet the sea. Allow me to take you back to my Scotland travels last September and to the Isle of Iona-the ancient Celtic traditions, and the Abbey that was founded in 563 AD, intrigued by the spiritual and sacred nature of the isle, a very spiritual place said to “be a thin place”, has long been described as a place where heaven and earth seem to meet, surrounded by those extraordinary white beaches and blue Atlantic waters-it really did feel magical, reverent, a closeness, held, like a bit of heaven surrounding me as I sat in the warm sands, the gentle waves upon my feet – it indeed felt like a prayer

“You are the strength of the waves of the sea.”
— John Philip Newell, Celtic Prayers from Iona

There are places we visit, that somehow stay inside us.

Iona was one of those places for me.

This painting was inspired by a quiet beach on the Isle of Iona, where turquoise water meets white sand, wild grasses move with the coastal breeze, and a small red boat rests among the rocks.

I painted not simply what I saw, but what I felt—a sense of stillness, beauty, and that extraordinary place where the sea seems to meet the sky..

I heard it whispered to me on the breeze while on the Isle of Iona that sometimes beauty doesn’t ask to be captured—it simply asks to be remembered.
This is my memory of that shore.

Where Heaven Meets the Sea-Iona, Scotland

original artwork Oil on canvas

With Light✨

Denise