Print Details:

• Museum-quality posters made on thick, durable, matte paper.

• Paper is archival and acid-free.

• Unframed prints arrive rolled up in a protective tube.

Frame Details:

• Alder, Semi-hardwood frame

• Black in color

• .75” thick

• Acrylite front protector

• Lightweight

• Hanging hardware included

• Made in the USA

From the artist:

When I approached this piece, I read the first few verses of the passage until a phrase stuck in my head, “like the crocus [the desert] shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing” (Is. 35:2). I thought I might paint a study of a crocus flower—one zoomed in on the subtle shifts in shades of purple. However, when I began to roll the phrase around in my mind, I felt the need to paint the colors of the desert. The text says the desert blossoms “like a crocus” not "with crocuses.” I almost missed the desert for the flowers. For me, flowers are evident metaphors for joy and a clear testament to God’s magnificence. After all, Emerson wrote, “Earth laughs in flowers.” My initial instinct with this painting was to transform the desert with flowers, but instead, I think I needed to see the desert for what it is.

The desert is often associated with desolation, scarcity, and death, but it’s really a place of surprising, subversive beauty—a place of meeting the Divine. I found myself grabbing paints I don’t typically use—mauves, ochres, pale greens, and dusty pinks. My painting intuition doesn’t often lead me to desert colors because I’m drawn to deeply saturated hues that I find more obviously beautiful. It takes a bit more effort to see the desert as a place of abundance and overflowing worship of our Creator, but I think this intentional shift in seeing is part of what it means to prepare the way during Advent. What would it look like to delight in elements of creation that you often overlook? How can you help the parched places of your corner of the world blossom into new life?

—Lauren Wright Pittman