Patchwork Olive Grove

12x12"
Encaustic, Oil paint, and mixed media on framed cradled birch panel
 
During a recent visit to the Chianti region of Italy, quilted across the landscape, were miles of amazing olive groves — a patchwork of sunlit trees. You could almost hear the centuries of growth in those fields and  gnarled trunks. Hands that once tended those trees also passed down rituals, recipes, and stitched them into memories. This piece is an ode to those layers of heritage.