New Paintings for June

 
Awen I and Awen II, 2021, Flashe paint and ash on paper, Available - contact for pricing

Awen I and Awen II, 2021, Flashe paint and ash on paper, Available - contact for pricing

 

Seeing Green

Nashville’s summers just explode with green. Each week, I’ve noticed more and more green unfolding into a lush landscape filled with nimble trees and chirping cardinals. The whole scene can feel like it is out of a fairytale. It didn’t take long for that same green to seep into my painting practice and I waivered away from my vibrant reds to the opposite side of the color wheel. The trees in my area drape over the streets, as if creating a protective canopy of nature, and if you catch it at the right light, the leaves begin to glow. 

Nicole Kutz_Painter and Curator_Art Blog_Tree Inspiration 2.jpg

Somatic healing and forest care

Over the past few months, I have been enrolled in The Guardians of the Forest course presented by Advaya. The program offers a unique online course in somatic, spiritual and practical approaches to forest care. Trees have always been a source of healing for me, yet the course has magnified this sense tremendously. I have felt an increasing awareness, empathy and understanding of our forests from the lecturers and participants. 

 
 

Simultaneously, I began diving more into neural patterning and somatic healing as another outlet to process trauma. Neural pathways mimic the trees, roots and the winding branches I was seeing around me. We all have an inner forest of wisdom, but if you water the wrong trees, the toxic and smaller trees grow into an unsustainable forest.

Tree Study I, 2021, Flashe paint with charcoal on paper, Available

Tree Study I, 2021, Flashe paint with charcoal on paper, Available

Tree Study II, 2021, Flashe paint with charcoal on paper, Available

Tree Study II, 2021, Flashe paint with charcoal on paper, Available

Tree Study III, 2021, Flashe paint with charcoal on paper, Sold

Tree Study III, 2021, Flashe paint with charcoal on paper, Sold

Neural Trees

I feel a connection to the process of retraining my brain and how those trees/neural pathways are changing, but also reinforced by external toxicity. I think that this could also be said for what is happening to our natural world. Simply by labeling it “mother” we give it a connotation of female, which we have culturally reinforced as being “submissive” -  she has to submit to us and our wills because we as people are the dominant force and what we want is more important than what she provides us. I can empathize with this and while I am trying to rebuild my mental canopy  to think differently, I want to use my art to help preserve and rebuild her’s. I think Hannah Close puts it best in her article on animism, if we in the west wish to heal our relationship with the world, with ‘nature’, with reality, then relating to our direct immanent experience is wholly, profoundly necessary.”

 
 

I look forward to growing this series, sharing more on the process and ultimately finding my outlet for giving back to the world that provides me unlimited inspiration.