Silk Moon Paintings - Process and Commissions

I have a lot of silk :) Several years ago, I experimented with silk dyeing using rusts, indigo and other natural pigments. The process yielded scarves, paintings and so much more, but I found myself stowing pieces away to revisit for a later date. 

Silk piece from 2016

Rust dyed fabric from 2015

After our move, I began unearthing the forgotten fabrics and became inspired to use them in a new capacity. Simultaneously, I was feeling a deep connection to September 2020’s “Corn Moon” and felt it belonged in the cosmos I was seeing emerge within the silk’s patterns. 

Harvest Moon - September, 2020

Waning Crescent, 2021

The piece sparked a commission (this time, calling upon January’s Wolf Moon) and a new smaller series that layers indigo and teal silks to create a soft sense of depth. Each piece calls upon a moon phase that is currently impacting or inspiring me. The pieces also transform when held up to light - as the moons emanate color or reveal new patterns.

Wolf Moon Commission, 2021

I am excited to now be offering Silk Moon commissions through my new commissions portal! Click the link below to learn more or email me at nicole@nicolekutz.com with any questions.

New (Virtual) Painting Workshops!

I’m offering several virtual painting workshops for the spring/summer in Alpharetta and Nashville and my first is “Experimenting with Aqueous Media” starting on March 12th!

Painting with flashe, watercolor, acrylic and indigo

Explore the possibilities of water-based media and expand your painting toolbox! This course is intended for beginner or intermediate students who are motivated to expand their ideas and creativity by using a variety of techniques including: watercolor, ink, acrylic, gouache and flashe paint.

Flashe paint on paper

 The first two classes will focus on introducing the materials, current artists working with those materials and demos that build the technical skill and enhance the students’ abilities to translate their ideas onto paper. The students will then have the opportunity to paint more freely during the last two sessions and emphasis will be placed on experimenting with the water-based materials to create a final piece or series. Students will be encouraged to work outside of the sessions and build upon the techniques learned in the previous classes. The final class will include a presentation of the work each student created.

Painting with flashe paint on hand-dyed silk

I’m excited to offer my perspectives on water-based media and share my techniques with others through this first workshop! I value experimenting, taking risks and painting from your inner knowing. I often think too much pressure is placed on creating something “perfect” rather than something from the soul.

Gouache and ink painting from 2015

Acrylic, watercolor, ink, gouache and flashe paint offer a range of possibilities for technique and experimentation - while also having a more manageable clean up than oil paint :) The class is perfect for new students painting out of their homes who want to expand their painting practice with new media and techniques.

Click below to reserve your spot or feel free to contact me with any questions!

New Work for January

Sharing a few of my most recent paintings that I have both started and completed at the top of 2021! Read more about the process for each below and you can stay in the loop by subscribing to my monthly newsletter.

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Night-Time Walker, 2021, Flashe paint on paper

I have been particularly inspired by the petrified trees I see while running. They stand out amidst their surroundings, often feeling intensely vulnerable or naked as if their color and bark had been stripped from them. I found myself connecting with these trees on an emotional level, as I felt I could empathize with their situation.

I wanted to create a scene where this sighting feels powerfully cosmic - like a goddess reining over the forest. The tree is able to call her power back and align herself within her own space. I also connected this experience back to one of my favorite Coheed and Cambria song, Night-Time Walkers:

Night-time walker, keep your distance / Stay away from us, stay where you are / History repeats her story, awakened by the sounds of long before / I don't wanna see you, I don't wanna believe you're here / But it's too hard not to when your songs I hear / And all the sweet repeats that make her so beautiful

Maybe it's alright and the world's not quite / What you believed is now all upside down

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Wayward, 2021, 8" x 10.5", Indigo, watercolor, charcoal and flashe paint on paper

Wayward is a more literal human goddess. This smaller sketch is on hand-dyed indigo paper and is inspired by Saidiya Hartman's powerful words and imagery throughout her book Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments. The book beautifully captures stories that have gone untold and while her words conjure specific experiences that I may never truly be able to understand, the quote below still stirs my soul:

Waywardness is an ongoing exploration of what might be; it is an improvisation with the terms of social existence, when the terms have already been dictated, when there is little room to breathe...It is the untiring practice of trying to live when you were never meant to survive.

I found myself captivated not only by her writing, but the images that accompanied the text. The first photograph was so striking and I felt immediately connected to this “forgotten” goddess. I highly recommend the book :)

I think my flashe paint works provide me with the immediate gratification I need to power through my more labor-intensive pieces. I completed a new piece that is a larger scale and uses pigments that I have gathered myself to use as oil paint (you can read more about the process here). This piece initially came out very quickly, but I hit a bit of a rut towards the middle of the month...

Probably overthinking this painting

Despite somewhat belaboring the piece, I feel that I finally reached the place I wanted to with the work. The painting takes me to an undefined place within my psyche and as I was painting, I was working through an intuitive state by responding to the materials and pigment I had collected.

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Title Pending, 2021, 49" x 37", Oil paint made from pigments and clays gathered from Georgia and throughout the South East

Perhaps this is just the essence of the earth below me or perhaps it is a place of my dreams. Regardless, I found myself drawn into a place of letting go.

Indigo Blue Throwbacks

As I was reflecting on older work, I came across a series of indigo commissions for the Alida Hotel in Savannah, GA.  I haven’t been as drawn to blue lately, but I always loved how these three played off of each other. 

My indigo pieces are about capturing a very literal flow on paper and constructing a new world from those scenes. Originally inspired by my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s and capturing her own mental space, I found myself creating a series that allowed myself and others to tap into subconscious landscapes and states. All three of these works take me to a specific place that I have not visited in person, but find myself slipping into during meditation.

In 2018, I had started working out of a new studio in East LA where I squeezed out every ounce of studio time I could while balancing 4-5 jobs and commuting across the city. When I was asked to create a commission for the Alida Hotel, I found myself diving more deeply into my indigo process and finding my state of flow amidst the craziness of my schedule. The pieces brought me back to center during a time when I had drifted from my practice.

I did several iterations before capturing the right places and feeling. My indigos always start out that way - a bit of an exploration and then trial and error to piece together the ultimate “place”. As soon as I found the place, I pieced it together using gold embroidery thread to mimic the art of kintsugi and fill the cracks with gold. The whole process feels intuitive and tranquil, which is a sharp contrast to how I approach my other work. It is nice to look back at these pieces, remember the stories behind them and see how I can take that mindset into my current series. 

You can see all of my work from 2018 (click here) and my on-and-off obsession with indigo blue.

Alida Hotel Dining Room Installation

Shoutout Interview

I had the opportunity to do a feature for Shoutout Atlanta and reflect on my perspective on risk taking. The topic was definitely relevant to the changes I went through recently and I look forward to more chances to grow, take risks, fail, succeed and make art.

You can read the full article at the link here or embedded below.