Trees are sacred beings. I find myself talking to the tree outside my studio, expressing my love and gratitude, asking her for strength and support. Like me, she has weathered many storms and survived. I nurtured her back to health and a state of thriving and she has returned that gift many times over. I love her.
Trees go through their own stages of life, losing leaves and branches, going dormant in the winter to gather nutrients and strength, and blossoming as the sun warms them in the spring. In reflecting on myself as I so often do, I often find myself turning to my tree for guidance.
Last night in the wee hours when I couldn’t sleep, I was thinking about the series of watercolors I painted last year called “The Essence of Trees". My art mirrors the natural world and my own inner journey. When I want to see myself more clearly oftentimes I will reflect on what my paintings are revealing to me. This particular series of paintings reflects a number of aspects of a tree’s emotional states, from heartbreak, loss and survival to reaching for the sun in joy.
Once again, I have painted my own journey, the process of surviving the many storms I have had to weather in my life, the heartbreak I have endured and the time and place I find myself in today which is reaching for the life-giving rays of the sun. My path in life is one of nature, so like my tree, I go through the cycles of the seasons and the cycles of a lifespan.
There are the times to bath in the sunshine and the times that require me to weather the next storm. Like all of nature cycles, these pass and then come full circle to ask the same or more of me the next time around. We never know what will come, but when I look to my trees as examples of how to face each season of my life, I am inspired and comforted to know that they too, lie dormant at times before blooming once again.
Trees instinctively know to reach deep into the darkness of the earth for nourishment and transformation. They don’t fear the darkness, the solitude, the unknown. They don't mourn the loss of their leaves in the winter. It is the way of nature. As roots run deep for stability, branches reach for the sun, because both are necessary for life. One, not better than the other.
Once again, the truth of my own being has been confirmed. I am nature in human form. We all are and fear of the dark or of the light is unfounded.
To see the entire "Essence of Trees" series of paintings go to https://www.dkhillardart.com/watercolors
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