The Trees of nü York

January 23, 2016

I painted a mural at a place called the NU Hotel in Brooklyn, New York.

With a name like NU, I knew it was the perfect place to share my art, especially because of the similarity to my nü Icon brand.

Most people think of New York as a busy cityscape, but it was actually the groundedness of the city and the incredible trees that inspired this creation. The mural evolved into a piece called ‘The Trees of nü York’.

Watch the mural unfold and hear the full story behind this creation…

I love the creative process. To me, it feels like entering a deep conversation with the divine and opening spaces within that I wasn’t aware of before. Creating ‘The Trees of nü York’ opened me to a nü level of grounding and understanding about where true support really comes from.

There is often a stereotype that artists and creative people are ungrounded, flighty, up-in-the-clouds, but I find the opposite to be true.

In order to channel and create so much art, it is essential to be very grounded, at least this is my experience. This mural deepened this awareness for me and opened space for even more creation to flow through me. The deeper my roots go, the more I can blossom.

Here are some sketches of the ideas unfolding for The Trees of nü York.

Sketches are a great way to work out ideas, but when I’m actually painting things take on a life of their own and can change a lot from what I initially envisioned.

Initially I thought I would paint a red bird perched over the Fire alarm to blend the red color. But, as I started painting it evolved into a flying red Fire Bird.

Art is alive and evolves in the moment. Sketches are simply a way to activate the energy and offer an entry point into the creative process.

Now that the mural is complete I often dream of flying back into the room to root my creativity even deepen and blossom even further.

It feels so magical to sit in the chair beneath the tree. It feels like magical story time.

It’s so fun to sit in bed and journal about dreams and be carried off by the Fire Bird into the Land of the ImagiNation.