JESSICA GUTIERREZ
A Quiet Flourishing, watercolor and pen, 11”x15”, 2023
This piece was inspired by a time in my life when everything seemed to be flourishing. I remember feeling in awe about how I had gotten to that moment. I also recall being so surprised about how it felt. It felt gentle, sweet and calm and I felt confident, in a quiet way. I think I expected the feeling of flourishing to feel more explosive or intense because who I was a little over a decade ago, and that version of me was the one that had set the original vision. Her ways of reaching goals involved going fast, with intense focus and pushing through no matter what. This was a survival instinct that was valuable and necessary at times in my life but it was not sustainable. I learned this lesson in a very abrupt, intense and painful way through debilitating symptoms that forced me to slow down. As painful as that time was, I have since learned and added invaluable ways of being, such as being gentle, slow, steady and gradual. Most of all, I learned to listen to my body’s signals and to respond in more attuned ways.
This piece represents this new way of doing things and the quiet and seemingly mystical flourishing that followed.
Bearing Witness, watercolor and pen, 15”x11”, 2021
This piece was inspired by an experience I had with my now husband when he was feeling tired, exhausted and frustrated. I sat with him as tears streamed down his face and I listened as he shared his frustrations. He talked about racial aggressions, assumptions made about him based on his appearance and the ignorance he hears on a daily basis. It was clear to me that he had not expressed this out loud before and with this kind of vulnerability. It felt powerful, potent and essential.
I cried with him, feeling moved by his vulnerability, heartbroken about all that he’s experienced as well as fiercely protective of his heart. The man I know him to be is gentle, sweet, goofy and endlessly caring.
He has held my heart and protected me in ways I didn’t know I needed until he arrived into my life. This painting was my way of honoring him.
More about this artist:
I have made art a healing practice that is sacred to my overall well-being. I created these pieces in the past three years in the midst of COVID, racial and social justice uprisings and during a simultaneous evolution and revolution within myself.
