Nicole Greenfield
Nicole Greenfield is a painter based in Ridgway, Colorado. Working primarily in oil, she creates expressive portraits and atmospheric landscapes that explore the intimacy found in observing people and the natural world. Nicole is a self-taught artist, developing her skills through years of dedicated practice and online learning. As her craft has evolved, so has her confidence and commitment to pursuing a career in art. She is now focused on sharing her work and process more widely and continuing to grow as a painter.
For this exhibition, Nicole wanted to explore the grieving process. Eyes, hands, temperature, and contrast were some of the tools used to convey each stage and the emotions one experiences going through them. Grief is painful, but through its process we can explore what we miss, why we miss it, and how to move forward without it.
Denial: When I was young my family would watch scary movies together and I was told to cover my eyes for the scary parts. The image of peeking through fingers to see horrors I wasn’t ready to witness appeared while painting this. How long can we observe something while denying what we see?
Anger: By far the ugliest of the five emotions: anger. I went back and forth on the tears but ultimately placed them in. This is the hottest of the five and the one with the most contrast. Anger is a volatile, motivating emotion that surprises us in how it presents.
Bargaining: Grief isn’t always a death. It can be the end of a relationship, life chapter, or dream. In many cases bargaining can look like a fawn response. Wanting to appear more appealing to bring something lost back. In the process we sometimes offer pieces of ourselves, ultimately adding to our loss.
Depression: Depression is hard to describe because it’s often an absence of emotion. Apathy, disconnection, and a dulling of your inner world are things that come to mind when I think of this stage. The suspended woman was improvised and one of my favorite details in the series.
Acceptance: While grief is one of the hardest things to overcome, it can be a source of tremendous growth. Allowing yourself to feel all these emotions can make you stronger. I chose a soft smile in the eyes because acceptance doesn’t mean you’re completely healed. To me, it means opening up your world to something other than your loss. You can see a stream of light, and hopefully you can get the chance to feel its warmth in the future.
