Field note: Painting is love

August 2, 2025

“Painting is love—love that takes time, nurtured through patience and humility; love in attentive observation, and love for the unexpected, celebrating imperfection as part of the beauty

Welcome

Dear Friend of Earth and Spirit,

Welcome to this first gathering of words, art, and quiet reflections — a letter sent not from a tower but from beneath the canopy of leaves, among stones, roots, and wind.

I’m Sylvan Fern Gray: artist, ritualist, and lover of the wild sacred. Through these monthly letters, I’ll share glimpses of the work emerging from my quest and heart — art to honor earth and cosmos, reflections on sacred ecology, deep history, astrological insights, and small practices to help you root more deeply into your own holy animal nature.

This Month’s Reflection:

Lying Down with Roots

In anxious times, we forget:

The earth still holds us.

The earth doesn’t ask us to hustle.

The roots beneath our feet don’t demand resolutions.

When fear stirs, try this: go outside in nature, find a spot large enough to support your body, and simply lie down. Feel your body rejoin the rhythm beneath it. This is not laziness. It is participation in the ancient covenant of life.

The Miyawaki Method

My landscaping is a practice in communication with my plant and animal brothers and sisters. The growth om my property has been phenomenal. I used “The Miyawaki Method” a forest creation technique developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, focused on rapidly establishing dense, biodiverse, native forests in small areas, even urban spaces. It involves planting a variety of native tree species densely together to mimic a natural forest ecosystem.This method is known for its ability to create mature forests in a relatively short time (20-30 years) and its benefits for biodiversity, urban greening, and climate resilience. One element that stands out is the ability for plants to communicate more readily due to their close proximity with one another through fungal mycelium. This contrasts to the typical suburban landscaping whre trees are isolated like lollipops and subject to harsh urban hardscapes. Plants need community and friends so they can watchout for each other!

Astrology Insight for the Month:

🌑 New Moon Invitation

This month’s New Moon asks:

Where do you long to belong more deeply?

Where are you ready to begin again, softly?

Let your body answer before your mind.

Ritual for the Month:

A Ritual of Stones and Silence

Gather three stones from a place you love.
Place them in a triangle near your bed or altar.
Each morning, place your hand upon them. Breathe. Say: I belong to earth. Earth belongs to me.

Thank You for Being Here.

You are part of a slow, sacred unfolding — one that honors beauty, body, and belonging. Thank you for walking this path with me.

In quiet wonder,

Sylvan Fern Gray