Paintings above the horizon that celebrate the heart, soul, and beauty of the cosmos and divine feminine. Two paintings are installed in the Vatican Observatory Museum, an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. These two sizable paintings, “Phi” and “Juno” are of the outer expanses of our universe, including the Carina Nebula and Jupiter. These are accompanied by a selection of more earthbound inspirations, lyrical compositions of color and light that capture and envelop the ineffable. Many of my cloud paintings are done on metal-both aluminum and copper. The idea of putting something so ethereal onto something so solid from the earth’s crust appealed to my sense of the yin yang of life. Just by looking up we can become temporarily untethered.
“Phi” began with very humble beginnings on a scrap of copper and found its way into the Vatican Observatory Museum. In “Phi [ϕ]” we are brought to the inner chambers of the Carina Nebula and Mother Mary’s universal loving heart and the wisdom of the Feminine Holy Spirit, Sophia. Read more
Cloud Paintings
Crescent Moon, oil on reclaimed aluminum 
Baby’s Breath, oil on reclaimed aluminum 
Geese in Flight, oil on canvas, 24″ x 30″ 
Passing Thunderstorm Farnese, oil on canvas, 12” x 16” 
Jill Nichols oil painting Clouds 
Like using the brush up, oil on copper, 7″ x 7″ 
Cloud in Blue Minor, 36″ x 36″, oil on aluminum 
Cloudscape_V, 18″ x 18″, oil on reclaimed aluminum 
Summer Storm, oil on board 
Cloud Plasticity, 36″ x36″, Oil on canvas 
Stamford, CT, Scuttled Light, 4″ x 4″, Oil on Board 
Sunrise Trilogy 2, Puerto Rico, 4″ x 6″, oil on paper 
Sunrise Trilogy 3, Puerto Rico, oil on paper 
Both Sides Now, 18″ x 18″, oil on reclaimed aluminum
“I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It’s cloud’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all”
— Joni Mitchell
Painted on a scrap of long thin copper surface reflecting light and creating an overall glow throughout the piece. Named after the hurricane that wreaked havoc and cost the lives of thousands in the Caribbean and especially, Puerto Rico. Several days after the devastation remnants of the storm, in unique & beautiful cloud formations, streamed across the skies of Connecticut all day, into the evening bringing with them a sense of divine recompense.
In “Juno”, named after the Goddess of Fertility, I investigate the relationships and infinite scalability of finite matter through swirls of fluid dynamics in our largest planetary neighbor Jupiter. I finished the painting the night before leaving for Italy to deliver “Phi” to the Vatican Observatory Museum. I made a quick print as a gift for Brother Guy Consolmagno which he in turned installed in the Vatican Observatory Museum near “Phi”. Read More
2 responses to “Divine Cosmos”
My pleasure! I look forward to visiting again. I joined PAMM and plan on participating in the fundraiser in August. Best, Jill
Thanks for coming by the bookshop!