Whispers Among the Trees reflects something I feel deep in my bones, something written on my soul, something enduring inside of me that I’m giving myself the time and space to express.

artwork in progress by Nicole Javorsky — Work in progress, a tapestry in my *Whispers Among the Trees* series.

Dearest Doodle Soupsters,

Look above and you’ll see a work in progress, representing a new phase in my Whispers Among the Trees book arts project.

You may remember from past editions of Chicken Doodle Soup or from seeing my work in person recently that my Whispers Among the Trees series explores the idea that for all we don't know, the mysteries of existence, and all the pain we do know, there is beauty, awe, and wonder to be found in nature, in our bittersweet world.

The first step of creating this series was writing down a dialogue of imagined conversations between a woodland fairy named Existence and a strange human (sweet child of the universe). The human turns toward nature to ask her questions about life, to find a way to heal, to try to make sense of the trauma and abuse she survived. This piece of writing also incorporates lyrics from my 2025 album and musical performance titled, A wildflower grows from the cracks in the sidewalk.

When creating my In the Raw series, my process looked a bit different than it is now for my Whispers series. For In the Raw, I let whatever I am feeling in the moment simply bubble up. Raw, frenetic, swooping, overlapping, spontaneous marks. If I felt a sense of awe and mystical connection to nature, the work reflected that …

abstract artwork by Nicole Javorsky — “The Magic of being alive”
*Mixed media on paper. 18 x 24 inches. 2022.*

If I felt hope mixed with confusion and pain, the artwork mirrored my state of mind …

This is the poem I wrote to go along with my In the Raw series …

In swooping, swishing,
Over, under, around,
Splish and splat,
I say what I cannot (yet)

In line, in paint, in crumple up, rip,
Rip, cut, paste, overlap, uncover, reveal …

I’m searching for something,
I’m trying, trying to name something.

You may not know what it is,
I may not yet have the words,
Together we will call it and
Call upon something raw and real,
Something magic inside
So we no longer have to feel that
Bitter taste in the mouth,
Rotten overload, without the words for it …

And in calling it by its name,
We learn how to free ourselves from it

Naming,
Calling,
Singing it out,
Dancing it out,
Doodling it out …
This is how we find the courage …

This is how we survive and then someday,
Find a way to truly live,
Raw magic, really being here …

We can and we will

Nicole Sylvia Javorsky_In the raw, 2023, Acrylic on paper_12x9 inches.jpg

Nicole Sylvia Javorsky_I have my blues and I'll dance with them, 2023, Acrylic on paper_12x9 inches.jpg

Nicole Sylvia Javorsky_Squashed, held down, but you can't keep down, 2023, Mixed on paper_11x8.5 inches.jpg

Nicole Sylvia Javorsky_My heart is like paper, yours is like a flame, 2023, Mixed media on paper_24 x 18 inches.jpg

And here are some more puzzle pieces: the four art pieces above plus one puzzle piece made of words —

These pieces were made in the spirit of my radically pure music … they embody play, healing, experimentation, exploration, release, catharsis, co-existing truths, acceptance, courage … I survived because I wanted to know true love, relationships built on respect, autonomy, freedom, real care … because I wanted to be myself and sing to the trees, dance wherever I wanted to dance … because I wanted to make lots and lots and lots of art and share that art with others … because I wanted to know freedom … because I wanted to feel as alive as I possibly could … because I wanted to live! I know how hard and lonely life can be … my hope is that my art, my words, my music, simply being myself can serve as some puzzle pieces, some guidance, can provide some camaraderie as you look for yourself, your path, as you heal, as you move through this world searching for something …. aren’t we all searching for something? I am human, in the raw, with you.

So what does this all have to do with the thread I began at the top of this edition, with Whispers Among the Trees, how my process has shifted?

Truth can be found in moments of intense emotion, in catharsis, in wringing out your soggy feelings onto the page. Truth can also be found within the spaces between. Letting the art breathe. Letting myself breathe. In the space between inhale and exhale. In the moments where I quietly find what belongs where, caressing the fabric with my pencil. Some marks swoop. Others strike. There is still energy. There is still emotion.

Yet, I’m allowing myself to build something over time, something that isn’t focused directly on how I feel in a singular moment. Whispers Among the Trees reflects something I feel deep in my bones, something written on my soul, something enduring inside of me that I’m giving myself the time and space to express.

Play is still important. So is experimentation. Frenetic marks are still welcome. But I’m also allowing myself to leave unfinished pieces up on my studio wall, to slooooooooooooooow down. To not know “the answer,” to not know how the puzzle pieces connect, how they fit together, to let them just exist as they are while also building connections. A line here, a line there, A stitch here, a stitch there. Now, go for it! Swoop. Swoop. Okay, now, let it be. Let it be incomplete for now.

There is so much honesty in my In the Raw series, so much catharsis, and there’s beauty in that. And, at the same time, my art also reflected where I was at as a human being, which was how could I put any faith in the future? How could I hope, how could I imagine something, anything, beyond the intensity I felt? My art mirrored this intensity I felt about being alive, with all the pain and the joy and everything between, the dualities that come along with existing.

This aliveness is still important to my art and the process of making it. And, I’m also allowing myself to build something new, to create a visual, written, and auditory artwork full of puzzle pieces (drawings, paintings, mixed media works, 3d-pieces, tapestries, collages, songs, words) that reflects both the traumas and mystical connection to nature I’ve experienced plus play, experimentation, and imagination when it comes to what I don’t know, the mysteries of existence, the open spaces, what seems blank or impossibly full or indecipherable. And this approach of play and experimentation is manifesting in new ways, which mirror what I’m working on as a human trying to heal and live a life beyond survival mode.

there’s a map, you know this

etched on your soul, listen

this map speaks at a whisper

listen

listen to the whispers among the trees

and you’ll hear echoes of an old song

this is your song

and you were born to sing this

i don’t know, i don’t know

that’s okay

breathe life into the space between

let it look empty

an invisible incubation

I know it’s hard to trust in what you can’t see

what you can’t prove

that’s okay too

you don’t have to will yourself to believe something when you don’t

you don’t have to force the pieces together, that won’t make them fit

just let this all exist

let yourself be you

let yourself be unsure

let yourself feel

let yourself breathe

let yourself be

let yourself build

slowly

quickly

something in-between too

at your own pace

let the knowing be poetry for now

no need to decipher a thing

no need to figure it out

and we circle back to what we know

and that’s okay too

it may feel like you’re running in circles

but you are learning

you are inching along the path that leads there

where there is, i don’t know

but somehow my bones tell me that there is good

so be here now and know that you know the way

even in moments when all feels clouded and tangled and blocked

let this seed incubate

you don’t need to check every minute of every day

are you growing? are you growing? why won’t you grow! just grow already!

it’s okay that the urge is there, though i promise you it won’t change how fast the seed grows into what it will become, soon, soon, soon

the only way is through, sweet child