Views From Above
From 2020 to Present
This is a collection of recent works inspired by nature at my feet. You don’t have to look far to find something intriguing, curious, or downright stunning. It’s the magic of nature. Watch any toddler outdoors visiting a state or regional park for the first time. They are completely present and all around them, they experience awe. Everything is amazing. Out in nature, I am reunited with my younger self, apart from ego and worries.
“That which is above is like that which is below,
and that which is below is like that which is above,
to accomplish the miracle of one thing.”
—Hermes Trismegistus, Emerald Tablet
In Any Given Garden
We Cover Ground
SHAGGY DWARF MORNING GLORY
This piece is inspired by my first visit to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. I ran around taking photos like I was some eager bee. Everything was enchanting. I could have stayed forever. Much of what I find strikingly beautiful is at my feet.
In any given garden / we cover ground
keep the sun and hold the rain / tree above shades our leaves
admiring our blue petals / we are joined in this world
along side tending hands / with earth, roots, and air
DETAILS
$2100
Watercolor on 300 lb. 100% Cotton Fabriano Hot Press Paper. 18 x 24 inches (artwork). 31 x 37 (framed). Available for sale. In Any Given Garden We Cover Ground is also available as a a limited edition print.
How You Know Where You Are
MEADOW PINE PLAID WITH BUTTON MUSHROOMS
You can tell a lot about your surroundings just by looking down — I discover entire universes this way. A little imagination and the random arrangements of pine needles could be seen as ancient roadways carved into the earth if seen from high above.
We know there are conifers here so it must be cool and moist the way conifers like it. There are deciduous trees nearby, too. Is it late summer or early autumn?
The lush grasses under the needles suggest there is more shade than sun and that the soil is acidic, something that happens where conifers grow. There are no signs of wildflowers, another indication that the soil could be acidic. It may have rained recently — and just warm enough for small wild button mushrooms to pop up.
All the while the trees are in conversation, discussing matters through a network of mycorrhiza below ground entwining with their roots.
Next time you’re outdoors, in nature, take a look around. What do you see, smell, hear, touch? What stories can you tell by looking down at what is before your feet?
DETAILS
$2300
Watercolor on 300 lb. 100% Cotton Fabriano Hot Press Paper. 18.5 x 14.5 inches (artwork) 32” x 28 inches (framed). Available for sale. Also offered as a limited-edition fine art print.
A Change Is Coming
PERSPECTIVES IN NATURE
From a scientific perspective, leaves are individual powerhouses that eat the sun and absorb carbon dioxide while releasing oxygen. Each leaf, no matter the species, (except succulents) has a network of veins and arteries that fuel plants and trees with glucose, the same simple sugar our brains run on.
From an average human perspective, leaves buffer our overabundance of man-made sounds, tree leaves protect us from the sun’s harmful rays. Most people will tell you a walk in a canopied forest has a calming effect.
From an artistic perspective, leaves hold an aesthetic that is balanced and transformative. I love seeing buds being pushed open by new golden leaves in spring. In autumn, I am drawn to their changing shapes and colors, a form of organic origami.
From an environmental perspective, I pay close attention to the background. So much of our ground is either paved in concrete or blacktop. Both contribute to climate change by covering vital soil that sequesters carbon, creating dirty water run-off from heavy rains, and absorbing the sun making everything hotter.
I dream of permeable paved roads so rainwater can be filtered before it lands in lakes and rivers. How lovely to walk in a neighborhood where instead of concrete sidewalks, there was a gentle footpath flanked by ribbons of wildflowers. A change is coming.
DETAILS
$2100
Watercolors + Archival Ink on 300 lb. 100% Cotton Fabriano Hot Press Paper. 28 x 20 inches (artwork). 37 x 29 inches (framed). This piece is also available as a limited-edition fine art print.
In Search of Serenity
BLUE SPRUCE
On the side of our house live two tall blue spruce trees. Walking under them, they create a micro-ecosystem of their own. It’s cool under their shade on an otherwise hot day.
Between these two trees I see this arrangement that found its way into a watercolor painting after many weeks of detailed attention.
This is about balance, equanimity, and climate justice — for all species. Walk into any pine forest, or mixed evergreen woods and you will immediately notice the temperature change.
It’s cool and moist as the trees like it. They created this environment that suits them and their cooperative neighborhoods, the mushrooms, ferns, lichen, and moss.
As the planet gets hotter and drier, evergreens will disappear from our landscape. All ecosystems will go through change. The change is coming too swiftly for us.
DETAILS
$850
Watercolor on 300 lb. 100% cotton Fabriano watercolor paper. 8 x 8 inches (artwork). 21 x 21 inches (framed). Also offered as a limited-edition fine art print.
Featured in SERENITY Exhibition
“In Search of Serenity” was chosen for inclusion in ART FLUENT’s online exhibition, one of 735 entries from 15 countries worldwide.
We Are Stardust
ASPEN LEAVES
Autumn makes me feel time passing like no other season. Bright yellow aspen leaves shower the path around Thomas Lake Prairie Preserve. White grains sprinkled among the leaves like stars in space. It brings to me the refrain from Joni Mitchell’s song Woodstock:
We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
I think we all want to get back to the garden. I hear it was paradise.
DETAILS
$2000 (In Private Collection)
Available as a limited edition fine art print.
I Will Wait For You Forever
FIELD STONE
One early spring I spotted this rock, as if in child pose, nestled beyond the backyard of our townhome rental within the bounds of a wetland protected area. It looked like it had been waiting there for a very long time, grasses old and newly sprouting surrounding the rock with a single leaf holding vigil. Time runs differently in nature. It’s patient and circular, not bound by hours or schedules. If this rock could talk she would ask you to simply be, to find stillness. Take your time, she will wait for you forever.
DETAILS
$2100 (In Private Collection) Available as a limited edition art print.
This Is Not A Weed No. 1
COMMON MULLEIN
At the center in soft mint green lives a Common Mullein. While not native to Minnesota prairies, Mullein stands tall alongside the wildflowers. Her signature stalk doesn’t appear until her second year of growth. A member of the Snapdragon (or Figwort) Family, Mullein has many medicinal purposes I discovered reading The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies: The Healing Power of Plant Medicine by Nicole Apelian, Ph.D., and Claude Davis. I no longer define plants as “weeds” or good or bad as they are probably good for something or someone.
DETAILS
$2000
Watercolor on 300lb 100% Cotton Hot Press Fabriano Paper. 15 x 15 inches (artwork).
Also available as a fine art print.
2021 © Kristin Maija Peterson
Watery Worlds
COTTONWOOD LEAF ($2000 – In Private Collection)
I know the importance of looking up. Yet, there are many times I find myself looking down. There at my feet among the pebbly trail is quite literally a terrestrial cosmos with its enormous (in the scheme of things) hydraulic moon orbited by many watery worlds including one draped with just a sliver of a spoon-shaped leaf. There is such wonder and awe in the natural world. There is Magic everywhere if you take the time to be still in the space you happen to find yourself and just see all the wonder.
Little Spring Thing
SARSAPARILLA
Walking Lebanon Hills Regional Park one lovely spring day, I look down and see this new woody-stemmed shoot with leaves that seem to glow in the diffused light of the forest. I have yet to be able to properly identify what this plant is called. No matter. It’s one of the most beautiful discoveries of the season. (During my solo exhibit at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, a knowledgeable staff member informed me of her real name).
Tiny Universes
MOSSES
Inspiration for me is everywhere, often showing up at my feet. To the casual observer, it may look like nothing, just weeds, and moss growing on rocks. To me, they are Tiny Universes.
From what little I know about mosses, looking at their soft, bright green patches, I’m likely seeing more than one species of moss co-mingling, though they could be in fierce competition with each other over resources.
All plants have common name, one that’s easy to remember. Mosses aren’t given the same consideration and referred to by their scientific names. This explains why I don’t know mosses by its name. Sadly, I wouldn’t remember it.
Some people disdain moss and want it removed from their yards. I know others who wish to be buried in it. But you have to respect mosses. They are an ancient organism who break down organic matter to replenish the soil, their most astounding feat is turning boulders into sand.
DETAILS
$800 (In Private Collection) Available as a limited-edition print.
Won Best In Show at the Extremely Minnesota Exhibit 2022
Looking for Prints Instead?
At Terra Kind Studio Co. we believe art is for everyone. Original artwork is priced competively and based on value, experience, quality, and originality. To accomodate most art lovers and collectors budgets, we offer limited edition prints of our original artworks at affordable prices.
Giving Back.
10% of all Terra Kind Studio Co.’s annual art sales are donated to nonprofits devoted to environmental and climate change issues.
By supporting my work as an artist, you’ll have nature’s beauty dressing your walls while doing good in the world.
All artwork is the sole property of Kristin Maija Peterson and is held under copyright, even after purchase. The images, artwork, and contents of this website may not be copied, collected, or used for personal or professional gain without written permission from Kristin Maija Peterson. All images of artwork, sold or otherwise, are retained by Kristin Maija Peterson.
ABOUT
Terra Kind Studio showcases the creative work of visual artist and designer Kristin Maija Peterson. Growing up among prairies, lakes, rivers, and oak savannas along with her project work with environmental organizations have collectively influenced her creative path. Kristin works in watercolor, graphite, color pencil, oil pastels, and pen and ink, interpreting in detail the beautiful chaos she finds in native wild spaces and its inhabitants who call these spaces home. Kristin sees all living creatures as kin and is always kind to spiders.
Contact
e: hello@terrakindstudio.com
p: 651 318 7100
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