Astral Paintings: A Journey Into Color, Feminine Energy, and Inner Worlds

The Astral Paintings series began almost by accident, with one particular work: Astral Garden.

At the time, I had run out of canvases. I found one sheet of black cotton paper in my stash and decided to use it. That limitation changed everything. On the dark surface, the oil pastel colors looked different — brighter, deeper, almost glowing from within.

The woman who appeared on the paper felt unlike my previous works. She had a dreamy gaze, luminous colors, and flowers around her face like a halo. She looked as if she had arrived from another universe.

I did not fully know it at the time, but Astral Garden opened a door. It became the beginning of a visual world I wanted to keep exploring: feminine faces, intense color, flowers, mystery, emotion, and the feeling of a woman existing somewhere between reality and dream.

What “Astral” Means to Me

For me, “astral” is not only about stars or outer space. It is about feminine energy, intuition, a dream state of mind, and something mystical but deeply emotional.

I often connect this feeling to Women Who Run with the Wolves — the idea of a woman’s wild inner nature, instinct, and emotional intelligence.

The women in these paintings are not just decorative faces. They feel like inner figures, muses, archetypes, or fragments of a larger feminine universe. Each one has her own character, her own gaze, and her own atmosphere. But they all carry strength.

A Personal Turning Point

This series appeared at a very important moment in my life. I came to a personal truth: I wanted art to become one of the main things in my life, not something I only did on the side when there was time left over.

Because of that, I was emotionally open when I began creating these works. I was experimenting, searching, trying new surfaces, colors, and compositions.

Through that process, I started reconnecting with myself. I became more confident, less afraid of wild color, and more honest about what I actually wanted to paint.

Color as an Emotional Language

Color is one of the main emotional languages of this series. For me, color is a way to make emotions visible. It can become therapy, warmth, energy — almost a dopamine hit, especially when living in a northern city where winter can feel long, grey, and heavy.

In the Astral Paintings, color is not only decoration. It carries feeling. It creates atmosphere. It turns the portrait into an emotional space.

I see this series as a love letter to powerful women — women who carry inner peace, beauty, softness, and strength at the same time. Their beauty is not passive. It comes from presence, gaze, emotion, and quiet poweer.

Challenges Along the Way

The journey of making art is not without obstacles. There have been moments of doubt, creative blocks, and external pressures that tested my commitment. One of the hardest challenges was learning to trust my own voice instead of trying to imitate others.

Overcoming these challenges required patience and persistence. I developed habits that support my creativity, such as setting aside regular time for art, seeking feedback from trusted peers, and allowing myself to make mistakes. These practices helped me grow both as an artist and as a person.

The Process

My process is very physical. I mostly work with oil pastel — a material with character, just like the women I paint.

Oil pastel has body, texture, and intensity. I blend mostly with my fingers, and for smaller details I use a silicone blending tool. The material moves smoothly, allowing me to create glowing transitions, soft gradients, and unexpected color effects.

At the same time, oil pastel has limits. You cannot build endless layers. After a certain point, the surface becomes full, and if you keep pushing, it can turn into a mess.

I like that tension. You have to be bold, but careful. You get a few chances to make the color work, and then you have to trust the decision.

In a way, it feels like life: not everything can be endlessly corrected. Sometimes you have one shot, and you have to shoot.

Doubt, Honesty, and Trust

Of course, there have been moments of doubt. Sometimes I looked at these faces and thought: who needs them?

They are not portraits of someone’s mother, daughter, sister, or family member. They are imagined women, emotional women, women from somewhere inside me.

For a moment, I wondered if maybe no one needed them.

But the truth is, I am going to keep painting them anyway.

All my life, I have been drawn to women’s faces. I love the emotional power of a face — the gaze, the lips, the silence, the tension between softness and strength.

I do not try to mimic photographic realism. I am more interested in the aura of a person: the energy around them, the colors that might live under the skin, the emotion that cannot always be described with natural tones.

That is why these paintings feel astral to me. They are not only about what a woman looks like. They are about what she radiates.

Key Works in the Series

Astral Garden was the beginning — dreamy, honest, and wild. It opened the door to this world of color, flowers, feminine energy, and mystery.

Petals of Her Gaze focused on a golden eye surrounded by pink, purple, violet, and orange. The gaze feels calm and powerful at the same time, almost as if it is looking through the viewer rather than simply at them.

Purple Fever moved closer to fragments: lips, color, sensuality, and mood. It is less about a full portrait and more about a state of being.

Where the Series Is Going

Going forward, I want to continue the Astral Paintings series by bringing animals into this world as symbols of feminine strength.

Wolves, tigers, bears, and other powerful animals can express different sides of the women I paint: intuition, protection, sensuality, softness, wildness, confidence, and inner power.

Each animal carries its own energy. A wolf speaks about instinct and freedom. A tiger brings fire and sensual strength. A bear carries protection, grounding, and quiet power.

This feels like a natural next step for the series.

What I Hope People Feel

When people see these works, I want them to feel a sense of recognition. I want them to search inside the image and find something of themselves there — mystery, sensuality, warmth, power, and beauty carried through color.

What I wish people understood about my art is that color can be felt. These works are not just bright marks on a surface. They are emotional portraits — women with presence, expression, beauty, and inner life.

The Astral Paintings are my way of making that inner life visible.

With love,

Helga Wild Art