Book Review: Colors of Consciousness

Reviewed by Addison Ciuchta

A meaningful collection where painting meets poetry

Nicole C. Harp’s Colors of Consciousness is a collection of twenty-five “soul paintings,” each paired with companion pieces of poetry. 

An abstract painter since 1992, Harp trained to become a professional intuitive and animal communicator, work that enabled her to communicate a subject’s consciousness into a painting, called a soul painting. Each painting is titled after the soul it captures, paired with a poem composed of words and feelings Harp received from the spirit during the painting process.

After opening the collection with an explanation of how she became a soul painter, Harp dedicates a chapter to her mother and their relationship before and during her battle with dementia. It’s a touching tribute that creates a sentimentality and deep emotionality that radiates through the rest of the collection.

The paintings are both soothing and striking, full of warm reds and oranges with abstract shapes taking center stage. Often, scribble-like lines form the shapes and parts of the painting, giving them a loose, instinctual feeling suited to the intuitive style of art. 

One particularly striking painting features hill-like forms beneath a white circle, surrounded by a warm yellow. It gives the impression of a landscape from some far-off world. In another, harsher lines and a dark red splatter pushes toward a dark blue semi-circle. In a painting later in the collection, a group of circles huddle together inside a yellow ring, darker blue greens bordering their refuge.

The companion poems all begin with “Hello, Dear Soul,” at the start of the poem before delving into the stanzas. The poems are short, no more than a few stanzas long, and are all free form. The word-choice is often nature-focused or emotional, lines encompassing short bursts of imagery like “roots dug in like colossal sequoias” or “In the vortex, you become one / Threads of color support the whole; / you twist and whine.”

The collection oozes emotion not only from the author’s grief and love for her mother, but also from the poetry dedicated to various animals, something sure to tug on reader’s heartstrings. In a poem paired with a painting about puppies, Harp writes, “This painting is for all young puppy souls / who never made it to adulthood.” In another dog-focused poem, the line “Deeply entrenched in your search / for adventure, we follow behind, / hoping – for a glimpse of your discovery” invokes the delight of watching a furry friend explore the world.

At the end of the collection, Harp includes sections on how to interpret a soul painting, breathing exercises for grounding, and things to stimulate creativity. While not necessary to include, it’s an addition some readers will surely enjoy as a way to dig deeper into the creative, expressive sentiment of the collection and its art. Colors of Consciousness is an emotional, reflective collection sure to connect with many.

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