**Self-Portrait As Substrate,** **acrylic on canvas** **© 2026 D. Yael Bernhard**

Continuing with the theme of connection to nature, here is a painting I did just last month. I created this as an illustration for my other Substack, The Art of Health, which focuses on nutrition. This illustration is for an article about Short-Chain Fatty Acids – powerful post-biotics produced by beneficial gut bacteria, and how they affect metabolic health. As major players in your immune system, SCFAs are a hot topic of research, and well worth cultivating in your gut microbiome. I encourage you to read or listen to the article!

But even before I wrote the article, this painting was already in my head. It’s that same feeling that found expression in last week’s painting, Mountain Weaving – of not only being connected to the forest and the soil-food web, but actually becoming part of it – becoming substrate for plants, fungi, and bacteria, slowly decomposing into soil and being consumed by living organisms. Like all nutrients in the forest, I am recyclable. Like all living creatures, I’m more than the sum of my parts, but can also be broken down into my tiniest parts. I imagine my body feeding new life, roots and bulbs growing from my flesh, mushrooms fruiting, seeds germinating, nutrients cycling. I am knitted to the Earth by tiny roots and mycelial threads. I am flesh of the Earth. I am the Earth.

This is not just imaginary. We humans are walking holobionts – living ecosystems hosting trillions of microorganisms. My article on short-chain fatty acids is about the microbiome, with its myriad of hidden functions. This is the substrate that nourishes the precious post-biotics that regulate metabolism, shape the immune system, and talk to the brain via the gut-brain axis. We carry this living substrate within; and at the same time, we are inextricably connected to the substrate that surrounds us in nature, supporting life on Earth.

The three horizontal layers of this painting – plants & sky above, woman as earth, and the underground rhizosphere as her bed – each have a different palette, and are pressed together like strata in a geologic formation. I wanted these layers to both contrast and harmonize with each other. The lavender background behind the plants pulls it all together, offsetting the earthy colors.

I enjoyed this painting very much, and when I finally stepped back from it, felt like it satisfied something unconscious – some deep craving for interconnection with nature that has inspired so many paintings. I’m out in the woods a lot at this time of year, foraging for mushrooms and wild plants. More paintings like this to come, for sure.

Self-Portrait As Substrate is for sale. Please inquire for more information if you’re interested.

A good week to all!

D. Yael Bernhard

https://dyaelbernhard.com

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Have you seen my other Substack, The Art of Health? In addition to being a visual artist, I’m also a certified integrative health & nutrition coach with a lifelong passion for natural food cooking and herbal medicine. Now in its second year, this illustrated newsletter explores cutting-edge concepts of nutrition. I strive to make relevant information clear and accessible, and to anchor essential health concepts in unique images. Check it out, and if you like it, please subscribe and help spread the word. Your support keeps my work going!