###

Aimée Woods has always found solace in painting, but her latest creation — a reddish-orange octopus unfurling its arms across a once-barren concrete retaining wall in Eureka’s Pine Hill neighborhood — feels like an act of therapy.

“It’s helped me heal,” Woods, a full-time Veterans Affairs nurse, told the Outpost in a recent interview. “I was super-nervous at first because it’s a brave thing to put something permanent on a wall when you’ve got an audience of complete strangers, judging and wondering what’s going on, but it’s helped me meet new people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise. People stop to chat or just drive by, shouting out their window with their thumb out, like, ‘Good job!’ It’s been a healing experience.”

Last year, still reeling from a painful divorce that left her without a social circle or support network, Woods was involved in a motorcycle accident that broke both of her hands, her collarbone, and shattered her scapula. The collision left Woods bedridden and forced her to reckon with the trauma she had endured in her previous relationship.

“Before I started this project, I was coming out of one of the most challenging seasons of my life,” she said, adding that she had struggled to find community and make friends outside of work even before the accident. “Having to heal when you’re alone, when you don’t know many people, was a humbling experience to say the least. I had a lot of support through the motorcycle community; people would show up, bring me meals and just hang out with me. It helped me see that there is a beautiful side to this area.”

Several surgeries later, Woods started walking again. She began taking daily walks through her neighborhood, up and down the hills of Union Street and past the long, graffiti-covered concrete retaining wall between Madison Street and Sea Avenue. Once it hit a certain threshold, county staff would coat the multi-colored tags in white paint, and a few months later, the wall would be covered again.

Though she had never created something on such a big scale, Woods found herself wondering how she could get permission to paint a mural on the wall. She had heard of grant opportunities through the City of Eureka and the Eureka Cultural Arts District, but knew she wouldn’t be eligible for funding since she and the wall were located just outside city limits. 

Woods connected with a neighbor on Nextdoor, a social networking app for neighborhoods, who suggested she reach out to the Ink People Center for the Arts, a community-based arts and culture organization. She spoke with Administrative Director Monica Topping, who said Woods just needed to get permission from her county supervisor. 

“I emailed [First District] Supervisor Rex Bohn at, like, 3:34 p.m. on a Friday, and I was shocked that he responded the following Saturday morning,” Woods said. “He told me, ‘This sounds like a great idea. We’ll provide you an encroachment permit free of charge; you just need to meet with us and go over the design.’ If I had known it’d be that quick, I would have done this a long time ago.”

Woods already knew she wanted to paint an octopus. 

“I’ve always been fascinated by octopuses,” she said. “They’re incredibly intelligent creatures, but they’re also survivors. They’re adaptive and resilient, and even able to regenerate their limbs when they’re attacked or injured. And, with what I’ve gone through in the last couple of years, I feel it’s really relatable to my own life and learning to adapt and rebuild myself after everything.”

But before Woods could get started on the mural, she had to learn how to paint again. 

Having undergone numerous surgeries on her hands and months of physical therapy to break down the scar tissue she had developed, Woods had to retrain her hands to hold a paintbrush. Luckily, paint is a forgiving medium, and she is an exceptionally patient person.

“I’m very patient, and if you don’t like the way something turns out with paint, you can always go back and just paint over it,” Woods said. “I’ve taken my time and, if I don’t like the way something looks. I just go back over it and touch things up. It’s kind of like therapy for me.”

Woods has been chipping away at the mural every day after work since June. Slowly but surely, the sprawling creature has taken shape. As I snapped photos from across the street earlier this week, someone drove past shouting, “It’s looking great!” Another driver playfully honked, prompting a wave and a smile from Woods. 

“It’s been really exciting to see people’s reaction to something that I’m doing,” she told me. “I’m kind of a nobody, and they’re helping me feel like I’m not a nobody, that I’m actually doing something that they appreciate. I’m really proud of myself, and I’m hoping that this leads to me getting asked to do more murals in the future.”

Asked whether she’s looking for any help with the project, Woods said she has a couple of friends who are going to help her paint some of the high-up bits of the wall she can’t reach by herself. She recently started a GoFundMe — linked here — to help cover the cost of supplies, which have been adding up.

“I don’t want to be paid for my time, but if someone is willing to chip in and help curb the cost of [materials], I would be really helpful,” she said.

###