Little Beauties, Little Joys
leaving meta + pockets of light + how I start a new painting
Hello dear readers. Thank you SO much for being here. There are quite a few new subscribers here (Hello!) as I made my announcement on instagram that I will, like many of you, be slowly and surely disconnecting myself from meta run spaces. I so appreciate you signing up for this newsletter and for wanting to stay in touch. Thank you.
Here you will find weekly musings on living life as an artist, the practices and tools that help me lead a connected and inspired life, announcements around my new works, workshops, and happenings in real life. I hope that this space will offer you respite, calm, and most of all, a connection to beauty + the natural world + your own inherent artistry.
It’s tough stuff! I have loved the community we’ve built together over on instagram, and have truly relied on it as a major source of income for selling my work. I really loved this illustrated series from
on this conundrum and it makes me feel like hey, we are all here navigating these changes together! It’s sticky but definitely feels easier with company.I feel confident that as we evolve, and get more clearly aligned with our own values and desires, that a new platform is on its way. Perhaps it is right here even? :) I am a huge fan of substack…the usability and the unique ways you can refine your own space into whatever shape and form you wish it to take. I love the slower nature of this space. The way people want to share more genuinely just for the sake of sharing, not necessarily to sell a product. I appreciate that it doesn’t feel as addictive or fast in the way that instagram scrolling can feel, and somehow takes away less of your time because of that. And, I really appreciate that you can have this be a source of income too, and that you get to choose the way that your audience can engage around that. I am endlessly grateful for all subscribers and especially to those of you who support by having a paid subscription here.
I do run a product based business as a watercolor artist, and I rely on print sales as the main chunk of my income. I am trusting that with moving off of meta and more into other spaces with intentionality and presence, everything will just flow on as it needs to. My mantra these days is that I am open to the changing times and I invite incredible beyond-what-I-have-ever-known-is-possible positive growth + more authentic loving connection in ALL of the ways.
I want to write to you today about pockets of light, joy and softness. I want to write to you about a painting I’ve recently begun that feels like I’m falling back in love with the practice again. Maybe if we just keep coming back to sharing about the practices and ways that we feel truly alive, truly joyful, we will get through the darkness with a richness of spirit and deep nourishing light to keep us on our way.
Ways I am finding joy every day…
Singing in the woods as loud as I want to. Finding bright green moss hidden under old snow. Lichen in all shades of green covering pieces of bark. Listening to the wind as it howls around the house. Reading Ursula k le guin’s Earthsea series and letting her writing take me away into a world of wizards and witches. Listening to Adrienne Maree Brown teach me about Pleasure Activism. Making a matcha every afternoon. Dancing. Painting bright vivid flowers that offer peace and calm. Talking to friends and family on the phone. Hanging out with my friends’ kids and laughing with them. Kissing my dog’s head a million times a day. Reading words from people like Mary Oliver and John O’Donohue. Watching the sunset and the sunrise. Looking at the stars at night. Saying thank you to everything. Talking to my ancestors in the forest. Spending time with plants that I love, both physically and in my own meditations and imagination.
What are the ways that you are encountering joy and softness in your days? Please answer in the comments below!
I’ve begun a new painting this past week. I’m at the beginning which is one of my very favorite places to be in a piece. The first touches of paint on top of pencil. Every watercolor artist works differently, and I’ve mentioned it here before that I personally rely heavily on a pretty detailed pencil drawing below my painting. I treat it as a map for how I add color after. I shade in the darkest areas and keep the highlights untouched with a 2H pencil. I teach this in my workshops too. Maybe it’s because I just love pencil so dearly, and it may be a little unnecessary even, but it helps me to know my subject that much more and I really enjoy this first step in my process.
Other painters may relate, that when you start to get really into a painting, the subject starts to reveal so much about itself and its personality. You tend to take on the energy of what you are painting, it’s just a natural relationship that is co-created when you decide to work together.
Foxglove was one of the poisonous plants I studied in my poisonous plant herbalism course I took this past fall. When I first encountered her in the class, she felt like a real old friend. Someone I’ve known for a long time. She is so friendly feeling with all of those little freckles and blossoming petaled skirts. I did this guided meditation (which I highly recommend!) from
around this project and the message that came through was that foxglove just wants to be experienced and known as a friend. And so, I feel now that I am hanging out with a new friend every afternoon for a few hours. And, it reminds me that this is what painting felt like when I first began. It’s a very alive and authentic relationship, and I am so happy to be reunited with the simple pleasure of getting to know one another and keeping each other company. And a good reminder that we can find company in all kin, whether it be within our creative practices, the trees outside your window, or your cat sleeping on your bed. The world is alive and just waiting for us to befriend it, over and over again.What are you calling on to keep you company these days? Who/what is your best friend?
I hope to share more around the painting of this piece as I continue to make progress. The original will be gifted to my herbalism teacher Kathryn, and most definitely prints will be available in my webshop.
More plant paintings to come! I’ve got a whole line up of special ones that I’d love to honor in painting form.
What is a plant that you’d like to paint? Who is your favorite plant friend?
Thank you again for being here! Please consider passing this newsletter along to another art + plant loving friend.
Workshops!
I am currently putting together a line up of watercolor workshops for the spring. Planning a few with
in both Virginia and North Carolina that I am excited about, as well as this one kicking my teaching season off at Be Just in Charlottesville, VA. We still have some spaces available and I would love to have you join me as we explore painting some beautiful winter produce in watercolor. Sign up here!Markets!
I am excited to announce that I will be selling prints and original paintings at the Spring Field and Supply Market this May 30th weekend in Kingston, NY. I’ve been a fan of the Field and Supply markets and vendors from afar for awhile now, and am honored to be included in this very beautiful and talent driven craft fair.
*Are you a maker/farmer/doer that wants to collaborate on a workshop or market? Please reach out through the form on my site here. Thank you!
Sending pockets of light and joy and aliveness on your weeks ahead.
Thank you Molly!