Art Swatches

When I feel lost in the studio, I find footing usually one of two ways – cleaning/rearranging or by making shapes on small 3" square pieces of paper. It is very low stakes and a great way to maintain a bit of a creative rhythm. I learned about them through Birdie Fitzgerald who is a fellow color and collage loving artist.

Over the past few years I've been building a library of these cards. They are an alphabet of sorts – the building blocks of my visual language. Just like letters they can be placed into a multitude of arrangements, or appreciated on their own.

These shapes have found their way onto a tissue paper design for packing up orders in my shop, my playing cards and tea towels, and are finding their latest iteration in a new series of work. I find over and over again that it’s the small things that add up to make the big things – case and point, art swatches!

Give it a try if you are ever feeling stuck. Even if it doesn’t become a launching point, I imagine it will be a step along the way to get you closer! What are your favorite things to do if you are stuck and unable to make art? I’d love to hear…

I'm making a deck of cards!!

The first edition of my deck of playing cards is ready for preorders!

I started my suitmarks project in April of 2020 and I'm beyond excited to bring it to life in a beautiful physical deck that can be used to play card games. It is the culmination of many, many hours of experimenting with art supplies and learning about the history of suitmarks and playing cards.Each card has a unique piece of art!

Designed in Buffalo, NY and printed in the USA, these cards are absolutely lovely and expected to ship in late October or early November. This is a full 52 card deck with 2 jokers, packaged in a gorgeous custom box.

It’s so exciting!!

A Year of Play – half way mile marker

Things have been busy around here – I have been carving out time to play in the studio and in the garden. Both are an investment of energy with unknown destinations – a leap of faith that something beautiful will grow in time. I am finally on the other side of a long creative drought (yay!) and am feeling like my creative well is sloshing around with ideas that have me excited to be spending time in the studio.

When I started this year of play, I thought that sounds so fun! But I'll tell you… play can be work. It is hard to play. We don't live in a culture that really values play. We are so primed to be constantly productive and playing feels like a frivolous luxury that someone in their forties shouldn't prioritize. It seems so ironic that I'm putting in effort – working – to make time for play and allowing my mind to wander. The reward is huge. I feel more relaxed. I feel energized. I feel more at ease with the uncertainty which is the most certain element of this life we are living. My creative well is expanding, growing deeper and more fulfilling, and that feels exciting and worthwhile.

I wrote in a journal a few years ago that I was allergic to words. I felt that way for a long time – those imprinted memories from childhood can really be impactful! Most of my life I have found it easy to communicate with images and impossible to find the words to round out the visuals. Over the course of the past few years, through the help of journaling, writing regular newsletters and attending a weekly writing group called Show Up and Write – I'm getting over my word aversion! Writing privately has given me the capacity to consider sharing more openly.

This month I am going to start writing out some of the building blocks to my story and sharing them here with you. I remember my grandma critiquing a coloring page that I made as a kid (in the most well meaning way) that really kind of pissed me off at the time, but recently sparked a series of sketchy patterns that have been growing over the past few years (see below!) I have deep memories of spending time after school in the sample room of my dad's architectural firm playing with color swatches and building little worlds of my own. I had a jewelry business with my mom when I was in elementary school and that sparked my interest in creating and selling things.

I have also had a few big earth shaking life events that have drastically shaped who I am and the reasons I make the work that I do. I am finally feeling ready to open up and connect in this space on a much deeper level with some of these stories. It is easy to share the bright and colorful artwork that comes out of my creative practice, but the stories that have shaped my perspective and allowed me to see the rainbows have come after a few intense storms. So, I am going make an effort to write and I'm sure in the process, I will learn some things. :)

I (heart) NY

I recently took a trip to meet some amazing and inspiring fellow members of the Art Brand Alliance. This group has had an incredible impact on me the past two years, and I’m grateful to have met so many wonderful artists and made new friends. I even got to meet my friend Lizzie Clark in person, while wearing a fantastic dress (with pockets!) for which she designed the pattern!

Along the road I also was able to spend some quality time with my awesome mom. We went to the Corning Museum of Glass, saw a fun art show featuring some modern quilts by Becky McNeill. Yay for getting out on adventures.

Spades Animation

I glossed over February's exploration of Spades here in the news feed. I did have some fun in procreate and made this little animation! This feels like a tip of the iceberg experiment and I'm hoping to make more little playful videos like this in the coming year.