This Is My Rebellion

I woke up this morning needing to make art. 

So I put on some coffee and got to work. 

I've never been a rebellious person or a rule-breaker, but this particular time in our country's history has brought out all sorts of defiant emotions in me. 

I'm not marching today. 

I'm not sharing political posts on Facebook or Twitter. 

I'm making art. 

This is my rebellion. 

I refuse to lose hope. But I will also not remain quiet. 

I will love fiercely and create relentlessly. 

Sending relentless hope your way,

Power Down

Usually my husband suggests inappropriate things for me to draw 😂,  , but last night over dinner he suggested these two words, which surprised me in the best of ways. 

Today is rough and prickly for a lot of people. 

Don't forget you can always power down if it gets to be too much. Turn off the news. Move away from the TV. Close Facebook and Twitter.

Light a candle. Brew some of your favorite coffee or tea. Put on your comfiest sweater. 

And take a coloring break. 

You can grab the free printable here.

Love and light to you,

New Pattern Collection

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably know that I've been more than a bit obsessed with drawing on my ipad the past week or so. It is seriously addicting!

So much so that I created an entire pattern collection, my first ever (!), with motifs I drew entirely in Adobe Draw. I imported all of the images and created the repeating patterns in Illustrator. 

Here are the patterns! 

I'm excited to add these to my Spoonflower shop, and would love to license them for stationery or bedding! 

XO,

MLK Day

Thankful for a morning off of work to search through quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. and take some time to put one of them down on paper and then on my computer screen. 

So many of our freedoms we take for granted, but doing the right thing seems to be one that provides the biggest challenge for many. 

Here's to pushing ourselves to do right even when it is hard!

XO,

Letters

I've been playing around with letters lately, mostly on our iPad with my new stylus...

With the exception of the "g" which was a scanned hand-drawn piece, I created the rest solely in Adobe Draw on the iPad. It is addictive!

This might turn into a daily project! Stay tuned...

XO,

Happy Little Clouds

Is there an identity you kind of want to try out, but you think you'll pretty much suck at it?

Let me tell you a story.

(But spoiler alert...you are NOT alone.)

I painted the background on this canvas about a month ago and absolutely hated it. 

I wish I had taken a before photo, but you'll just have to imagine the diagonal stripes of turquoise, gray and gold. It was a bit of a mess.

So it sat against the wall in our bedroom since then. 

Every few days I would think about it and how I could fix it. I even brought it out of our bedroom a few times, only to return it hours later. I hadn't got up the courage to revisit it. I honestly thought all I would do is make it worse. 

A few days ago I started reading a new book, Your Inner Critic is a Big Jerk (which is just as awesome as the title), and it encouraged me to pull out my paints and get to work. 

I wouldn't call myself a painter by any means - I don't know technique or what tools to use etc, BUT after these happy little Bob Ross clouds started to come together this morning, transforming that background I once hated into something that's making me smile, I realized that maybe I should rethink how I define myself. 

I actually have some encouraging and wonderful memories of being a painter. In elementary school, my art teacher Mr. Robinson taught me how to paint a landscape. I have vivid memories of him standing over my shoulder, giving me tips on how to make mountain peaks and waves of water. It was all very Bob Ross, kind of like my clouds. 

So I thought of him as I painted yesterday. And thanked him with each brush stroke and squirt of paint. 

Yes, I literally squirted the paint directly onto the canvas. See what I mean about technique? But hey, it worked.  

I'm sharing this to encourage you to think about how you define yourself. 

What identity would you like to have, but are maybe too scared to give a chance? Or what is that thing you used to do as a child...an identity that you used to wear proudly, but for some reason you discarded and haven't tried back on? 

You get to define who you are! And if you're struggling with that, definitely check out this book.

It is a super cheerleader!

XO,

2017!

We did it friends! We made it to 2017!

Wishing you a fabulous year!

XO,