5 Beautiful Things - March 2024
(If you’re new here, jump to the bottom of the post to read more about this monthly recap)
- This month, I started a 10-week Art and Learning Collaborative facilitated by artist Heather Bird Harris (“Bird”), whose work explores the throughlines between land history and ecological crises. Four of us, including Bird, are meeting weekly to discuss art and readings on topics such as ecological art, emergence, inclusivity + community, materialism and sustainable art practices, art activism and social practices. One of our first readings was an excerpt from Adrienne Marie Brown’s book “Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds”, from which I wanted to share the following:
Authenticity chant:
Let me not posture
Let me not front
Let me not say yes to
Lives I don’t want
Let me not use words that don’t mean a thing
Let me be fly
as I am, no trying
Let me good
For my heart, not my rep
Let me be still
When I can’t take a step
Don’t let me get too caught
Creating my face
Let me just love me
All over the place
- Lighting a candle to the sound of a crackling wooden wick and the scent of lavender at bedtime. I have a candle obsession, and one of my favorite lavender scented ones is this travel sized candle tin with notes of lemon and cedar wood from North + 29 Candle Co.
- Taking myself to the beautiful Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, in nearby Ipswich, MA for a walk and some writing inspiration. It was much colder and windier than I had really planned for, to be honest, and I didn’t stay as long as I would have liked, but look forward to going back when it is a bit warmer.
Completing the portrait drawing class I had been taking for the last 6 weeks (one 2 hour session per week, though I missed one when my son was home sick). I’m now thinking about how I may want to incorporate elements of human form into my abstract art. Here is a self-portrait I drew in my sketchbook last week. I’m still working on my final project and will share that when it’s done!
I took my dog on a walk down our favorite bike path. When my son was smaller (and still in a stroller), at least every weekend, if not more often, we’d all walk the mile-ish to the bike path, another mile to the park, and then back.
Note: this posting schedule has since changed
About 5 Beautiful Things: (Almost) every Monday I post content that is relevant to whatever is happening in my studio and life. The last Monday of each month (so today!), I’ve decided to reflect on 5 moments of everyday beauty that I noticed over the past few weeks. I’ve tried various gratitude practices, but have found most of them too prescriptive, and when faced with an expectation to capture 3 things I’m grateful for each morning or night, for example, I find myself freeze up while staring at a blank page.
I prefer to jot down things that speak to me shortly after, or as I see them, unfolding. I do this in the Notes app of my phone or in my bullet journal, and capture anything from details I want to remember of a meal, to an impactful poem or song lyric, to the way the light filters through the trees as the sun rises in my backyard. These are small but fleeting moments that make me feel alive in the midst of everyday. Years spent carrying my camera everywhere has helped hone my observation skills and see what I may otherwise have missed, but writing about them feels different - it lets me leverage more of my senses than visually capturing an image can.
There are always more by the end of the month, but 5 felt like a manageable number to share here. I hope these encourage you to find your own moments of everyday beauty - please share in the comments if you feel compelled!
