Art | Write | Mom: May 2025 in Review

Welcome to my monthly recap which gives you a more well-rounded look into all aspects of my life as an artist, writer and mom. I’ll share an update in each of those areas, plus some fun things like questions I’ve been thinking about, open tabs, my favorite recipe, or the books I’ve been reading. If there is anything specific you would like me to write about, feel free to leave a comment or reply to the email version of this with your thoughts!

Here are the updates!

Life: After 15 months of unemployment/job searching alongside time spent on my creative practice and parenting, I accepted a new job and started it last week. When I started my job search, I was looking for a "unicorn job" and I'm hoping this is it! My new role is as an Art Advisor for a Boston-based art consultancy that provides turnkey art programming for organizations including corporations, health care facilities, real estate professionals, etc. It is a big adjustment because it's work I've never done before, and I'm commuting into Boston 3x per week, which is a frequency I haven't done since before Landry was born. I'm still figuring it all out but (spoiler for the writing update), I am hoping to use the time I spend the train portion of my commute (which is roughly 90m via a combination of car, train and foot) writing a novel that I’ve just started to develop.

Art: My online shop is open for another week and a half, through June 16. We're currently in the early access week just for you, as paid subscribers to my studio journal (use password: SUMMER). I also had the amazing opportunity to attend the Cultural Center of Cape Cod's Artist and Collector's Dinner at the end of May, and will be writing a full recap of that event in a few weeks.

Writing: As I mentioned above, I have an idea for a novel that has been swirling around in my mind, and at the end of May I started the process of compiling random paragraphs I've jotted down over the past 5 years, putting them into one place, and figuring out if I think they belong to the same story.

Motherhood: Baseball, baseball and more baseball (plus soccer and flag football) have been taking up most of our time. Landry is also adjusting to our new schedule as I'm not home to pick him up from school as often as he's used to. We're also getting close to the end of Kindergarten and I can't believe soon I will have a first grader!

What I’ve been reading*: I'm up to 47 books read so far this year but my last few reads have put me in a little bit of a rut. I'm currently reading The Names by Florence Knapp and You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith.

Open tabs: Every month, I try and document any open tabs that I have on my computer/phone browsers, so I can close them and know I have stored them somewhere for safekeeping. Most times, I never go back to find them, but I was inspired by Postcards by Elle to share a few in case anything I’m looking at is also interesting to you.

• The Novelry - courses and free blog articles about writing a novel. I have about 20 open tabs to various blog posts and I'm using them as prompts when I don't know what part of my book to work on.

That's it for this month! If you have any questions about any of this or the online shop release, just reply to this email!

Thank you, as always, for your support.

Jocelyn

*I am an affiliate for bookshop.org, where each purchase supports independent booksellers. Purchasing the books mentioned through these links results in no extra cost to you but provides me with a small commission. No other links on this page are affiliate links.

Beyond the Studio with Jocelyn Elizabeth is an intimate behind-the-scenes look at my creative practice and life as an artist, writer and mom. Here, you can expect to find visual art, personal essays and poetry. My work explores the question of what it means to be alive from the interconnected lens of our human experience and the natural world, and I am interested in how we can live differently and better alongside the earth and each other. My portfolio and more information about me can be found at www.jocelynelizabeth.com.

Here are some ways you can access my art and writing:

• Collect original artwork. My online shop is open 2x/year for 2 weeks, after which, remaining inventory is painted over or repurposed.
  • My online shop will be open from June 3-16, with early access to Collector's List & Founding Members from June 3-9.
  • My Minted.com shop is occasionally updated with works on paper or hand painted products (candles, globes, ornaments, etc.) 
• Subscribe to my studio journal to receive my journal entries via email. You can manage your subscription or subscribe as a free, paid or founding member here.
  • For early access to original art launches plus more personal journal entries, referral rewards and free shipping, consider a paid subscription (starting at $5/month or $50/year)
• Want to support an individual piece of writing without subscribing? Support my work via a one-time payment, or forward to a friend!