An awake heart (plus, sketches, in-progress art, and more)

“An awake heart is like a sky that pours light” – Hafiz 

I’ve been thinking about this quote for the past few days. Do you ever have words that simply stick with you no matter what you do? That come back to your mind when you’re making the bed or cooking or driving? Lately these have been my words and the visual I see when I close my eyes.

An awake heart. A sky pouring light.

Last week was super intense. Eric and I worked every night until after midnight, determined to make progress with the big projects I have this summer (getting my art into shops, prepping my booth for Greenfest in September). We’re excited with our progress but had very little balance and so this week I’m trying to move more slowly, rest, and infuse my time with joy.

I hung out for hours over the weekend with friends, then with family, talking, catching up, eating together. Hello, awake heart. I also met up with a friend at Morris Arboretum for an early morning sketching session. I feel so thankful to have the arboretum so close by – the grounds are gorgeous and so removed from the busy noise of the street. We saw birds, a groundhog, a chipmunk, and a baby bunny and I got even more excited about my recent exploration into drawing animals.

Here I am in one of the courtyards with my sketch pad. We got there super early and barely anyone was there. Ahh, peace.

And I’ve been practicing more animals! Drawing is quickly becoming one of my favorite calming activities. This week: whales and bunnies.

Friends, I’m having so much fun! I’m kind of in love with these little sketches and how many ways there are to draw one animal. I’m also getting ideas for paintings and my future children’s book. What other animals do you think I should try? One of my most beloved animals is the bear, so I may work on some bear sketches this week.

I’ve also been (more slowly) working on my newest painting. Last week I mentioned that I had relaxed my one-per-week painting schedule and I’m so glad I made that shift as the idea for this painting came to me over a number of days. Here’s the in-progress shot:

I could actually really use some help! This painting still isn’t finished and I’ve been debating what to add. Mostly it’s the bottom half of the painting, under the ocean, that’s still incomplete. What do you see? Different fish? Plants? Something unexpected? If you have any ideas I’d love to hear them.

Last but not least, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my blogging / newsletter schedule. For the past year I have sent out my newsletter and published on my blog once per week. As my business grows, I’ve decided to switch my newsletter schedule to every other Wednesday morning instead of every week (I’ll still publish early, at 8am). I will publish on the blog the same day, and may add some shorter, in-progress posts throughout the weeks. Just think: I’ll have even more sketches, in-progress paintings, and updates to share with you every time! If there’s anything super time-sensitive to announce, I’ll be sure to post on the blog and send a special newsletter announcement (even if that announcement is outside of the bi-weekly schedule).

Thanks so much for being here!

Here’s to discovering our rhythms, joys, limits, and awakening hearts.