Dear ones,

Here is the view from my studio, from the top of a hill, in a Victorian mansion turned craft center. I love it here, though I rarely get to come in summer. I work as a gardener and run a small plant nursery so these days the room feels like a magical portal that I sometimes find the door to in dreams.

Mostly I use the time I have there to organize supplies I will need into piles and then take them home. I sit and think and stare at the wall and my artist brain relaxes a little into a rare state of uninterrupted wiggly expansion and idea connection sans reason, sans children and their constant chatter.

Here in the studio, I have space to assemble my visual fixations and see them all together without explaining to anyone (including myself) why and how they hang together, what they might sprout into being. I have been taking photographs of things I like and printing the photos because I like the tactileness of it.

I am working on a storytelling performance that will have its debut showing in August at FledgeFest. I’m nervous and excited to be show making again. I hope to have a few stops in New England this fall with further iterations of it. Let me know if you know a good spot to come to and perform! I’ll send details of my time in the lineup next month.

The first issue of my subscription booklet finally made it’s way into mailboxes this month and it makes my heart swell to put them in envelopes and write each name. You can sign up for a single issue (just curious) or a whole year (totally stoked)! SIGN UP HERE! It’s full of new writing, drawings, art prompts, recipes, and more. The more I write the more it all comes more easily and that’s been encouraging.

Mostly, these days I am in the dirt and the weeds. I wake up with the birds and do great acrobatics trying to get out of bed without waking my children who have entangled themselves in my hair in the night. I make coffee before eating which I know is bad for me but feels so good and pad around barefoot in the garden getting my pajamas muddy, looking looking looking at each new opening thing, thinking about the piles and piles of work to be done. And then the children wake and my crew arrives and we are off in this mad world, making breakfast and money.

Thanks for your interest in what I’m up to, and your willingness to connect off of social media. Be in touch if YOU have a thought that touches one of these thoughts, and please pass this on to anyone you think might want to hear from me and what I’m working on.

Stay kind out there, friends. We need all the big hearts we can get.

Sophie