a balm

"That is accurate except for there was no snake"

Publishers Weekly (scroll down!) announced my debut book coming Summer 2027. Feels surreal and at the same time very nice that this is officially out in the world and I can now tell everyone. I will be writing about the writing (ha) and art process in my “How to…” series which I am bringing back. Read my first one here.

Finally got an appointment to fix our broken car mirror. Feels good after a month of painters tape waving in the wind as we drive.

Brought paints and paper to Connor’s Hero Art Session and we painted for our garden collage that will be auctioned off at their May 1st Art Gala to raise money for families battling childhood cancer. You can see Anastasia painting her pink design that turned into this pink flower (below). She knew exactly what colors she wanted to use and I loved watching her focus so intently on each mark she made. Kids are incredible.

I will miss when I reach into the washing machine and I don’t pull out leaves and sticks and rocks that made their way into pockets and socks and bags.

Made it to Giorno Cafe (finally) in Church Hill, Richmond

Made it to Giorno Cafe in Church Hill, run by Freddie. Felt like walking into my Nonna’s basement bar (a high compliment) and smelled like her kitchen when she had an her bialetti moka on the stovetop making an espresso for anyone around her table.

Lila memorized a joke. That ability makes me slightly sad - she’s getting older. It’s also hilarious.

Dropped off work at William and Mary’s Hart Gallery. The student curators will be hanging it with other work from the student body for our show Handmade. It will open next week and will run through the end of March. I will be back on campus for the Ampersand Art Festival (and giving a free workshop for it on March 21st- come!) to enjoy the show. The Hart Gallery is right behind my mural in the Sadler Center. It is a gallery focused on student art from non-art majors across campus. Big thanks to Theo who helped unpack and lay out the art.

Andy took the kids to visit good friends in Charlottesville. I have the full weekend to work on my book. I sleep in, wake, and go straight to the studio. “Do you want a coffee,” my friend asks and she walks it over. She sees our neighbors’ son on our porch dropping off legos for Theo and Lila by putting them through the mail slot. He lives a block away so it’s a path and exercise he is getting good at doing by himself. We all meet in the alley and talk. He tells a funny story about his grandmother and a car and a house and a break peddle. “Was that story true?” I text his parents and Andy later. “That is accurate except for there was no snake,” his mom says.

Finished Tess’s logos for her Public Health Research Lab at the University of Utah. I love how they came out, especially the one called “The Mountains of Life.”

A box plus dirt and fossils and plants dug up from our back garden. Held in by bricks. This looks like a diorama but what if I told you it’s a hopeful home for a pet snake (no).

Working on the book and have a full day ahead of me and somehow that feels harder than knowing I only have 2 hours to work. But I just keep working. I don’t love how things come out but I keep working. I decide to lay out every piece I worked on to see how the pictures are talking to each other. Seeing them all laying on the ground, I see it’s working.

It’s 7pm and I am in the studio. Our neighbors come by after dinner but before an event, with a bottle of wine. I grab some juice glasses from inside. We sit on the couch and on the two slightly broken chairs found on two different stoops in Brooklyn. We talk about David Blaine and pull ups and my book and how Lafayette Tavern was and we finish the bottle. They head to their show, I head back to the book.

Made a word search to pass the time while we wait at Costco tire center.

Thank you to my friend and ‘a good journal’ reader, Meg who shared this newsletter on her Instagram calling it “a balm” to read. Love you Meg and thank you for helping me reach new people. You can share this newsletter using the “share” button below, or go over and above like Meg :) I appreciate it all! Thank you xo