Hi Reader,

It's inching closer to sweater season in most places, here in the sunshine state it's a pinch less hot (a tiny, tiny pinch) and very rainy most days where I live. I wake up with thoughts of gratitude for my life and everything it encompasses no matter how tired I feel. As I age I'm noticing the difference in energy and how much more protective and intentional I have to be with the reserves.

Where is a lot of your energy going this month?
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Here are the main energy buckets my energy is feeding this month:
– 1 main project to work on every week (my first Coloring Book this year) I'm currently drawing page 4! Page 1-3 are finished.

– Round the clock quality time with my daughter, some structured and some just enjoying the gift of getting to know our new home together. I have to remind myself she will not be a tiny toddler forever and thus I have to soak it in now.

– Unpacking, organizing, and home improvement. Once the main areas are set-up, maintenance will replace the initial big energy investment of organizing, and finding furniture and decor.

Live Drawing at WSLR Fogartyville in SRQ

I've been making a monthly ritual out of attending a live drawing event that's held locally at our grassroots radio station https://wslr.org/ It features live costumed models for a 3-hour block of creative time and it mixes different length poses and props. My mood this month was the same as lat month, I was undecided about attending until the last minute because I'm not a natural extroverted person. I ended up just focusing on the joy it would bring to sharpen my skills and I'm so glad I attended! I recommend it if you're local. One of the best (and sometimes) only time we'll have for creativity is through blocking out a structured, dedicated time for it. We can't rely on mood, emotions, or inner motivation a lot of the times. Sometimes a cold commitment is the remedy.

Moments I Treasure this week:

• Being 50% finished with organizing my new art studio / shared messy family space
​Being an artist AND a neat freak is like oil and water living inside you. Plus it's not fun for others so I'm converting our Florida room (a fancy way of saying a closed-in patio type space with nice nature views) into a "any mess is ok here" space. It's one of the best approaches I've found to balance the need for free thinking, experimentation, spilling things and also being respectful of the rest of our spaces and belongings. I dream of one day having private studio visits where I serve you home cooked dishes as we make art together. Would you be interested in that? Mi casa es su casa.

• Painting my doors "Raucous Orange"
​Subtlety eludes me, one thing I adored about living in Tennessee for so long is that I felt like I fit in. Being from the mountains and all—myself. Since English is my second language, a few things about language subtlety can be lost on me, and a part of southern culture is being a "straight shooter" saying what you mean, the first time. So we have the loudest, brightest, most joyful door in the street because our family has decided that to live is to generate joy. Sometimes that comes in the form of a color so vibrant it's practically smiling right out of the can.​
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• Attending my second live drawing event at WSLR+Fogartyville and painting by myself among a large crowd of creative people who nerd out about the same art things! To quote a very fancy fictional witch I recently watched "a witch is nothing without her coven." If you're having a hard time building creative momentum one of the antidotes is to be around other creative people who will understand your brain and it's need for focused playful work.