what a relief
Cooler weather brings me such clarity and calm. My shoulders feel more relaxed and I feel a whole lot more like “me”. It’s no secret anymore that I struggle to be myself in hot weather. Someday I would like to live somewhere with a milder summer and enjoy it a little more, these Nebraska summers get pretty intense. The best time I had at the beach I was in a sweater and the cool breeze made my cheeks rosy-I’m that type. It makes me feel relaxed and energized at the same time when there is a little chill in the air.
Sometimes after a big trip I can feel a little low. That natural shift to daily life after the high excitement of a trip. More often for me, time away can really refresh and reset me. I definitely came back from this one jet-lagged and exhausted, but now that that has worn off I feel really excited to be back in my creative space!
But before I share what creative things are going on I wanted to share what we did before we went to Spain and a little bit about our trip!
We got married!!
We had a short and sweet ceremony under a tree we picked out at the park. My brother was the officiant and we had a small handful of witnesses. It was exactly what I wanted. I have always known that a traditional wedding ceremony didn’t feel right for me and I am glad that Ryan was on the same page. For me, any more planning would have taken away from the joy of getting to marry my best friend. After our ceremony we had a gorgeous dinner at one of our favorite restaurants Le Boullion with our parents and siblings. We did consider fully eloping. Just going to the courthouse with our two witnesses before we ran away to Spain, but I am so glad we chose to share the day with our families.
Spain!
I have had a note in my phone for many years now to have our honeymoon in the Basque region of Spain. We wanted to pick a place that was new to the both of us. Influenced by an episode of Parts Unknown and followed up by my own research, this seemed like the perfect destination for us to explore together ! Sea, mountains, incredible food and wine? Yup. Also it’s notably less hot than southern Spain? Double yup.
We have learned that we like to try and set our trips up to have two parts if we can. The first half we will spend in a city we want to explore, and the second half we slow it down and go somewhere smaller and quieter. For this trip we spent the first half in San Sebastian in an apartment. We spent the whole week walking all over the city, going out for Pintxos(pinchos) almost everyday. I ate some of my favorite things standing up in a crowded Pintxos bars here, the quality of food was top tier. We walked SO MUCH, and I really loved it. San Sebastian is gorgeous and really clean. I loved walking around the old historical buildings, so many details to take in. The beach was beautiful and the water was clear. We said so many times that it was stupid how pretty the views were just walking around.
As much as I loved galavanting around San Sebastian I was really ready to get to our second Airbnb. This place really blew us away. It was an hour and a half away from our first one, but only about half an hour to Bilbao (another big city in the Basque region). The house was surrounded by fruit trees, had an organic garden, chickens and sheep. We were able to pick any fruit and veg we wanted, and collect fresh eggs. It was an amazing place to stay and the hosts were incredible. You can check that place out here if you want to see it.
I feel like we barely tipped the iceberg on exploring Spain, and even just the Basque region of Spain at that. We would definitely like to return, there was so much to do that we didn’t get to. But if you are considering a trip I highly recommend it- it was gorgeous and delicious and the people were a delight.
I am a homebody that loves to travel. I have gotten pretty nerdy about creating my itineraries and editing them after to reflect the places we went and what we thought of them. So in the future we can remember where if we want to go again, or if anyone ever asks us about a recommendation. I am tempted create little side posts on here with more details of our travels!
Creatively juiced up
But we are back home now, and recalibrated ! Lets talk about whats going on in my little art room and my silly lil brain.
Creative inspiration isn’t always available when you want it to be, and I am learning that is okay! It isn’t super reasonable to think we should be overflowing with creativity all the time, it actually sounds super exhausting. I do think it feels important at least for myself to keep putting a pencil to paper, wetting my paints and collecting flowers to press. Not pressuring myself to create big things, but low pressure activities that keep me connected to creating and letting my creative brain rest.
Conversely, I am brimming with ideas since we got back, and struggling to pick which one to lean into. I keep a running list of ideas when it’s like this. I don’t always like to share with the internet what I am working on until it’s finished, but here feels like a safe place! Now that I have a process for making fine art prints down, I want to remake a set of mushrooms. I sold all my originals before I had a scanner. They were one of my favorite makes. I like that they are small to make and have such a wide variety. I have two made, but I am in the process of drawing up some ideas, and soon I will start looking at my pressed flowers to see what suits them(the fun part).
I use to hate the part of creating where I had to find references, but lately I have noticed a change. I am getting better at finding inspiration or references and turning them into my own thing. For these I have been looking through guidebooks on mushrooms(I love guidebooks). Which I had been doing for my clay sculptures anyways. Some I make true to a species, sometimes I am combining elements and with mushrooms its fun to add some creative whimsy. The whole process feels exciting now! Yay! Am I a real artist now?
I love to read and I love the idea of creating my own bookmarks- Idk if anyone else reads physical books anymore. But I do! This should be a fun small project, I have already done some drawings. I also have some MUCH bigger ideas brewing but I think I may even save for the new year, but I want to start combining mediums more. Annddd that’s all I will say for now!
Being able to scan my work and digitize it has really opened up doors for me. I can make more time consuming and detailed originals and have a high quality copy for myself to make prints or other things with later on. Exciting things!
looking forward
I had a great time at The Good Market in September. I am so grateful to the baddies that put it together and for all that showed up. I am continuing to apply for more in-person markets and pop up events and have some new dates to come see me in person, the next one is at For The Wild Birds Saturday November 9th. Real bird nerd here, and I am so excited to be there again. I have some exciting holiday shows that I feel really lucky to be involved in, so stay tuned for those dates coming up !
As always my Etsy shop has all my prints that are available, or you can send me a DM on Instagram if you are in Omaha and would like free porch pickup in the Benson neighborhood. I will be doing that all through the holidays, unless it becomes problematic! You can also do this for cloche jars and the 5x7 framed florals as well!
