When I first started getting into the swing of regular art making - and sharing it publicly on social media - I thought I had to have it all figured out. I have a habit of setting ridiculously high standards for myself, so my plan was basically to launch a fully formed, professional level art business within a couple months!

Needless to say, I was putting too large a burden on myself. I was treating my creativity more as a business opportunity than a personal practice.

Then, the Black Lives Matter protests happened. They halted me in my tracks and made me reexamine a lot of things in my own life, and my priorities. That, in combination with the inability to produce artwork that lived up to my high expectations, left me in a creative rut that lasted weeks.

After a couple, long, deep talks with my sister, I finally came to terms with the fact that I am a baby artist, and like a baby, I am clumsy, shaky, curious, naive, and trying out new things constantly. How can I expect to become an expert overnight?

My ultimate goal in all of this is to encourage myself and others to practice creativity and seek inspiration, because life is more beautiful that way, so from now on, that is my only guiding principle! The rest will fall into place at the right time.

I hope you'll enjoy the adventure along with me. :)

Naples Yellow is a warm, cheerful hue; it has a lightness and almost creamy quality to it. The pigment was commonly used by artists from 1700 to 1850 but for some reason, it disappeared and fell out of use until fairly recently. 

The rumors say that it was named Naples Yellow because the minerals it's made from can be found around Mount Vesuvius, which is near Naples in Italy. If you look at photos of Naples, there are a lot of historic buildings painted in this same shade of yellow, so it's possible it was simply named after the city itself. Either way, I find the name charming and this has become one of my favorite colors to paint and mix with.

Self Portrait, 1894

Cecilia Beaux was an extremely successful American artist, and yet not once in my four years of Art History education did I learn her name. Women are very underrepresented in Art History textbooks because during their time, they were assumed to simply be "hobbyists" or paint subjects that were too "feminine," for the fine art world, but thankfully things are changing.

Cecilia started earning her own money through creative work at the age of 18 in the mid-1870s - a time when women having a career was extremely rare. Cecilia rejected several marriage proposals and instead traveled to Paris to study art. She became wildly talented and successful in her painting career and went on to win multiple gold medals and critical acclaim, despite being female. Painter William Merritt Chase said that "Miss Beaux is not only the greatest living woman painter, but the best that has ever lived. Miss Beaux has done away entirely with sex [gender] in art." 

She was a talented portrait painter, but rather than the stuffy traditional portrait, she had a knack for capturing the sitter at ease, or in mid-expression, or just being themselves. Her style is loose yet realistic and she's often compared to John Singer Sargent. I also love how she used "zaps" of bright purples and blues to energize her paintings. You don't notice it until you take a closer look. I'd love to see her paintings in real life someday.

Ernesta (Child with Nurse), 1894. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Maria DeWitt Jesup Fund.

Sita and Sarita (Jeune Fille au Chat). Portrait of Sarah Allibone Leavitt, 1893–1894. Collection of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

I sincerely hope you enjoyed this email! If you have any thoughts to share or questions, please reach out on Instagram or email. I'd love to know if anything in particular captured your fascination.