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It's a little wild to sit with the fact that 2013 was over a decade ago now. That was the year I picked up a paintbrush for the very first time.
It started with a YouTube video - someone using watercolors and salt to create these really fun, dreamy galaxy paintings. I tried a few and immediately fell in love with the way watercolor moved across paper. Fluid, unpredictable, alive. From there, I followed what I loved most: flowers.
At the time, I owned a gallery in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, and I was lucky enough to be in a season of life where I could simply paint and sell my work to the public. People would buy my paintings daily, and I could always justify creating another one to "fill the hole on the wall" with a newly framed piece. It was one of the most creatively free chapters of my life.
When Life Asked Me to Pivot
In 2016, everything changed. Elliot was diagnosed with autism, and Leia was just six months old. The call to be a stay-at-home mother was so strong and so clear that I closed my gallery and put down my paintbrush.
For the next few years, bonnets became my creative outlet and my livelihood. Sweet as April took off in a way I hadn't anticipated, and I became the breadwinner of our family - supporting us through bonnet making and upcycling vintage fabrics. I am so proud of what that season built. But the painter in me was quietly waiting.
Picking the Brush Back Up - and the Heartache That Came With It
Around 2018, I picked up my paintbrush again. We were trying for one more baby, and secondary infertility turned that hope into a five-year struggle. Painting became my escape during that time - but it also carried a lot of heartache. I continued putting brush to paper, sold a lot of work to my wonderful bonnet community, and found moments of joy in it. But the grief was woven into every piece in ways that are hard to explain.
In 2020, when we moved my studio, I put the paints away again. I shifted my focus to learning digital surface pattern design - a new creative language that I fell in love with in its own way.
What Bloomed on the Other Side
Then Lily was conceived. And born - a healthy, beautiful baby girl. 🌸
Something lifted. The heartache that had been tangled up in painting for so long finally released, and what bloomed in that space is honestly one of the proudest and most fulfilling creative journeys I have ever been on.
What started as curiosity - a YouTube video and a set of watercolors - has traveled through joy, loss, grief, motherhood, and reinvention, and has arrived here: a business that is entirely mine, in the most complete way it has ever felt.
To be able to merge the bonnets and the painting - to know that my original artwork hangs in your homes, and that my fabric designs (born from my own hand-painted florals) are being worn and loved by so many - it genuinely makes me want to cry. In the best way.
What's Coming
There is so much more ahead. As Lily gets older and has settled so beautifully into her new program, I'm turning my focus back to my artwork and everything I want to grow in this space.
I can't wait to keep blooming here - and to show you what I've been creating.
Thank you for being part of this story. 🌷
Are you a longtime follower who's watched this journey unfold? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.