Mother / Founder + my kids' costumes

Also in here: answering your painting questions

Oct 30, 2024

Hi my darlings! I have so much to tell you! But first and foremost I’d like to wish everyone a warm congrats on Halloween finally being over in just a little over 24 hours. PTL.

Here’s what we’ve got today:

last night’s Mother / Founder book launch
answering your painting q’s
sparkly links

And off we go!

painted pumpkins. get it? i may never carve another pumpkin again! worth noting that nate does 80-90% of the carving

mother / founder

Last night I got to celebrate the launch of the gorgeous new book Mother / Founder. My super talented friend Amanda Jane Jones and her co-author Jen Fernandez led a panel with five of the women in the book. They each opened up about creativity, identity, and, of course, childcare.

It’s weird — even though I’m closing up shop on my photography business, and I have no idea what’s next, I felt energized and dreamy listening to each of them speak about their careers and their motherhood. We NEED this book. Get it: Amazon // Bookshop. Or, best of all, from your local bookstore!

pretty sure mother / founder was written specifically for handpicked readers. congrats, amanda!!

painting

Over the last few months, some of you have asked me to share my painting process and products I use.

I’ll admit, it feels a little ridiculous for me to talk about painting. I have absolutely NO painting education or training. Somehow it has just become this thing that I can’t not do, so here we are.

two of my favorite floral photos, turned into paintings.

My paintings are not freehand. I paint exclusively on my own printed photographs (with the exception of the above pumpkins, the only freehand I’ve ever done). Over the last thirteen years of shooting on film, I’ve created a massive archive of photos, so I’ve been handpicking (!) shots I love and painting directly over them, kind of in a “paint by numbers” style. I literally paint directly on the print.
Color mixing. This video taught me everything I know about color mixing, which is the bedrock of my technique. My knowledge of lighting, color, and film chemistry has helped too. (For example, I shoot everything on Kodak films, which have a red base, so I know if I’m not getting the right color, I might need to add some red or pink to my paint. Very nerdy.)
Materials. I use these acrylic paints and my daughter’s brushes from Blick. Richard Photo Lab is where I get all my photos printed, I’ve used them for over ten years. And I process all of my film at Rewind Film Lab, the absolute best lab with the best people, highly recommend them if you shoot film.

So that’s it! What else do you want to know? Is this annoying? What should I paint next?

today’s bouquet

Omg, a coffee table book of artists’ palettes! NEED!
May I be the 1000th person to recommend Ina Garten’s memoir. Listening to her narration was such a joy, especially her cute chuckle.
What a sweet birthday surprise. (via Mary S.)
Thrilled to announce that I found a simple and delicious vegetarian chili recipe! I was worried it would be too spicy, so I did half a jalapeño, other than that followed it exactly. My official go-to chili henceforth.
Making Food52’s apple crisp, Alex’s version, weekly until the apples go out of season.
Grabbed this plaid tablecloth yesterday before it sells out. 100% cotton + major bargain. This candy cane one, too.
Obsessed with this fringe sweatshirt.
Do we have any readers in Denver? Go see the Wild Things art exhibit!
Fun: giant flamingos cast their votes.
Winter flowers!!
Montana’s teacher of the year is an absolute treasure.
Too much love. (Crying.)
Years ago, I found a pearl-covered cardigan on sale at Anthropologie. I always get compliments on it but feel bad that it’s years-old and thus unlinkable. Good news: they have a similar pearl cardigan again this season! This pullover pearl sweater is so pretty, too.
Best LBD I’ve seen in a while.