New Collection: Coming Soon
A new collection of large-scale paintings
NEW Collection
Inspired by my 2020 poem, My Rage is Like a Flower Garden.
There is a new body of work in development in the studio that I am really excited to share about.
This collection is inspired by my poem, My Rage is Like a Flower Garden”, and the painting I created of the same title back in 2020 as part of my There are No Bad Emotions collection. Read on to read the poem!
When I was creating the There are No Bad Emotions collection, My Rage is Like a Flower Garden was the second painting to come in the collection. I can remember the day that I was creating it in my studio/living room. The walls of my house were shaking while I was rage-painting. The poem of the same title that accompanied the painting was written during the painting process. I would paint, then stop to write, then paint more, then write more, and back and forth I went.
In my mind I had the image of a wild, overgrown rose garden that was full of tangled vines of thorns and the idea that even something as delicate as a rose is capable of drawing blood.
As I continue to develop my voice and vision as an artist, and mature into my rage, this is an image that continues to stick with me - which is why I have wanted to revisit this poem and the concept.
This new collection of work features all large-body paintings done in vibrant, floral, and feminine colors, but with violent and rage-filled intensity of a caged animal.
While I would love to release this collection in the spring, and I might still, I already have a desire to sit with the paintings that have come forward longer and enjoy their presence in my home.
So, for now, I will leave you with my original poem!
“My Rage is Like a Flower Garden”
My rage is like a flower garden
That is generous in its blooms.
It is hot and sticky like blood and summer-
But in the south where it tends to linger.
My rage is like a flower garden
Tangled with knots of vines-
The start of one and the end of another-
Just webs of stories woven together.
My rage is like a flower garden
Full of thorns like teeth,
That bite, and tear, and leave their marks,
Protecting the roots that are buried deep.
My rage is like a flower garden
Smoking with steam from a heavy rain.
So much so, it makes it hard to swallow,
So I carry it in my mouth-
Boiling,
Shaking,
And spilling it as I go.
If you want to stay up to date on the progress of this collection and be part of the private viewing when it happens, you can join the Collectors Club here!
Lion Heart Ornaments
A new collection of hand-painted ornaments
Lion Heart
2022 Ornament Collection
Inspired by the individuals who choose not to hide from their emotions.
Remember when I said I couldn't choose between my color palettes for my ornaments this year?
Say hello to the Lion Heart ornaments! The fourth collection (so far) of 2022 ornaments!
I have a deep love for the color pairing of hot pink and burnt orange. This bold color combination signals to me confidence and courage, but with a playfulness and sweetness - which are exactly the qualities of a Lion Hearted person!
Lion Hearts are individuals who manage to keep a soft heart in a hard world - the individuals who brave the depths that many are too scared to explore (any Brene Brown fans out there? She is definitely a Lion Heart!) . The Lion Heart ornament collection is dedicated to the people who aren’t scared to have the hard conversations, and manage to maintain empathy, compassion, and kindness throughout.
I grew up in a household that taught the belief that emotions were a sign of weakness and when it came to having hard discussions, they were best handled by not having them at all. For someone like myself, with a soft heart, big emotions, and who struggles with perfectionism, this was really challenging because anytime I couldn’t manage to suppress my feelings, I felt like a failure.
Shame around my emotions was a struggle for a long time, but I have since come to recognize the strength that is being a deep-feeler and the courage it takes to sit with the discomfort of hard feelings.
The Lion Heart ornament collection is dedicated to the people who aren’t scared to have the hard conversations, and manage to maintain empathy, compassion, and kindness throughout. The Collection is inspired by the individuals who can hold in both hands the cruelty of the world along with the beauty and wonderment.
Collectors Club Members will be getting exclusive access to the ornaments on Friday, November 18th on my website. You can join the Collectors Club here to get early access. Otherwise, they will become publicly available on Saturday, November 19th!
Fighting Spirit Ornaments
A new collection of hand-painted ornaments
Fighting Spirit
2022 Ornament Collection
Dedicated to the individuals who choose action when confronted by the disparity between the world they imagine and the world they see.
In 2019, I started organizing an art festival to take place in my hometown in Bristol, TN/VA.
The festival is called Bristol in Bloom (you can check it out here!) and was originally supposed to take place on Mother’s Day weekend in May of 2020 when the Dogwood trees would have been blooming.
But, as we all well know, 2020 happened and it ended up not taking place until the fall of October 2021 when the leaves were blooming instead!
Event planning is something I had zero previous experience with, but after watching so many of my friends leave the area over the years because there wasn’t a strong art community and very few artist opportunities here, I felt like I needed to do something. I loved this region and the landscape too much to leave it again, so I decided to start Bristol in Bloom to create the arts community that I longed to have in my hometown.
I now have two years under my belt organizing Bristol in Bloom. There have been so many moments where I have been ready to quit, where I have questioned why I do this, debated giving up and walking away from the event all together…
…But then I see the changes this event is making in the community, the people it brings together, the way people are connecting with art and artists, the artists deepening their roots in the community, and I know without question that the stress, the sleepless nights, the worry, the fear, and ALL of the tears, are all worth it in the end.
For a long time, I longed to leave my hometown (and I did for a short while) because I didn’t believe the community here would ever be one that reflected myself or the people I love and admire within it. Since creating the festival, though, I have met several artists who I would now consider to be some of my closest friends and deepened my love for this region. While there is still so much I hope to see change in my community, I know now more than ever that leaving the area will only ensure that nothing changes and I love this area too much to give up the fight.
The Fighting Spirit ornament collection is dedicated to the change-makers in the world, the stubborn individuals who don’t give up when the going gets tough and choose action for the better. This is a limited edition ornament collection with only a few available to the public. The ornaments are colorful, layered, and highly textured, reflecting the battle-tested energy of the fighting spirit.
Collectors Club Members will be getting exclusive access to the ornaments on Friday, November 18th on my website. You can join the Collectors Club here to get early access. Otherwise, they will become publicly available on Saturday, November 19th!
Rabbit Heart Ornaments
A new collection of hand-painted ornaments
Rabbit Heart
2022 Ornament Collection
Inspired by the thoughtful and curious individuals who ask questions rather than make assumptions.
Fun Fact: I am the kind of person that when faced with a choice between two (or more) things that I love, I will most likely choose all of them.
Which is exactly what happened with my ornaments this year!
I could not choose between the palettes I had picked out - I just loved them all so much! Rather than forcing myself to make a hard choice, I problematically avoided the discomfort (I am picturing Chidi from The Good Place getting a stomach ache when faced with a choice between any two things) and chose all of them, ha!
With that said, I am excited to share the Rabbit Heart Ornament Collection coming on November 18th to Collectors Club Members!
The Rabbit Heart ornament collection is in large part inspired by Alice from Alice in Wonderland.
For those who don’t know, I love literature (fun fact: my Bachelor’s Degree is in English Literature - not visual arts!), and I often find inspiration through writing. Alice in Wonderland is a book I have loved for as long as I can remember (another fun fact: my tattoo sleeve on my left arm is in the theme of Alice in Wonderland).
ICYMI: Alice in Wonderland begins with a young girl named Alice sitting by a river bank who spies a white rabbit checking a pocket watch and complaining about being late. When the white rabbit runs off and down a rabbit hole, Alice chooses to follow and the rest of the story is following her journey, and her transformation, through Wonderland.
One of my favorite quotes from Alice in Wonderland (also tattooed on my arm) is, “I knew who I was this morning, but I’ve changed a few times since then.”
The Rabbit Heart ornament collection is inspired by Alice, her wild curiosity, and the transformation she goes through during her adventures through Wonderland. Throughout the book, Alice is reflective, thoughtful, and introspective - and while rabbits are often associated with fear, Alice demonstrates bravery and courage over and over again, especially in her pursuit of all that makes her wonder. The Rabbit Heart ornament collection speaks to the courage it takes to explore the answers to big questions and live in a state of wonder.
Collectors Club Members will be getting exclusive access to the ornaments on Friday, November 18th on my website. You can join the Collectors Club here to get early access. Otherwise, they will become publicly available on Saturday, November 19th!
Rebel Spirit Ornaments
A new collection of hand-painted ornaments
Rebel Spirit Ornaments
Inspired by the people living authentically
I am so excited to offer a new set of inspired holiday ornaments in my shop this year.
This is only the second year of creating ornaments, but it has easily become my new favorite holiday tradition, a fun way for me to get into the holiday spirit.
Time is such a funny thing after living through (still living through?) a pandemic. In preparing to release my new ornaments into the world, I caught myself thinking, “November, already?! Where has the time gone?” 2022 has both flown by in the blink of an eye while also feeling like it has been stretched out over a period of 3 years.
Events that happened this past spring, like back in April when I participated in the ArtFields competition in Lake City, South Carolina, feel years away from where I am today. What was a moment of great significance at the time, now just a date marked off in my calendar.
While I do think that is the nature of time and aging, I also think that speaks to the growth I have experienced as an artist over the course of this year.
This year I hit multiple, significant milestones in my art career that, on the surface, indicate the progress I have made as an artist, but those milestones are only a reflection of the internal growth I have experienced. The true measure of growth is in the confidence I have found in expressing myself authentically through my art.
Each year I hope to push the boundaries in the expression of my feelings of freedom, boldness, and femininity in my work and to use color, gesture, and mark-making to communicate those feelings as truly and authentically as they come through me - no matter how messy and wild they may appear to others. This year, with the release of my newest collection, “HerStory: a Survivor’s Journey”, I feel like I am the closest I have ever come to authentically communicating those themes and finding my voice as an artist.
Not coincidentally, the closer I come to aligning with my artistic voice, the more secure I become in my relationship to my work and its place in the world.
The confidence and security that comes from living authentically and without shame is exactly what the “Rebel Spirit” Ornament Collection is inspired by. This collection of ornaments is dedicated to the rebels out there bravely choosing to not hide who they are by allowing their vulnerability to be witnessed by others. Each ornament is hand-painted and completely unique (just like you), so no two are exactly alike. I painted them intending for them to be incorporated into long-held family traditions and, like the good traditions that endure, be passed down as precious heirlooms for generations to come.
Collectors Club Members will be getting exclusive access to the ornaments on Friday, November 18th on my website. You can join the Collectors Club here to get early access. Otherwise, they will become publicly available on Saturday, November 19th!
Paint Your Feelings Workshop
“Can you be aware that as much of the beauty you want to create, so too is there a need for things that are antithetical to it - so too is there a need for something gruesome, or ugly, or strange, or put together in ways that our mind can’t quite understand…” -Chani Nicholas
Paint Your Feelings Workshop
Monday, April 4th 2022
“Can you be aware that as much of the beauty you want to create, so too is there a need for things that are antithetical to it - so too is there a need for something gruesome, or ugly, or strange, or put together in ways that our mind can’t quite understand…” -Chani Nicholas
I have a young daughter named Searsha who will be turning 5 soon. She currently goes to a daycare where she gets to play, make art, make messes, and just be a kid for most of the day. Of course, there are still rules, and manners, and procedures she has to follow, but on most days, she absolutely loves it. Most of the time when I pick her up, she’s in good spirits, still riding the high of whatever game or activity she was doing with her friends, but there are some days when I pick her up that she falls into pieces the moment I get her buckled into her car seat.
On those days where she falls apart, it usually doesn’t take much to get her going. For example, there is a free library right outside of her school that we usually stop to visit at pick up. We take a book from the library and when we get to the car, I read it to her before we head home. Then, we return the book the next morning at drop off for another family to take home. One day she had a mega meltdown in the car because I told her I would read her the book after I buckled her into her seat instead of before.
The dramaaaaa
I’ve heard several other moms share similar experiences - speaking about the meltdown that comes shortly after pickup. This isn’t an uncommon thing for kids. It even has a name - the “After-School Restraint Collapse”.
The idea is that kids are trying so hard at school all day to “be good” or, in other words, to keep their shit together. So, after they have been on their absolute best behavior all day, once they get to a place where they feel safe to do so, they let it all go. It’s like a bubble just waiting to burst.
On the days when Searsha is having a harder time than normal, we make sure she knows all feelings are welcome and we prioritize low-key, soothing activities once we get home.
Just don’t make any loud noises
What I now recognize as both a parent and a human myself, though, is that adults are not very different from kids. Many adults that I know, myself included, come home exhausted by the end of the workday because the truth is that the customer isn’t always right, but having to pretend like they really are because your job depends on it is absolutely exhausting (or maybe you’re just tip-toeing around the delicate ego of your boss, or you really want to correct the coworker who keeps getting your name wrong, or maybe you’re waiting to hear back on the more-than-reasonable raise request that you should’ve gotten ages ago).
The difference, though, between adults and kids is that kids are really good at airing out all of their frustrations - maybe even a little too good sometimes. (Oh, did you want to actually hear the teller in the drive thru line of the bank? The screaming toddler in the backseat said IDGAF.) They don’t hold anything back out of “social obligation”. When kids are mad, sad, scared, or all of the above, they feel it, they express it, and next thing you know, they’re fine! It’s like it never happened.
As adults, I think, we get really bad at this. We get so conditioned to hold ourselves together and put our “best foot forward” in every setting. And don’t even get me started on social media and the role it plays in all of this - but to be clear, it plays a major role. It’s like we learn to hold our shit together in so many different social settings that we forget how and where to let ourselves fall apart, so we, too, become the bubble just waiting to burst. .
Don’t forget to breathe!
But everyone, and I really mean everyone, needs that space where they can let themselves be their whole, honest, messy selves. Everyone needs a space where they can just let shit fall apart, where they can say what they really want to say, where they don’t have to be perfect, where they can just be.
That feels better
That’s exactly what my Paint Your Feelings workshop is meant to be. It is not a workshop for making masterpieces, it is a workshop about learning to be whole, real, messy humans again without judgment or resistance. Remember the “perfect golden child” Isabela singing out her revelation in the movie Encanto? “I’m so sick of pretty, I want something true, don’t you?”
A transformation we love to see
My Paint Your Feelings workshop is an introduction to my own daily painting process. When I set out to create a painting, I never know what the outcome will be or the finished work will look like. In those moments of creating, my only intention in those moments is to show up, be honest and express myself authentically, no matter how “messy” it might look. In other words, I am giving myself permission to fall apart.
The objective in the Paint Your Feelings workshop is to dedicate time and space to allowing yourself to experience your own emotions and validate yourself by witnessing yourself. In the workshop, we get quiet, get curious, write, and paint. Again, the goal isn’t to come out of the class with a masterpiece, but instead to come out more connected to and accepting of yourself and where you are in the moment.
My next Paint Your Feelings workshop is coming up on Monday, April 4th at the Full Bloom Farmhouse in Abingdon, VA and I am so excited to share it with everyone! Join the Collectors Club to get updates about future workshops, including future online workshops!
"Those Who Wander" Ornament Collection
A small collection of Hand-Painted Ornaments inspired by those who are “living deliberately”.
“Those Who Wander” Ornament Collection
Dedicated to the folks out there who are “living deliberately”.
Some of you may not know this about me, but I am not a classically trained artist. My Bachelor's degree is actually in English Literature! I am what is commonly referred to as a “Self Taught” artist, but I prefer to call myself an “informally trained” artist because I have learned from other artists, and still do, but I have not been trained in the classical, academic setting.
Making art was my first love, but creative writing and literature were my second.
This batch of ornaments is born from my love for the Romantic Movement of the 19th Century - a literary and artistic movement that came in contrast to the 18th Century Enlightenment Period.
The writers, artists, and thinkers of the 18th Century Enlightenment Period emphasized reason and the scientific rationalization of nature. Everything in this time period was viewed through the lens of reason.
But not all things can be explained with reason, right? Like the feeling you get when walking through the woods in the fall when everything is quiet and the colorful leaves are falling to the ground soundlessly like snow. Or the way you feel when the morning light is shining through the windows of your home and making the shadows of the blinds twinkle and dance. There’s not much to reason about those experiences.
And that is where the Romantics (with a capital ‘R’) come in.
The leading writers, thinkers, and artists of the 19th Century Romanticism Movement saw nature as a living, breathing thing and would often personify it in their works with feelings and emotion - something the scientists of the Enlightenment Movement could not reason to be possible. The Romantic Movement was a celebration of nature, intuition, emotion, and artistic freedom.
One of the leading and most commonly recognized writers of the American Romantic Movement was Henry David Thoreau (we’ll call him HDT for short) and his book, “Walden”.
Here’s a quick summary about Walden:
HDT gets tired of living in the city so he decides to go live in the woods near Walden Pond in Massachusetts taking with him nothing but an axe! He spent the next two years there in a little cabin he built for himself writing the book, “Walden”, which details what he learned from the experience.
One passage I always come back to when I remember this book is when he says, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
These ornaments are dedicated to the individuals that HDT would describe to be “living deliberately” - the individuals that are confronting what is in front of them, choosing their life “on purpose”, and living with intention.
These ornaments will be available at the Mill Spring Makers Holiday Makers Faire in Jonesborough this Saturday, December the 4th from 10 AM - 4 PM! If you can’t make it to the market, they will become available on my website on Sunday, December 5th! You can shop them here.
Call Me Crazy
In fact, / I’d dare anyone to call me crazy / Without having taken / A single breath / Feeling in this world / With a heart like mine. / Go ahead, / Call me crazy.
Call Me Crazy
8’ x 4’ Original house paint, acrylic, oil pastel, and graphite on plywood panel
Call Me Crazy is my largest abstract painting to date. It is an 8 foot tall and 4 foot wide plywood panel painted with house paint, oil pastel, and graphite.
I created this painting for the first, annual Bristol in Bloom Art Festival, which is an art festival I put together to happen in my hometown in Bristol, Tennessee.
As I continue to grow and progress as an artist, I find that I am always trying to explore the boundary of what is “too much”, “too messy”, and/or “too crazy” in my own work. I am always trying to push my comfort zone within those definitions and challenging my own perceptions around what it means to go “too far” in hopes of finding a greater sense of freedom. Each year I try to find that edge of “too far” and each year I find more freedom in my movement and expression, but I still have yet to meet the edge.
I loved every bit of the experience of creating this painting. This painting absolutely poured out of me on a sunny afternoon in late September. The panel was too big to fit into my house, so I had to paint it outside on the side porch. Being able to paint outside opened up a lot more freedom for me because there wasn’t a fear or concern about keeping paint off of the hardwood floors of the living room. Painting on plywood panel also opened up more freedom because it was sturdy enough and secure enough that I didn’t fear it falling over, so I could really be rough in the paint application. So much energy went into painting this piece. I was jumping to reach the top edges, throwing paint at the panel, and blaring some of my favorite Florence and the Machine and Amythyst Kiah songs all at the same time. Painting on my porch meant that all of my neighbors could see the entire process unfolding.
There were moments where I thought, “They must think I am crazy,” but for the most part, I was so absorbed in the process of painting, I didn’t care. This painting, for me, was a moment where I felt so free to be myself and express myself fully. In fact, at the time, I thought “If this is what people call crazy, then I stand proudly by that.”
Afterwards, I reflected on other times in my life when I was called crazy and I started thinking about how often we mis-label people and things to be “crazy”. I started paying attention to how often I call an event or experience “crazy” (more than I’d like to admit) and have been actively trying to choose better descriptor words that more accurately describe an experience. In that process, I wrote this poem to accompany this painting.
“Call Me Crazy”
“Crazy,” he said,
“A train wreck.”
Crazy?
Call me crazy, but
This world is a little
Crazy-making
And I’d call her anything-
Angry
Lonely
Traumatized
Sad-
Before I’d call her crazy
In fact,
Crazy is an easy word
Much easier than words like
Complicit, or
Accountability, and
Introspection.
In fact,
It drives me a little crazy
To hear a person called crazy.
Why don’t we use words instead like
Compassion, and
Patience, and
Mental-Emotional Support?
In fact,
I’d dare anyone to call me crazy
Without having taken
A single breath
Feeling in this world
With a heart like mine.
Go ahead,
Call me crazy.
Collectors Club Members will get exclusive access to this original painting on Friday, November the 19th. The painting will then become publicly available on November 20th. To make sure you don’t miss out on collecting your ornament, join the Collectors Club here!